Church tries to divert attention

Church tries to divert attention
BHUBANESWAR( VISAKEO): In an attempt to divert attention from real issues, the Roman Catholic Church on Saturday took to some bizarre issues to cover up its misdeeds in Orissa’s Kandhamal district.Anyone knows, integrity of Krishna Kumar, Kandhamal District Collector and S Praveen Kumar, the police chief in bring peace and harmony in a communal hit district in an impressive time. But see the statements of Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, Rapheal Cheenath and senior Church leader John Dayal, who is single handedly making false campaign against the State.The two Church leaders at a hurriedly called press meet, that came few hours after tribal Kandhs along with BJP leaders alleged their lands have been grabbed by the minority for construction of a Training Centre, however rolled down crocodile tears to divert the issue. “We would approach the High Court and Supreme Court if misery of the people of Kandhamal was not ameliorated,” they said indirectly diverting attention from land grab allegation. In fact, sources said that Church has encroached a huge amount of land owned by late Salada Pradhan, Balada Pradhan, son of late Masura Pradhan and Bakika Pradhan son of Bila Pradhan, caste Kandhamal(ST), to construct a Centre. In this regard, original landowner apprised the matter to the visiting European Union delegation. They met the delegation and stated that their land Khata No-214 Plot-1321 of Mouza Kanjamendi, has been encroached for construction of a Training Centre of Roman Catholic church.
In many cases our tribal land has been grabbed by the middle man for construction of Churches, Pastoral Training Centres, Prayer Houses and all our constitutional rights are also being snatched away by the mischievous people by obtaining fake certificates for getting jobs and illegal land transaction, the Kandh tribal told the delegation. If Church is not satisfied with the Collector and SP, how can they expect good from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who still bestowed faith on these two young elite IAS and IPS officers?
“As far as we concerned, we never allowed things that are being done against the law of the land,” the Collector and SP told this Correspondent over phone.
Church leader expressed concern over the high rate of acquittals in the Fast Track Courts. He alleged that victims filed 3232 complaints and Police only entertained 832 cases and conviction rate is very low. Archbishop has demanded independent lawyers be associated with Special Public Prosecutors.

Bajarang Dal, VHP opposes ''My name is Khan''

BHUBANESWAR (VISAKEO): Bajarang Dal and Viswa Hindu Parishad have opposed the screening of controversial Bollowood movie My Name is Khan starred by Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol of Karan Johar.“The opposition came following Bollywood Badshah’s act in the movie, which depicts the actor himself as Pakistani agent, who believes in a bifurcation of Akhand Bharat,” Bajarang Dal national co-convener Subash Chouhan said.
“We protest in a democratic manner on February 12, the day, the movie screened,” he said. It may be noted here that the King Khan was embroiled in a controversy after he favoured the participation of the Pakistani cricket players in Indian Premier League.
“We have appealed our workers to boycott the movie,” VHP State general secretary GP Rath said. Rath said that noted actor of Indian film industry earned the fame and money in India but supports Pakistan.

Church encroached our lands, tribals tell
BHUBANESWAR( VISAKEO): Tribal Kandhs of in Orissa’s Kandhamal, and the BJP on Saturday alleged that the visit of 11-member European delegation has flared up communal feeling in the district, which witnessed wide spread violence following the murder of Hindu seer Swami Laxmananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008.Talking at a press conference here on February 6, BJP MLA from Baliguda in Kandhamal and general secretary RSS backed BKA Laxmikanta Das alleged that the visit of the EU delegation to the riot hit areas was aimed at promoting conversion and communalism in the area.The opposition assumes significance as EU Team announced to funding €15 million for development in various sectors.They said the delegation, during its two-day visit to the area, met only one section of the community and held secret meeting inside the Catholic Church with select NGOs and church leaders. The members did not bother to meet local public representatives or Kandh leaders.The leaders further alleged that the EU delegation had tried to interfere with and influence the affairs of the state by holding discussion with the Director General of Police and government officials on the well being of a particular community in Kandhmal.Majhi said the State Government must clarify about the visit of the team and holding talks with only Christians and the Church leaders.
Das indicated that it was not a cultural and social visit but communal and aimed at creating an extra territorial loyalty which would set a dangerous trend in the area disturbing the peace and harmony.Das also demanded a probe into the activities of the NGOs operating in Kandhmal in close liaison with the church leaders by accepting huge foreign fund.He alleged that several churches had come up on tribal land and demanded that such land grabbed by middlemen for construction of churches, pastoral training centre and prayer houses must be returned to the tribals forthwith.BJP Lawmaker said when entire state is agog with EU Team visit, State Government is maintaining eerie silence over the matter. He asked the Chief Minister to come clean over the matter and make an announcement in this regard. Baliguda MLA charged Church leaders of illegal occupation of the land of tribal in Kandhamal. Pointing out a case he said Dibyajyoti Pastoral Training Centre at K Nuagaon has illegally occupied land of tribals. No action is being taken up by the State Government, he said.The delegation, comprising diplomats of nine countries, had arrived here on February 2 on a five day visit to the state to assess the situation prevailing in Kandhmal.
Power cut in Orissa: Luxury of urban is the necessity of rural! ( Editorial section)
BHUBANESWAR (VISAKEO): Considering the decreasing power generation, the state Government is forced to impose the scheduled load shedding, even in state capital to cope with the shortage of power. While routine power-cut is ceasing the luxury of urban life, this is creating hindrance to access to the elixir of life for rural people. Tube wells, once regarded as the only drinking water provider in rural Orissa have lost their importance and ‘Rural Pipe Water Supply’ schemes have picked up like anything, where availability of electricity is the major indicator of drinking water provisioning. Over the years tube wells fitted with hand pumps have proved to be the most appropriate technique to provide safe drinking water especially for the rural population because of its low cost, speedy execution, easy repair and less recurring cost factors. In recent past, in the name of community participation and demand driven project, somehow the concept of ‘Rural Piped Water Supply’ has been established to show handsome expenditure at the end of the financial years. To tide over the problem of water crisis, people dig chuans on river beds and wells in agricultural fields, which implies that there is sub surface water that can be harvested even if ground water is too deep to be extracted through bore wells. In hilly terrains, dug wells have been found to be much more effective than bore wells. The department is however obsessed with bore wells – presumably because they are easy to dig. There is a strong case for adopting an area-specific technology rather than resorting to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. The recently much focused pipe water supply that supposedly serves as a better option compared to the tube wells, is in fact soon turning into a burden on users. The overhead tanks are usually left unattended while installing pipe water supply, which in turn leads either to huge water loss through frequent breakages in pipeline for pressure from pump, or to scarcity during non-availability/failure of electricity. Furthermore, the otherwise functional tube wells now turn defunct due to lack of usage. Even intellectuals verdict is that the ‘Rural Pipe Water Supply’ is the first step towards privatization in drinking water as private players will take-up the system, when community fails to maintain. While executing the projects, certain issues like routine power cut and non availability of overhead tank were not taken into account, which is causing early death to those schemes and leaving villages after villages inside the water scarcity zones. As pipe water supply projects are useless without electricity and it is the rural people who bear more darkness in case of routine power-cut, it can be easily understood that what will be the implication of routine power cut on rural life. Government has ordered for no power regulation for vital establishments in urban areas, which includes water supply units. But in case of rural, the water supply organizations will only be informed about power cut in advance for timely operation of pump houses. Everybody knows how first the information moves to rural places and what will be the situation. Furthermore, this is all about scheduled load shedding. But what is about unscheduled load shedding, which is a regular one in rural areas? Availability of water in the desired quantity and quality, at the right time and right place, has been the key to the survival of all living forms. It is high time the department adopted a holistic rather than a fire-fighting approach to address the problem of drinking water. Instead of pipe water supplies as the only seeming solution to the drinking water crisis, the technology needs to be flexible, innovative and location-specific. The tendency of ease of operation in providing for a single, uniform solution to all sorts of problems needs to be sensibly replaced with a more action-oriented effort on the part of the Departments.

VHP opposes European delegation
BHUBANESWAR: The Viswa Hindu Parishad activists on February 2 opposed the 10-member European delegation, which arrived at city airport.VHP alleged that the visit could further aggravate the situation in Kandhamal district. The activists said that the team has primarily come to the assess the extent of success for mass- conversion in the State where SC population is 18 per cent and ST population is 24 per cent of whom already 7 per cent have already been converted to Christianity violating the provisions of Orissa Freedom of Religion Act. The European Union has been pumping huge foreign fund into these areas with a view to convert maximum number of poor people into Christianity from Hinduism, they said.
Mahashivratri celebrated in Orissa peacefully
BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR(VISAKEO): People across Orissa on February 12 observed Mahashivaratri by fasting and offered prayers at all leading Shiv Temples in the State.A large number of people throng to Lord Lingaraj Temple here in State Capital while similar number was witnessed at Lord Kapilas Temple in Dhenkanal district and Loknath Temple in holy city of Puri.Many also visited Dhabaleswar temple of Cuttack, Vedavyas of Sundergarh, Gupteswar temple of Koraput, Mukteswar in Ganjam, Akhandalmani of Bhadrak and Sriloknath temple in Puri.
Celebrated in honour of Hindu god Shiva, one of the holy trinity along with Vishnu and Brahma, Mahashivratri is celebrated on the 13th or 14th day of the waning moon in the month Phalgun (February-March) by the Indian calendar.
Hindu mythology says Shiva married Parvati on this day. The devout believe that worshipping Shiva on this day brings happiness and prosperity.
Police made elaborate security arrangements around the temple for the mega religious celebration in State Capital. Over 1,500 police personnel were deployed and vehicular movement was restricted in certain routes leading to the temple, Jena said.
Apart from day and night fasting, 'bel' leaves are offered to Shiva on this auspicious day. The main celebrations take place at night when devotees pray the night long.
The devout usually break their fast after the 'Mahadipa' (a huge candle) is lit on the temple spire.
Meanwhile, a composite metallic Shiva ling weighing around 51 kg installed at a newly-constructed temple at the picturesque Jamuna Mountain in Ganjam district on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri.
The one-foot high white coloured Shiva linga, known as Para Shiva ling (mercury ling), is composed of at least eight metals, while the proportion of the metals like mercury and gold is higher.
Saint Nikhileswara Nanda took about 45 days to construct it and 21 days to perform rituals before installation at the Siddeshwara temple.The Shiv ling was made at a cost of Rs 5.51 lakh.


Mission Agni-III successful
BHADRAK (VISAKEO): With New Delhi’s ties with Islamabad getting bad to worse day by day, scientists of India on February 7 successfully test flown Agni-III from eastern State’s of Orissa’s Bhadrak district.The more than 3,500-km range homegrown ballistic missile, the brainchild of DRDO scientists, was blasted at 10.50 hrs and covered the pre-designated range with 100 per cent accuracy, sources said.The solid-propelled, two-stage missile can carry nuclear warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonnes. It is 17 metres tall and has a launch weight of 50 tonnes with a two-metre diameter. The Agni III missile is surface to surface missile and can hit the targets up to range covering entire Pakistan and also China. Successfully testing of Agni III may have adverse impact dialogues between India and Pakistan in short term.


Orissa needs no financial help from EU for Kandhamal
BHUBANESWAR (VISAKEO): Orissa government had made it clear that it did not need any financial assistance from the European Union (EU) for rehabilitation and resettlement of victims of Kandhamal communal riot, official sources said on February 12.The issue relating to EU's financial assistance for the victims of Kandhamal riot came to fore during the recent visit of diplomats from nine European countries. The EU delegation which met selected journalists here before leaving for the riot-hit district, announced that they wanted to give 15 million Euro for the victims of Kandhamal.However, the EU delegation during their meeting with state government officials did not disclose about their plan to make financial assistance for the Kandhamal victims, said Special Administrator of Kandhamal M S Padhy.Padhy who attended a meeting last night where chief minister Naveen Patnaik took stock of Kandhamal situation, said "India did not require funds from any country for rehabilitation of its own people. We are quite capable of handling our problems".The state government had also had never sought any kind of help from EU delegation, he said.


Alumina mining in Lanjigarh causing health hazards: Report
KALAHANDI (VISAKEO): Alumina mining in Lanjigarh is causing serious health and environmental hazards, a leading rights watch said today, slamming the government and mining major Vedanta for failing to properly inform indigenous communities about its impact.According to a report released by Amnesty International, the 8000-strong community comprising largely of adivasis in Lanjigarh has suffered violations of human rights to water and health because of pollution and poor management of waste produced by the refinery."Vedanta Aluminium Limited's alumina refinery has led to water and air pollution, seriously undermining the quality of life and threatening the health of nearby communities, some of whom live only a few hundred yards from the refinery's boundary walls," the report said.

Ravishankar asks Maoists to join talk’s process
BHUBANESWAR (VISAKEO): Hinting the role of a mediator, spiritual guru Sri Ravishankar on February 1 asked Maoists to shun violence and join the talks process for peaceful solution of the vexed issue."You abjure the path of violence. Come up for dialogue.We will discuss and find a solution," the spiritual leader asked the red rebels here.Virtually offering his role as a mediator over the issue to the left wing ultras, the 'Art of Living' guru said, "if not with the government (for a dialogue), talk with me. Let's keep the society united and not allow to disintegrate".Stating that the Maoists may be fighting against oppression and exploitation of the poor in the society, Ravi Shankar asserted that they should do it in a peaceful manner as solution cannot be found through violent means."Violence is not the solution. Any kind of violence - either religious in nature or done by Maoists - should be opposed to," he said during interaction with reporters here.

Ramdev to create vote bank, field candidates in 2014 elections
BHUBANESWAR (VISAKEO):Talking to newsmen here, Ramdev said each district in the country will have at least ten lakh Bharat Swaviman members by the next three years to decide whom they want to send as their representative to the Lok Sabha.The yoga guru, however, to a question clarified that he would neither hold any political post nor contest the Lok Sabha or Assembly elections.The yoga centre to be establish in each and every village,he said would concentrate on health, nutritional and political education to build a better society free from hunger,poverty and corruption.Ramdev said the country is riddled with corruption and once it is wiped out it would usher into a new development era and emerge as a major power in the world.He said Rs.16 lakh crore stashed away in the Swiss Bank from India should be brought back to be used in the developmental activities and demanded a ban on the circulation of big denomination currency note to check the black money accounting to the tune of Rs 50 lakh crore.The Yoga guru said although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stated that he would bring back the black money from the Swiss Bank but no initiative has been taken during the last one year in this regard.Such a delay indicated that political leaders and top officials are involved in the racket, he said adding '' We are interested in Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in the country but reluctant to bring back the black money deposited in the Swiss Bank'' To a question, Ramdev said any operation against the Naxalites will not solve the problem or wipe out Naxalism in the country. The naxal problem, he said, had spread to 250 districts across the country which are mostly poverty ridden and under developed in health and education.He said once these districts were developed in all aspects, the Naxal problem would be automatically resolved. The Yoga Guru agreed to hold talks with the left wing ultras if asked to do so by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to reslove the Naxal problems in the country.'' You can not kill naxalism by using force, the Yoga Guru said adding if the government was so sincere to resolve the problem it should go to the root of the Naxalism and check corruption which was the biggest threat for undertaking any developmental work.Ramdev also suggested that the government should formulate new law to establish special Fast Track court to award capital punishment to those involved in corruption, terrorism, rape, murder and anti national activities.


Maoists kill BMS worker in Orissa
ROURKELA (VISAKEO): Senior BMS leader Sukru Oram, a labour contractor for the railways, was abducted by the rebels from his house in Kumakela village. According to police, nearly 30-40 armed rebels were involved in the incident. Oram was dragged into a nearby forest, and shot dead. Police retrieved his body from the Champajharan area. "Maoists killed Sukru Oram after abducting him. They suspected him to be a police informer," Banai sub-divisional police officer Sudarshan Sethy said. Soon after Sukru Oram's body was recovered, locals along with BJP and BMS workers blocked national highway-23 seeking compensation for Oram's family and adequate security for party workers. "We demand compensation of Rs.5 lakh for the family of the deceased party worker. We also demand adequate protection for the party workers in the area," said Jual Oram, the president of Orissa unit of BJP.


Weavers' group files patent for new weaving technology
SAMBALPUR (VISAKEO):Sambalpuri Bastralaya Handloom Cooperative Society Ltd filed the patent at the Kolkata patent office on the textile which a weaver makes using a tie-and-dye method but without wrap, the society's managing director Dilip Kumar Routray said. "We have filed a patent application on a process for making the wall hanging with appealing features. The technology has been developed by Bhikari Meher, one of our weavers. We have filed for the patent on his behalf," he said. At least four designs of the wall hangings which Bhikhari makes using this new technology have already been registered under Designs Act 2000, Routray said, and added that the registration was granted this week and the society was informed. Sambalpuri Bastralaya has its headquarters at Bargarh town in the Bargarh district, some 380 km from here. It is one of India's biggest weavers' cooperative with more than 16,000 members. The members are mostly engaged in the making of Sambalpuri cloth - traditionally hand woven cloth wherein the warp and the weft are tie-dyed before weaving. Weavers often complain that some manufacturers outside the state were blatantly copying the patterns and marketing their products across the globe as original traditional Sambalpuri textiles, the official said. The step has been taken to guard against their illegal copying and marketing, he added.