Unhappy Dilip
Disassociation of Dilip Ray with Steel Minister Tomar in his programmes during the latter’s visit to Rourkela is not a good omen for the BJP. Dilip is said to have expressed his unhappiness because of the dilly-dallying of SAIl in Prime Minister’s declared projects like upgradation of IGH into Medical College Hospital (MCH) and revival of Purunapani mines with an industrial hub under the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ programme. Though Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Dilip Ray recently summoned RSP CEO Aswin Kumar and reviewed the progress made on the MCH project, it was revealed that the project awaits clearance of the SAIl Board for which the Board note has already been prepared. But Dilip is impatient and has decided to boycott the programmes of Tomar at Rourkela. Now whether this is one of the pressure tactics to please Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a matter of speculation. But Dilip, who once held this portfolio, is well conversant with the functioning style of the Steel Ministry and the grapevine has it that this move is a part of the strategy to belittle the Steel Minister before Modi so that Tomar is out and Jual is in. Nothing is impossible in politics and if the speculation comes true the lobby being made for Jual Oram to replace Tomar will be successful and as the kingmaker Dilip will take advantage of the situation as a shrewd business tycoon raising his assets by a few crores before the next election.
Numero Uno Minister!
Numero Uno in the list of popular Ministers, Pranab Prakash Das has left behind ‘youth icon’ Panchyati Raj Minister Dr Arun Sahu. This proves that his performance card is obviously bright and image clean. Going by the recent media reports about unbounded potential of solar energy in 10 districts of western Odisha, one can expect that the young Minister will influence the Chief Minister to declare a development package for western Odisha which is crying for a separate State on account of regional imbalance. His package for production of solar energy in 10 districts of western Odisha will be good enough to lower down the wavering cry of the Kosal State protagonists and also the Government can muster courage to table the Mohanty Commission report on the floor of the Assembly in the Monsoon Session. With production capacity over 30,000 mega watt of nonconventional energy, the backward western districts can look for an economic turnaround along with a decent living for its people at par with developed districts of the State. This can kill two birds with one stone. Generation of solar energy can put Odisha as an energy surplus State once again. Secondly, the package can halt the political undercurrent of a division of the State once and for all. The third benefit is the Government can come clean on the issue of suppressing the Mohanty Commission report for the last eight years obviously not to open the Pandora’s Box. Will the Minister be little aggressive in his approach and convince the high command on this point and consolidate his position in the galaxy of the luminaries.
Midsummer night’s dream
Scarcity of drinking water in Odisha is a fact that needs no vindication. According to media reports, the Government recently dedicated 100 pipe water projects to the people of Odisha and 100 more projects are in the pipeline. According to another report, the Government has announced one more tube well each for 17,000 villages with a resolve to supply drinking water to all villages by 2020. The target looks ambitious with a bit of populist touch. Scarcity of drinking water in villages draws the Government attention only during the scorching heat of the summer months only to be forgotten as soon as monsoon arrives. Out of 47,149 villages the Government has reached 17,210 villages to supply potable drinking water. According to the latest survey, around 2 crore population is deprived of clean drinking water and around half of them collect water from rivers, ponds, canals and by digging temporary wells on the river bed. Odisha in this respect is behind 22 States with Chandigarh remaining at the top among States by catering to 99.3 per cent of its population. Another statistics reveals that 75.3 per cent family in Odisha get water from tube wells. This means one tube well for 100 people, fair enough! But the issue gets aggravated during summer months as most of these are defunct. The Government of Odisha has provided Rs 988.2 crore in the current year Budget for supply of drinking water to villages through 600 projects, besides 500 pipe water projects, construction of 300 overhead tanks and 500 chemical separation units. A village sarpanch will be held responsible if drinking water is not available in his village. On pen and paper these raise people’s aspiration but going by the past implementation record this can only be termed as the Government’s midsummer night’s dream.
An Odia hero
Of late, the heroic story of Raghu Nayak is in the limelight. He was not only an eyewitness of Gandhiji’s murder but his valour in physically capturing killer Nathuram Godse when he was trying to escape, is worthy of emulation. Gandhiji breathed his last on the lap of Raghu Nayak who was working as a gardener in Birla Bhawan (New Delhi), the prayer place of Gandhiji. For Gandhiji, Raghu Nayak was ‘Raghu Mali’ as he was affectionately called by the father of the nation. He lived a simple life. On coming to Calcutta from his village Jagulaipada in Kendrapada district, he was introduced to Ghan Shyam Birla through Ashutosh Banerjee and Birla instantly appointed him as a gardener in Birla Bhawan, Baliganj. later he was transferred to Delhi and became the eye witness of Gandhiji’s murder. He was staying in the servant quarter of Dr Harekrishna Mahatab in Delhi. That he throttled Nathuram Godse’s escape is itself a story of an Odia hero. He was felicitated by former President Dr Rajendra Prasad with a cash award of Rs500 in 1955. This became a moment of history but even if we call Dr Mahatab as the architect of modern Odisha, what respect he had for this unsung hero is not known. Probably, he did nothing for him. His wife Mandodari has been felicitated by Naveen Patnaik with cash assistance of Rs5 lakh on May 10 last which is a good news to cherish.
(The writer, a public relations expert, is a functional editor of English weekly Kosal Horizon, email: baidyanathmishra123@rediffmail.com Cell: 94370 83025)