Advantage BJP!
Subsequent to the Niti Ayog’s blunt refusal to consider Odisha as a Special Category State, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should stop parroting the demand before it becomes a cliché. Obviously, the Prime Minister will not respond to the demand once categorically denied at the appropriate level. Now, blaming him for not responding to the issue is a sign of intolerance.
The Chief Minister’s silence on Posco was rather mind boggling. For this enterprise of the Koreans, his silence vindicates the Government’s failure to provide the olive branch to the steel major. The CM is aware of the weakness of his Government in handling this project and presumably therefore he did not invite more criticism by raising the issue. But then, Khandadhar mines exist in the constituency of Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and by raising this issue on the podium, the Chief Minister could have embarrassed the Prime Minister as well the Tribal Affairs Minister, thus killing two birds in one shot. Patnaik remained silent at the cost of a lost opportunity. People say he cannot help it because positive thought do not strike the faculty of intelligence when indulged in negative thinking with a prejudiced mind.
This piece of intelligence cannot come when you are busy in a race for cornering the credit of IOCl without adequate contribution. A confrontation with the Centre was, therefore, uncalled for. But truth remains that the event had little for the BJD to gain from. On the contrary, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had stolen the show in a predetermined way as it was always an advantage BJP.
Grave for self-burial
Performing the ‘last rites’ of the Government by tonsuring the heads by the Block Grant teachers is a novel way of protest besides being a barbers’ delight. In hind sight if we pause and ponder one question puzzles our mind as to what happened to Naveen Patnaik’s commitment to quality education in rural and far flung areas of the StateIJ The Block Grant High School teachers had called off their longest ever cease work agitation after they were assured of full grant-in-aid (GIA). But several months after resuming duty they have been taken for a ride once again. Their demand for regular service in GIA mode is ignored and instead they are being offered 20 per cent hike over their salary under Block Grant. Grave injustice coupled with a State wide solidarity extended to their genuine cause brought them back to the State capital for stir. Their march towards Naveen Niwas breaking the police cordon met with stiff police opposition and around 40 BG teachers were injured when police resorted to lathi charge on them.
They also gheraoed the residences of seven Ministers, who are members of the Inter-Ministerial committee looking into their demands. There was a time when the teaching profession was treated with utmost reverence. The teachers were teaching under tremendous hardship. The tuition culture came only when looked for alternative source of income. Now they are involved in all sorts of dispensation at Government’s command. Starting from managing the kitchen in the mid-day meal scheme and maintenance of pass book in the Government sponsored bicycle scheme for students, they are asked to work during census and general elections, without adequate compensation. And now when the +2 and +3 private college teachers have also joined hands and taken to the streets for fulfilment of their demands, the pristine character of the profession is getting polluted and gradually turning into a self burial grave for the Government.
Tryst with sports
The Naveen Patnaik Government has announced 200 mini stadiums to be set up across Odisha in the next few years. The emphasis seems to be on quantity. But does he not know it is quality which mattersIJ
Maintenance of stadiums is not limited to construction of a boundary and the viewer’s gallery. It is the turf on which the game played is important and for that a Standard Operating Practice (SOP) is to be followed. Who will provide thisIJ For 200 stadiums at least one thousand skilled ground maintenance staff members are required. Where will they come fromIJ Secondly, spotting of talents, nurturing them and rehabilitate them with jobs being a continuous process, do we have a policy in place with adequate funds to assist and encourage our boys and girls who are eager to excel as sports persons and earn laurels for their State and the nationIJ leaving this task to the fund-starved and politics-ridden District Athletic Association will be a time wasting exercise. Instead, sport as a corporate social responsibility can promise a bright future for our State. The Barabati Stadium and the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack are of international standard, but their records of producing national-level players, are poor.
Nurturing of budding players, athletes and their rehabilitation through employment in private and public sector is abysmally low in Odisha. Cancellation of a sportsmen requirement proposal by ECoR in the name of fiscal austerity is a fresh example. Players after reaching certain level of performance switch over to other fields in search of gainful employment. CSR is an industry buzz word these days. They beat their drums in the name of encouragement to sports. But their action is limited to supply of volley ball nets and hockey sticks to village clubs. Such lip service to sports won’t help.
Adoption of a particular game in their area of operation and pumping adequate funds through a dedicated team can do wonders. A State-level seminar at the behest of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs with a strong political will to implement its recommendation perhaps is a step in right direction before embarking on an ambitious sports development programme.
RDC report gathering dust!
The State Government has an unfathomable mindset, especially when it comes to public outreach. It does not admit suicide of farmers on account of crop loss and loan burden. Death due to hunger is never admitted but intentionally made controversial so that social and human rights activists forget the issue sooner than later before the Government is blamed; so also, the reports of the commissions — judicial or administrative. Instances are not far to seek. Mohanty commission on regional imbalance is a unique case. Set up in 2004, the commission submitted its report in 2008 but a committee is sitting over it for reviewing the same for the last eight years. Similarly the report on the tragic boat capsize incident of the Hirakud Dam is yet to be made public. The RDC has submitted its findings within four months of the incident that claimed 31 lives. Most of them were lion’s Club members who belonged to effluent Marwari families. This community is always loyal to the Government of the day. But is there anything in returnIJ Anniversaries of the tragic incident may have some relevance to the affected families but those in the Government do not care even though the report is gathering dust somewhere in the State Secretariat. Shouldn’t the Government disclose the report along with the action-taken report (ATR) if any, which may be of solace to the bereaved families and check recurrence of such incidentsIJ To expect a plausible explanation from this insensible Government is preposterous, with exception, of course, during vote bank dispensation.
(The writer, a public relations expert, is a functional editor of English weekly Kosal Horizon, email: baidyanathmishra123@rediffmail.com Cell: 94370 83025)