Chit fund: The Pajero way
Odisha is enveloped by a series of chit fund scandals where 25 lakh people are said to have been cheated. Whether they get back their investment or not is a matter of public concern, but the alleged involvement of some politicians including those from the ruling BJD is of intense political significance. MlA Pravat Tripathy has been released on bail, while MP Ramchandra Hansda is still behind bars.
There are some influential people including those from the print and electronic media implicated. Newspaper owner Madhu Mohanty is struggling to bail himself out. There has been spilling of the beans leading to stunning revelations day in and day out. Involvement of Sanjay Dasburma who is a Cabinet Minister in Naveen Patnaik Government is now in currency. The Pajero controversy sparked by his arch bête noire lulu Mohapatra and the Minister’s alleged conflict of interest with Artha Tatwa chit fund company unless proved to its contrary, the Minister is going to incur the wrath of the high command. The Damocles sword is hanging on him. While Dasburma is trying for a clean chit from CBI through a group of lawyers, small fries Cuttack MlA of ruling party Dabasis Samantray and the Chhatra Biju Janata president Byomokesh Ray are gasping for breath because of their D’link. As apprehended if the criminal – politician nexus leads to the fall of the Naveen empire, the grapevine talk will no doubt get full marks.
All eyes on Apr 24 meet
Block Grant teachers are not getting a fair deal from the Government. They resorted to strike wearing black badge during examination and finally boycotted evaluation of examination papers of +2 students which posed a threat to timely publication of results with future of the students in stake. The alternative arrangement by engaging ‘all and the sundry’ on the face of a stiff resistance by the affected lecturers was not the right step to handle the situation. After days of the strike though the impasse is over, it is only temporary and the Government has no reason to be cheerful and treat the development as a victory. Abolition of Block Grant scheme and treating the staff as Government employees being the demand, it needs to be seen how far the ministerial committee rises to the expectation when it meets on April 24 under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Pradeep AmatIJ What will be the fate of the lecturers who are being treated like bonded labours till nowIJ How is the Government going to relax the huge burden on its exchequer which has been the main reason for not acceding to their demandsIJ Be that as it may, the agitating teachers have finally relented when the threat perception weighed heavily on them. Kudos to Higher Education Minister Pradip Panigrahi and Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das on whose behest the stalemate is over, temporarily though.
Before the irrational takes over, we hope the Government will invoke its faculty of discriminate intelligence and safeguard the future of our students. A complete reform of the higher education system of the State is the need of the hour. A holistic approach should therefore replace the fits-and-starts approach adopted so far.
Asirbad’s empire crumbles
The empire he built at the Barabati Stadium for his kith and kin crumbled and Asirbad Behera, one time sportsman and the State’s most efficient sports administrator, stepped down from the post of honorary Secretary of the Odisha Olympic Association following a direction from the Supreme Court. Behera is also the Secretary of Odisha Cricket Association, the richest sports body of the State. He is shrewd enough in managing the fund of the OCA which has swelled year after year by the grants received from Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI).
The BCCI grant is said to be enormous and he alleged to have diverted a huge chunk out of that to build the unauthorized commercial complex including a Kalyan Mandap being looked after by his son and his son-in-law. The court has established his conflict of interest which can enter the realm of fiscal impropriety. In the name of improving the game of cricket in Odisha, Ashirbad garnered quite a huge amount and that was misused as the District Associations were deprived of getting grants out of the fund available with the OCA. The area of encroached Government land is a legacy of late Bhairab Mohanty passed on to Behera and he is likely to get a clean chit on that score. But it will be difficult to prove him innocent in the matter of financial embezzlement. Stadia all through the State are built on Government land and in many cases the Record of Right (RoR) has not been transferred to those associations. It is time not only the irregularities of Barabati Stadium were removed once for all, but also the Sports Associations in the district level got their records of right.
A lost opportunity
Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not take advantage of the International Mother Tongue Day while addressing the Bargarh rally on February 21. He should have spoken about the Kosli language waiting centre’s nod for inclusion in the 8th schedule of the constitution respecting there the sentiments of a regional conglomeration. People close to Modi failed to apprise him of the significance of the day vis-à-vis this mass sentiment and BJP lost an opportunity. BJP’s lost opportunity is always a gain for BJD in western Odisha. Naveen Patnaik is clever enough to cash in on such opportunities in his party’s favour. He has declared Kosli language research institute in Ghens block of Bargarh district which is not only considered a unique gift for the people of western Odisha but also a recognition to Padma Shree Haldhar Nag after whose name the institute will be established.Knowing Patnaik well as we do, the Chief Minister is aware that the language spoken by more than one lakh people in the State will get constitutional sanction sooner than later. How a shrewd politicianlike him can miss a win-win situation, offered by BJP on a platterIJ
(The writer, a public relations expert, is a functional editor of English weekly Kosal Horizon, email: baidyanathmishra123@rediffmail.com Cell: 94370 83025)