Nagada: Penury amidst plenty
Nagada village paints a picture of penury in plenty. The tribal village of Jajpur is in the midst of the chromites rich Sukinda block in Jajpur. Nine companies including Tata, OMC and FACOR are engaged in exploiting minerals in the area but none of them sans Tata has ever tried to reach out to the villagers and show their empathy. Has the Government ever questioned if the companies have been doing their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of these companiesIJ How come Nagada does not find a place in their scheme of thingsIJ If the Government is to be blamed for those deaths of unfortunate children, the companies are also to be squarely made responsible. Now the lesson before the Government is to list out all hilltop villages of the State and develop roads, schools, hospitals, welfare centres et al to ensure a fair living for them. As more such villages keep on getting added to the list in the post Nagada scenario of Odisha,where is our Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram these daysIJ Will he be made accountable for the sufferings of these innocent tribalsIJ
Vote catching by gift-making
Political PR is something different, especially in a State like Odisha. Innovate as many populist schemes, distribute loads of doles and freebies to buy voters’ loyalty and cross the five-year hurdle is the latest theory. Given a brief by any political party of Odisha, he will select this formula as numero uno. With rice @Re 1 per kg to the delight of the BPl families, the ruling party is cock sure of wining any election in the State. 30 odd schemes have been launched by the Odisha Government to woo the voters and it is reaping benefits. The ever winning formula of introducing allowance for old age weavers and mobile sets and other gifts to women and farmers has stood the test of time. The schemes have been made targeting to benefit people from cradle to grave. They are like the renowned public schools of Delhi which take admission right when they are in mother’s womb. Education being the prime requirement in a democracy for success, it has become a hazard to be delivered rather than an ideal to cherish. Keeping the people of an area in dark is a winnability theory of the BJD Government - a policy well nourished by the feudal rulers of our country. But BJP this time empowered by its Government at the Centre is making a dent into the BJD vote base of the State. As a first step, the party is making efforts to dispel the myth of gift-making.
Drive against encroachment
When law makers become the law breakers, stubborn bureaucrats like Kalahandi Collector Dr D Brunda or Sub-Collector Sukanta Tripathy had no choice but to halfway abandon the demolition drive they once carried on with gusto. Eyebrows were raised in Bhawanipatna town, especially when Housing and Urban Development Minister Puspendra Singh Deo allegedly came to the rescue of the encroachers of the Government land. Till then many areas of the town were demolished in the name of widening roads, including restoration of Government land from the encroachers. A building worth nearly Rs 1crore was grounded near the old cinema hall and the stadium boundary was demolished to build a circular road over a stretch of about 2 km. This was possible as public resistance was not stiff enough initially and political interference was nominal. But when action was initiated against the biggest organized encroachment where the influential land grabbers of the town are involved, it was as if all the hell broke loose. Bhawanipatna and Junagarh MlAs stood by the land grabbers who spent huge amount to organise a stiff opposition. Sing Deo who has nothing at stake in Bhawanipatna (Jaipatna being his residence and Dharmagarh his constituency) had to accept the brief on behalf of the demonstrators and is believed to have persuaded the local administration to stay the eviction drive. Here the question is if eviction from Government land was initiated as an offshoot of a PIl heard in the High Court, why this organized land grabbing over the sports field of a high school could not be brought within the jurisdiction of the court ordersIJ A sports field meant for school children does have a sensitive tag and therefore, a trespass or unauthorized occupation there on is a crime against the society. The administration is answerable for its ‘one-step-forward-and-two- step- backward approach’ as this will be a burning issue of the town for quite some time.
Politicising Mahanadi row
The Mahanadi river row between Chhattisgarh and Odisha has unnecessarily been politicized. If the master plan of the Chhattisgarh Government for construction of barrages upstream Mahanadi is executed, it can upset the perennial water flow of the river in dry season. They are now using 37.5 per cent water in the catchment areas of the river and their master plan aims at using 86 per cent. If that is so, Odisha’s concern is genuine. It was beyond the comprehension of the Odisha Government that the issue would take such a turn, though the Opposition in the State had raised questions on the related matter from time to time. Now that things have gone out of control, there is panic in the BJD camp as the issue is likely to be hijacked by the Opposition, especially when panchayat election is round the corner. And finally, the issue which could have administratively decided between the two neighbouring States is now stretched into an unhealthy political battle. What could have been resolved by the Chief Engineers of both the States or at best with intervention of the Chief Secretaries at bureaucratic level, politicians have made it a political issue to take advantage from dirty waterIJ