Reply affidavit filed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the matter of Debadityo Sinha & Others Vs Union of India & Others. An application filed before the NGT said that illegal construction activities and clearing the vegetation and forest using massive earthwork and levelling the land …
BHUBANESWAR: In another step towards food security in the state, Odisha has been included in International programme for Roots and Tuber Crops (RTC), initiated by International Potato Centre (known by its Spanish acronym CIP). The project seeks to achieve food security on sustained basis through scientific research on potato, sweet …
The State Horticultural Mission will implement various schemes worth Rs.77 crore during the current financial year for producing and distributing planting materials, expanding organic cultivation and training and post-harvest management, among others. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy would inaugurate the schemes at a function at Koothuparamba at 4 p.m. on September …
Bhubaneswar: In a glaring instance of step-motherly attitude, the Centre has ignored the repeated requests made by the Odisha government to release a special package of Rs 4,500 crore for Special Plan for backward Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput (KBK) region. On the other hand, it has granted a package of …
BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has formed a Task Force of medical experts for surveillance and initiation of control measures in view of the recent increase in dengue cases in different districts. The Government is also set to equip more hospitals at the district level with facilities for testing and diagnosis …
The new Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation (MMDR) Bill, 2011 will ensure that the industry shares its profits with affected people. This is a special report by Down To Earth on this bill that will make mining companies shell out Rs 10,500 crore a year for affected people. New …
A bill that promises direct benefit to people from the minerals underneath their land is ready to be tabled in Parliament this monsoon session. The Group of Ministers gave it a nod on July 7 after minor changes in the contentious profit-sharing provision, which requires mining companies to shell out …
BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Environment and Forests has sanctioned stage-II and final level clearance to National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) for diversion of 110.3 hectares of forest land for bauxite mining lease in Koraput. The forest diversion was required for the renewal of its mining lease for 20 years in …
BHUBANESWAR: After initial refusal to sanction funds under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to the six districts under CBI scanner, the Centre on Monday released Rs 170 crore for the wage employment programme.
Contaminated water sources and the virtual absence of health care claim dozens of lives in the State, now in the grip of cholera. COME monsoon and the backward regions of Orissa are in the grip of water-borne diseases. This year too has been no different. According to official figures, 150 …
PARADIP: The district administration has decided to go ahead with land acquisition for Posco steel project on Wednesday despite protests from anti-Posco groups. Land acquisition will be carried out with the help of the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO), said District Collector Narayan Chandra Jena. The administration on Tuesday conducted …
Montek lauds government for achieving progress in several fields The Annual Plan for Orissa for 2011-12 was finalised at Rs. 15,200 crore at a meeting held here on Wednesday between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The Plan size marks a substantial increase …
BHUBANESWAR: Orissa's literacy rate might have grown exponentially in the last decade to touch 73.45 per cent, almost on par with the National average of 74.04, but the Naxal hotbeds of the State continue to wallow in illiteracy. Literacy rate in the Maoist-infested districts of Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur still …
BHUBANESWAR: State-run National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the union mines ministry for the financial year 2011-12, the company said. NALCO's acting chairman-cum managing director (CMD) B.L. Bagra signed the agreement with Mines Secretary Vijay Kumar in New Delhi, a company statement said. …
The Naveen Patnaik Government has made a major course correction in its populist scheme. The rice Rs. 2-a-kg scheme would no longer include a privilege section - the above poverty line (APL) families in the backward KBK region. The privilege section enjoying the largesse included income tax payers, members of …
BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to seek the help of Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS) for setting up mini and micro hydel projects for generation of clean and cheap electricity. A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik …
This paper examines the spatial pattern of poverty in India and tries to understand how multiple deprivation leads to reproduction of poverty, with a particular focus on forest-based economies in central-eastern India.
When patdehri (chief priest) Halu Thanapati, 68, gets possessed, he hastily dives into the badan khaal—the yoni of Goddess Duarseni, the supreme deity of his tribe—as though to suck the rare wisdom that ensures ‘existence’ on earth. The yoni is actually the mouth of a natural tunnel, which is independent …
Something is stirring in paddy fields across India. New seeds, new crop management techniques and newly minted food security policies are about to hit the countryside. Not all of the changes that are being forged in Krishi Bhawan, headquarters of the Union agriculture ministry, in the top-flight research institutions across …
Jai Sri is a common greeting in the Koraput countryside these days. A Paraja tribal woman working in her fields, a passing motorcyclist driving through the rutted lanes, a teacher heading for his school, they all greet each other and visitors with a Jai Sri. It has nothing to do …
JEYPORE: Farmers of Koraput district are facing distress sale of paddy with the State Civil Supplies Corporation yet to release funds for procurement. Middlemen are buying paddy from hapless farmers at `900 a quintal, `100 less than the minimum support price (MSP) in various mandis. The district administration had fixed …
