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November 23, 2011

EX MUNICIPALITY CHAIRMAN FINALLY SURRENDERED BEFORE THE SDJM , SAMBALPUR

EX MUNCIPALITY CHAIRMAN FINALLY SURRENDERS BEFORE THE SDJM 23/11/2011

ODISHA UPDATE:-

SAMBALPUR:-



The ex municipality Chairman Girish patel surrendered before the SDJM, Sambalpur in a fake certificate case and was released on bail on Tuesday afternoon. The BJP bahubali , is a Gujarati by caste , who held the position of Chairman of the Sambalpur Municipality from the year 2004 to 2008 was guilty of obtaining a fake OBC certificate in his favor. Police had registered a case against him due to the pressure of many political parties but did not arrest him due to the affairs he was handling during Advani’s Rath yatra. What an irony? One can easily assess the mindset of the police officers and district administrations.



Girish patel managed to get a bail from the High Court and surrendered before the SDJM, Sambalpur as per the High Court order after furnishing an amount of RS 20,000. The court imposed certain conditions on him like he will not commit any similar offence in the future, not to temper with the evidences and report to the local police station on every Saturday.


Girish patel originally belong to Gujrat and was elected as a Chairman of the Muncipal Council at Sambalpur in 2004, even though the post was reserved for the OBC category. Thanks to the Indian democracy and Advani’s anti- corruption drive. Patel managed to procure the fake certificate from the Tahsil office, showing him as a member of the “Chasa Community” i.e. a farmer caste. It was a matter of surprise that the Tahsildar gave the certificate under the pressure of the local BJP MLA Jaynarayan Mishra.


This matter created uproar when a whistle blower Arabind sahu filed a review petition in the Tahsil challenging the legality of the certificate. However, patel because of his money power got a stay over the matter from the High Court and finished his tenure as a Chairman despite of criticism from various organizations.


Finally, Sambalpur Tahsil cancelled the certificate on March 2010 because the High Court order to early disposal of the pending case within three months. But the district administration didn’t pay any heed to the order of the apex body and feared to take any criminal proceedings because of the muscle power of the BJP leaders. Lastly the Collector Mrinalini Darswal inferred into the matter and wrote to the SP to take action and a case was registered on 21st October.


It was all done at the behest of the Local BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra and his corrupt practices.


In the present context corruption is so much linked with power that our politicians have adopted a cynical attitude toward political morality. Maneuvering the anti-defection law for electoral politics with the help of both money and muscle power and other unfair means for the sake of power have affected the political morality of all the political parties and as such none of them can claim themselves to be faithful to nation in true sense. Manu may not be relevant to the present century, but as human nature more or less remains same and states either in monarchy or democracy is governed by the same human beings, he is still relevant. License to govern does not mean license to be corrupt. Mahatma Gandhi believed in the need for creating a social climate against corruption, which meant creation of an atmosphere in which the corrupt could not thrive. The need of the hour therefore, is to wipe off the tormenting system, which could be possible only after its thorough overhaul. For this our national leadership is expected to devise a political mechanism to create a social atmosphere by empowering of people. The ongoing war cry against corruption, which is nothing but a mad fight to replace one corrupt system by another is not going to transform the beleaguered nation to a sustainable social order, “as analyzed by R. Upadhyay.


From small time clerks to the high profile politicians, commissioners, police inspectors, traffic police, stock exchange brokers, military establishments, recruiters, sportsmen, judiciary and most of the government employees, corruption is seen and felt in every transaction from bottom of the chain till the top.
Greater solutions may include population control to improve the quality than the quantity; controlling population will bring up the quality of life and thus lesser competition and effective control of people and government processes. However feasible solutions are to impart moral principles in schools, and introduction of stringent audits, accountability, effective tracking of corrupt individuals through citizen cards or tax id's.


Computerization of processes, privatization of public sectors, eliminating the chain of corruption by not just punishing the first level but also higher levels involved.
Corruption is not limited to atheists, even the most corrupts are highly religious and have close family ties, in other words corruption has no boundaries. Religion and religious congregations can support and promote anti-corruption drives.


Corruption is not a luxury tax. Whoever described corruption is a luxury tax probably said it out of frustration; the religion of corruption, the corruption of politics, the dishonest souls and perversion of integrity is unpardonable.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS,
ODISHA.

THE AGE OLD TRADITION PUT TO AN END

THE AGE OLD TRADITION PUT TO AN END 23/11/2011

ODISHA UPDATE:-


It is a matter of days before the state government formally declares at least 17 persons freed from 'hereditary bonded labor', a social justice possibly never done before in the country. The Puri district administration is currently preparing 'certificates' to be handed over to these men of caste from Bramhagiri area, who were bound by the age-old practice of what is locally called 'Bartan'.


The age old practice was a disgraceful practice where the men belonging to Barber caste have to wash the feet of guests during social gatherings and functions in villages. The district administration in Puri said that it was a learning process because they hadn’t handled such cases earlier.


According to the legal point of view, each Bartan victim will be given Rs 1000, along with a certificate and later on the government will provide an additional amount i.e. Rs 19,000 towards their rehabilitation. “The rehabilitation amount given to the victims is not sufficient and significant and needs to be raised”, uttered by a Human Right activist, Mr Baghambar Pattanaik.


Mr Pattanaik is actually the man behind this great cause a decade ago and he was put behind the bars for the reason best known. Actually Pattanaik battle against this draconian tradition began in 2002, when some barbers denied washing the feet of guests in a function, which lead to a uproar in the Bramhagiri area. The Barbers were physically assaulted and denied entry into their own village.


Mr Pattanaik fought for the cause at every level from District level to National Human Right Commission. In 2005 during a protest Rally, the state government arrested Mr Pattanaik in Bhubaneswar and jailed him for Three months.


Finally, the National Human Right Commission in 2008 interfered into the matter and declared “Bartan” a manifestation of bonded labor and asked the State government to take initiative. But somehow the State government delayed taking proper action. It was on January of 2011, when the National Human Right Commission visited the State and put pressure on the government to go forward. The Official notification finally came on 17th February, 2011.


Such retrograde practice in present day is not called for. It is a superfluous practice at present not viewed as dignified. There is always a silver lining in dark clouds.


SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS,
ODISHA

JUSTICE DELIVERY SYSTEM IN INDIA TOO LATE

JUSTICE DELIVERY SYSTEM IN INDIA TOO LATE 22/11/2011

It is facts that leaving few all the laws/ acts/ rules were made by the britishers and were used by them efficiently for their cause. After we received freedom, the same laws continued but slowly it were less of used and more of abused. Even if we look towards the new laws made by us they seem to be made in such haste or may be under pressure that the resultant is draconian effect. We have failed to make a simple marriage/ divorce/ harassment act which is balanced or not biased. We have made laws for the protection of women but under the process we have made a law against the men, similarly law to protect the sc/ st is another draconian law heavily biased towards the complainants. If an innocent man is entrapped he has no recourse except to spend his nights in jail, and there are many more examples. We have proved that we are a failure when it comes to making law for our country. We have yet to understand that the law should be in such form and feature that it is as protective to the complainant as to the accused; each one should have equal opportunity and protection.

In a democratic country like India, judiciary plays a vital role in establishing a state of justice. Therefore being the watchdog, they are not allowed to shift their burden to others for their failure to establish an actual State of Justice. It is judiciary on which millions of people have struck their faith of getting justice. It has the capability of imparting justice to the aggrieved. It is that part of our constitution which acts as its Messiah. It is that structure of our society, which cemented its place next to the God and if not properly dispensed will shatter down the entire trinity of democratic instrumentalists with checks balances, parliamentary structure and the judicial facets of our constitution. Generally, aggrieved with lots of pain anguish and hope in their heart approaches the court of law for their grievances to be clarified but at the end of the day the procedural lacuna left them with bare hands. They are denied of their most important right of Justice.

In India, Justice is beyond the reach of most and the right of access to it is not communicated to the citizens properly. In many a circumstances it was found that the litigant who has had access to the court failed to obtain quick relief and for some never have the opportunity even to knock the doors of the court due to ignorance and poverty. If we want justice to be accessible to all, then it must be relieved from the Laissez faire pattern, where justice like other commodity can be purchased and initiative must be taken to educate the populace.

Quest for justice has nothing to do with procedure or jurisdictional aspect rather it cares for its speedy disposal. Delay in disposal of cases is considered as one of the most vexed and worrying problem. It is the code of procedures, which makes it so worse. However personality likes Nani Phalkiwala opined that” Justice in common parlance is considered as blind but in India it is lame too and hobbles on crutches. It is on the verge of collapse with more than 30 million cases clogging the system. There are cases that take so much of time that even a generation is too short to get any type of redressal.”

86 year old Sukhram, the telecom minister in the cabinet of P V Narsimha Rao in 1996 has been sentenced to five years in prison and has been sent to Tihar.
He had been avoiding jail by getting statutory bail. An angry young man slapped Sukhram as he was being taken away because, he felt that the punishment of 5-years was too little for a crime of such huge proportions.

All eyes are today focused on A Raja and his involvement in the 2-G spectrum telecom scam which robbed the exchequer of crores of rupees. But A Raja is a babe in the woods. One of his predecessors, Sukhram began telecom scams in India in 1996. Sukhram was the Minister of Telecom in the Narsimha Rao government and has now been sent to prison for five years. He had accepted bribes amounting to Rs. 3 lakhs to award a contract for supply of telecom cables to a private contractor.

This is the sad state of affairs of the law in India today that a punishment of a crime committed in 1996 is awarded after nearly 15 years. Such situations are exploited to the hilt by offenders and justice delayed is justice denied. Slow action encourages others to follow the examples set by the earlier cases.

The case of A Raja and 2-G spectrum scam is one that falls in this category, there is utter confusion and since he is from the DMK camp, the ruling UPA coalition is wary of upsetting the equation. Every day new names are cropping up and the CBI has to keep up their search to unearth newer evidence that adds to the delays and the chances of getting convictions keep diminishing.


Delayed decisions, piled up files and indefinitely extending projects, never serve their purpose. They are the real roadblocks to development of any state or nation. Generally, delayed decisions take its maximum toll from the under privileged section as Poor section of our society, who were always treated as animals. They are often denied of their bare amenities of life.


Consider the condition of the poor victims of Bhopal gas Leak disaster, which took a toll of 15000 people. Twenty years had passed to that ghastly incident; still now victims were fighting for its compensation, which fails to measure up the damage caused to them. Consider the terrible situation occurred in August 1991 as massacre of Dalits at Tsundur in Andhra Pradesh. 13 years had passed to that incident; the families of the victims of Tsundur, still await justice for those who died. They say, they will not find any peace until the guilty are punished for their crime. Consider the condition of those girls who were brutally gang raped during the Godhra riots in front of their helpless family members. Consider the case of Jessica lal, where Delhi police yet to grab Manu Sharma, key accused, still able to safeguard himself from the clutches of the judicial administration. Still her family members await justice to be delivered. Consider the victims of Best Bakery case who still awaits justice to be dispensed in their favor but the climax starts with the key witness in the case turned hostile and the entire fate of the Bakery case is in turmoil. Today the victims of the all the above-enumerated cases know full well that the price of truth is extremely high.


Delay in our judiciary has reached a point where it has become a factor of injustice, a violator of human rights. Praying for justice, the parties become part of a long, protracted and torturing process, not knowing when it will end. Where it should take one to two years for the disposal of a civil suit, a case is dragged for 10 to 15 years, or even more. By the time judgment is pronounced the need for the judgment in certain cases is no more required. Moreover, in a society of class differentiation, the lengthy process, which is adversarial and confrontational in nature, puts the economically stronger party at an advantageous position. If the judiciary functions substantively and in accordance with the procedural laws, an existing wide scope for delays, can transform it into a system which becomes procedurally hostile towards marginalized sections of our people, defeating the goals of social justice.
Delay in disposal of cases is considered as one of the most vexed and worrying problem. It is the code of procedures, which makes it so worse. Procedures must be utilized to advance the cause of justice but in India it is used to thwart it.

Justice is something which should be dispensed as early as possible otherwise it will be too late for a critic to add a common adage to that Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. Current situation shows that it will take more than 300 years to clear the backlog of cases in Indian courts.


Indian Judicial System must change. It must change itself for the better and not bitter for the people. British quit India more than six decades back but the British system is stronger than ever before through Indian lawyers and judiciary. This is something to be personally experienced to believe it.


In India, especially for the ruling elite including the lawyers and judges there are more rights than duties. They serve more the rich, the urban, the social elite and less the rural people and the hapless villagers. Majority of Indian people who live in villages, toil hard and produce food and fiber for all cannot afford our judicial system. They silently suffer and silently pray and seek justice from the Supreme Judge and Creator the God Almighty.


To become a lawyer or judge is to forget one’s own culture, civilization and the path through which he or she reached the present position. This is equally true with other professions too.

India is free from the so called British Rule. Cricket to Judiciary India excels even Great Britain today. Naturally we are more British today than ever before. India badly needs today Indian Home Rule than ever before. The stumbling block for this Home Rule will be right from Indian Judiciary to Indian Lawyers down to political and apolitical elites sitting in National Capital Territory Delhi and State Capitals and exploiting the millions living in villages.

A Judge needs vacation. A Lawyer needs vacation. Both needs court rooms and files. Judges need salary enhancements and privileges and pensions. Lawyers need their fees whether the case is admitted or not and the judgment is in the litigants favor or not. They can dare for a Court Bandh or National Bandh.

Indian villagers who produce food and fiber cannot afford vacation. They do not demand and they give. They remain hungry and feed even those already fed. This is Indian village and Indian civilization. This may not be easily understood by the Western Civilization that is beyond recognition and its original fragrance due to Industrialization and self-centeredness.
In my view, reforms are required in one other area apart from economic and judicial reforms. And that is in the electoral process and basic parliamentary affairs. Good governance is the need of the hour (even for any kind of reform) yet, we continue with an archaic format of electing a government and running the same. Why should we have 500 odd MPs sitting and arguing about legislation? Why not have 100000 elected representatives who can behave like true voices of the people at large? Why can’t real issues be raised and discussed in the lok sabha? Why can’t we have a parliamentary system that really raises the accountability of the Executive?

Surely the rules that applied in 1947 do not hold good today. Surely the biggest way of leveraging IT is in running a perfect democracy and making legislative decisions truly information and opinion led rather than politically motivated.

The legacy that I would really want the current government to leave behind is one of making good governance a feasible proposition in this vast country by completely re-casting our electoral and legislative process.


The problem with our judicial system is finding the person for the job. We need persons with balance of mind with ability to exercise discretion appropriately. Lack of common sense is killing judiciary. There is scarcity of commonsense in judiciary. Person with good appetite for problems and perception to solve is the need of the hour. Judicial system requires intense training and personality development for those who are presiding to solve the dispute of the people. There is a very famous saying in the law that lets hundred of criminals be set free but one innocent cannot be get convicted or punished. Not always justice delayed is justice denied as there is also famous saying that justice hurried is justice buried reason being if we disposed of all the proceeding in hurry there may be too much chances that some important facts, clues will be left un noticed due to various reasons. But altogether we can also not ignored this fact also that some time some innocent person would get caught and they keep on fighting to prove their innocence, which develop some kind of dissatisfaction among them and due to which these people sometimes start following the wrong path and resulted into creation of criminals though earlier they were not.

Time has come for the present generation to awake and arise, if the world is to be better for them and for future generations.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS,
ORISSA

November 19, 2011

SOCIAL ACTIVIST TAKES ON THE GOVERNMENT


THE NARMADA BACHACAO ACTIVIST TAKES ON THE GOVERNMENT 19/11/2011

During her visit to Sambalpur,Odisha Social Activist Medha Patkar on Friday , 18th November enlightened the farmers and the peasants and desired for a equal rehabilitation policy for the land ouster and of the displaced people.

She criticized the Land acquisition act which is a curse and land reforms policy in Odisha . She lambasted the government in Odisha because of poor policy and not showing concern for landless and the development politics that is rampant in Odisha now. Odisha has become now an epicenter of investment for many corporate houses and industrialists and in the long run the poor people and specially the farmer loss their land. Development for the sake of development is not development. She further said that the government is because of the people and the people give their mandate. It will take no time for the same people to vote them out.

She supported the farmers’ agitation in western Odisha , especially the division/sharing of the Hirakud dam water among the farmers’ and the industries. Many activist from Odisha participated in the rally among them eminent social activist Prafulla Samantray, farmers’ leader Ashok Pradhan were leading the masses. They also served a copy of the memorandum to the government through the RDC, supporting their cause.

Land has become a key issue for both neoliberal capitalism and for people's movements. Land Acquisition Act of 1894 is used to take over land of indigenous and rural peoples today in the name of the common good. India has had 55 million people displaced by large dams.

She said, “Dam-based development is a gendered process with profound impacts on social and gender relations, identities and the ways in which resources are distributed between men and women. Because planners have largely ignored women's interests, gender inequalities have been worsened by the construction of large dams. Gendered protest against dams has highlighted the need for equity and questioned conventional notions of costs, benefits and loss.”

She said to an intellectual mass in a evening summit at the Sambalpur District auditorium regarding the global economic crisis depicting the example of call of wall street, “ On one hand, no doubt, it’s taking away the jobs in India, because, unfortunately, the Indian economy is linked with the global markets and money coming from the foreign centers and the lenders more than what should be necessary for the Indian economy, and hence this globalization is inevitably having an impact of whatever happens out and away from India.

But on the other hand, if it really cuts down the outsourcing from the countries such as yours, we would be more than happy. Although the immediate impacts would be negative, I think the long-term impact would be coming out with our own indigenous and self-reliant alternatives, which would not be market-based as much as it would be the natural and the human resource-based
.”

Medha patekar puts stress on Jan Andolans and want the People of Odisha to join hands with Anna Hazares’ cause “ Jan Lokpal Bill “. It will bring transparency in the governance.” What all the movement got is due to only one man - ANNA. He is the person who has succeeded and therefore all citizens have expectations from this simple and genuine man only. The members of the so called core team may come and go will not have any effect. It would be better for Anna to work according to his wishes and take on issues related to common man one by one,” she opined.

Now Odisha has become one of the most favorite places for investments in different sectors and thereby looting the mineral rich resources by the industrialists is a matter of grave concern. She further stated that the Posco project in Odisha violates the Forest Right Acts and constitutional rights of the people. The unholy nexus of bureaucracy, legislature and corporate houses has become a dangerous trend.
She demanded that any mega project which is opposed by the local people must be stopped instantly.

Lastly, Odisha has rich cultural and mineral resources. But the way government is manipulating it in the name of development according to their whims and fancy is highly condemnable.

May the times remember and forever her deeds to make an example of how a woman can make so many things happen to protect the ignorant from the clutches of the powerful.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS,
ODISHA.

November 17, 2011

ODISHA AND UTTAR PRADESH TEAM COLLIDED AT SAMBALPUR





ODISHA AND UTTAR PRADESH TEAM COLLIDED AT SAMBALPUR 17/11/2011

A 16-member team led by Natraj Behera was selected on 14th November to take on Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match commencing from November 17 today at the VSS Stadium in Sambalpur.

Team's captain, wicket-keeper batsman, Haldhar Das did not find place in the team after being suspended on the eve of Orissa's match against Punjab at Mohali for the entire season on disciplinary grounds. Subhrajit Sahu, the team's reserve stumper, would keep the wickets as he did in Mohali.

Meanwhile, dependable middle order batsman Niranjan Behera returned to the team after recovering from injury. Odisha was yet to get any point from its two matches played so far. It drew the first tie against Saurashtra at Cuttack and as per the new rules neither team could get any point as they failed to play one full innings each.

In the second match against Punjab at Mohali, the hosts trounced Odisha by eight wickets.

The team: Nataraj Behera (Captain), Biplab Samantaray (Vice-Captain), Bikash Swarup Pati, Sumitosh Praharaj, Paresh Patel, Nirnjan Behera, Subit Biswal, Abhilash Mallick, Deepak Behera, Basanta Mohanty, Jayanta Behera, Lagnajit Samal, Alok Mangraj, Preetamjit Das, Dhiraj Singh, Subhrajit Sahu. (Courtesy PTI)

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA
BUREAU CHIEF
THESE DAYS,
ODISHA

November 16, 2011

AWARENESS CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEX DETERMINATION

AWARENESS CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEX DETERMINATION 17/11/2011
ODISHA UPDATE:


Today we are in 21st century, but we still want boy in our home. Nowadays a girl child is being killed before birth. In this brutal crime, everyone is a co accused. We cannot give anybody a clean cheat. Interestingly, according to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health in the US; the sex proportion unevenness is highest amongst the well-off and the well-informed people. This is irony of fact that, in India; male-female percentage increases with the echelon of learning. According to the latest survey; the per cent of a boy is higher than a girl and it is about 25 per cent.

In Sambalpur district of Odisha the district legal authority has started an awareness campaign against sex determination and prohibition laid in the PC and PNDT (Pre Conception and Pre Natal diagnostic technique) act. The convener of the programme and secretary of the district legal service authority Mr. Pranab Routray expressed his deep concern and views over the sex ratio in the state. According to him Odisha is heading to a dangerous trend which needs to be curbed.

ORISSA IS heading towards a situation where the number of females is declining vis a vis males. After Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana, Orissa is facing the same crisis. However, the state government does not agree with the fact that female foeticide still prevails in the state. According to Mr Routray , “The determination of the foetus is illegal and if any person seeks help for sex selection, he/she can face imprisonment of three years and has to pay a fine of Rs 50,000. This has remained on paper.” He further added that unless people were aware, one cannot stop this practice through law.

Mr Routray provided a valuable information that the sex ratio in Sambalpur district was 959 females per thousand males in 2010 as compared and which has come down to a level to 931 per one thousand male in 2011. At the state level, while the sex ratio for all the age groups of population is 972 (2001 Census), it comes down to 950 in the 0-6 years age group of population. At the district level, the situation again has worsened in case of developed coastal districts such as Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Puri, Khurda, Ganjam. This is may be because the people have better access to sex determination tests.

Sex determination is a cognizable offence , where both the parents and doctor can be punished with a maximum fine up to Rs 1 Lakh.He further stated that the legal cell had started a month long awareness campaign against the sex determination and spreading awareness on saving the girl child in different schools thereby involving school children and teachers.

Female foeticide is an issue that demands serious thinking and action from many quarters of society. It is true that the mentality of equating women with money is at its root, but the partial treatment given to the girl even by mothers and mothers-in-laws, their demand for male child, the gender discrimination in public sphere as well as the unethical behaviour. Sometimes, it is the mothers themselves who opt for it as they do not want their unborn babies to suffer what they underwent as daughters.

Women should also be socialized from early childhood to consider themselves as equal to men. They should be encouraged to assume all those responsibilities, which are normally considered to be belonging to the male domain. This would be a positive influence on the coming generations as today’s girl child would be tomorrow’s mother as well as mother in-law.

It is clear that female foeticide is not merely from transgression of ethics but grave phenomena whose social repercussion is equally alarming. Besides, the ethical behavior by medical fraternity and concrete legal measures equally call for change in the mindset of society because there lays its final solution.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS,
ORISSA.

November 13, 2011

SAVE RTI

There are thousands of cases in which the RTI Act has helped the common man get justice without having to run from pillar to post. The individual citizen/aam admi who had no voice has got a tool which he can use from his own residence.

The RTI has come to be known as a tool to ensure accountability and transparency of public institutions. While one can confidently say that this is a legislation which the common man actually has learnt to use, a large number of people even amongst the educated and literate, are hesitant to use it. Most think that it is the exclusive business of ‘those activists’.

The RTI can be used not just for public spirited activities, but to also overcome the red-tape that we are faced with everyday in various government offices

It is not clear how the RTI act can be misused for it only gives access to the truth and how can the truth be misused? There are two types of reasons or doubt, the officer will be blackmailed and they will be harassed by filling too many applications. As long as the reasons go, one can only be blackmailed if one has committed any folly. Therefore, rather than demanding the information to be shared because wrong acts have been committed, it would better to stop doing wrong things because information should be shared.

There is a deep sense of concern in the government against RTI law since controversy of finance ministry’s famous letter to the Prime Minister over 2G spectrum scam erupted. Now, senior government ministers are arguing what is the point of confidentiality if secret communication between ministries becomes public through RTI applications. They are also concerned about government functioning and institutional efficacy and efficiency as RTI law is misused now. Rather diluting the act the government should streamline this law.

In India, the RTI law was hailed as a bold step when passed in 2005 by the parliament. RTI has had tremendous effect till date. It has become a source of information in number of court cases of which the most notable is the 2G case. In their argument of confidentiality against RTI, ministers forget the very foundation of this law. RTI was introduced so that no government functioning is wrapped under suspicious clouds. So, confidentiality does come but when transparency is at stake there should be no hitch if information is sought under the law.

Confidentiality is an ethical principle, so when the authority of accessibility of information is questioned it is a moral duty to make information public so that no doubt persists. Also, the argument of confidentiality nullifies as Supreme Court ruled three decades ago that right to information is implicit in the right to freedom and speech and expression. Here it is worth mentioning that secrecy is maintained under the law where it is utmost required. The argument that RTI law is harming government’s ability to perform is both laughable and deplorable. How does any disclosure of functioning of government affect its sharpness? In fact, it is a force that makes government’s functioning more accurate as it is the tool of people to monitor government functioning. Not only does it check corruption but also RTI has the potential to mend occurring mismanagement. RTI provides an opportunity where constant vigil stipulates that there are no lacunae in any kind of functioning. It has the potential to expedite the work with modern and apt methodology because of public scrutiny.

Governance is the act of governing, if every aspect of government functioning is made public why does one bother of inspection of acts in the name of confidentiality or in fear that it may hamper performance?

What could a laborer running from pillar to post for his ration card, a student waiting eagerly for his passport, a housewife struggling without water supply or a senior citizen suffering due to pollution caused by an unauthorized factory near his residence have in common?

A notable achievement of the UPA government along with the rural employment guarantee scheme, this key to information has empowered the common man to fight the formidable cave of secrecy that enabled unscrupulous babus to shirk work and breed corruption. RTI is no magic that can make corruption vanish in a jiffy, but it has put the fear of scrutiny firmly in the minds of government employees. Gone is the air of confidence that enabled the corrupt in the government to demand ‘quick money’ openly without any apprehension of being caught. The experience till now suggests that most government departments attempt to clear pending work when they are questioned and responsibility is fixed.

Depending on how we look at it, it is either a glass half full or half empty. However, the road ahead seems exciting. Imagine RTI being just a phone call away, cutting out the massive paperwork that you need to go through now. That would make information available even to those who cannot do the running around, senior citizens, the disabled and those who do not have the time to pursue a RTI query through existing procedures. Bihar has shown the way by setting up a call centre for registration of RTI queries. This obviates the need for elaborate paperwork
and cumbersome legwork which makes life difficult for information seekers.

Under the RTI Act, citizens are empowered to seek information on the functioning of the government and are to get what they demand within three months; in matters relating to life and liberty, answers to queries can be demanded within 48 hours. Right to know a public act is a fundamental right. But the movement for greater transparency has now come under a shroud of darkness as individuals increasingly face threats both indirect and direct for attempting to expose corruption.

The news of social activist Shehla Masood's brutal murder didn't get adequate attention on national media due to the excessive coverage given to Anna Hazare.
It is even more ironical that she was supporting Anna Hazare and had left her house to organize a protest and signature campaign in support of the issues Anna stands for.

The media, as a fourth state, bears the responsibility to make the government, its institutions and functionaries accountable and transparent. And for this, investigative reporting is one of the most important contributions the media makes to consolidate democracy. As things stand now, when most people are not aware of exercising their right to information in a direct and personal way, media’s role and significance of empowering the public about legal advantages of RTI becomes all the more important.

The RTI law has given a greater and wider space for the media to play in empowering people and strengthening democratic polity. By using this legislation, media can investigate and expose issues of wider public interest. Media, as guardians of freedom of speech, can open up “closed doors” to transparency, accountability and participation by disseminating information about RTI to secure people’s fundamental right to know.

Such kind of vibrant media activism, by publishing and broadcasting nationwide discourses on RTI, can eventually narrow down ‘transparency and accountability deficit’ especially in countries like India going through political instability. Transparency and accountability is mainly concerned with promoting information disclosure and access to information as a prerequisite for public accountability.

Most of the people either from the lower economic strata or rural areas go for filling the RTI. Most of us, who are in the urban areas and better off have never had to use the RTI for personal problems, since we always have a ‘contact’ somewhere which can easily ‘pull strings’ for us and ‘get things done’. But the next time we face red tape, let us file an RTI application. It is really simple and like a newly acquired tool, it only gets better only with use.

Unfortunately, since the law exposes all the corruption taking place within the Govt. departments, the officials in the Govt. departments are opposing this law. All the politicians that sit on the tax payer’s money are feeling the crunch. They too are opposing the law.

There are now talks going on about the “diluting” the law. The law in its “diluted” form will be useless. People will loose the power that they had to expose the truth about the Govt. organizations.
We must help save this law. Whether or not one use the law is another thing. There are many RTI activists who everyday exposing Govt. frauds and forcing the Govt. to improve.

November 10, 2011

UNION HOME MINISTER NOT SATISFIED WITH ODISHA GOVT ANTI MAOIST STAND


UNION HOME MINISTER NOT SATISFIED WITH ODISHA GOVT ANTI MAOIST STAND 10/11/2011 :
ODISHA UPDATE:


On his recent recent visit to Odisha on Wednesday, the Union Home Minister Mr. P. Chindabaram showed his great concern over the Maoist issues which is rampant and Odisha government ineffectiveness to combat the Maoist menace in spite of providing good numbers of security personnel and finance from the centre, which is a routine visit of the Union Home Minister to assess the situations arising out of Maoist violence in the country.

In Bhubaneswar, Chidambaram expressed concern over the increasing Maoist violence in Odisha despite deployment of additional ten thousand central forces.
Speaking to media after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the state secretariat, the home minister said the causality figure of civilian and security forces in the state this year stood at 48 by the end of October.

"By the end of the year it may go a little beyond 50, that is an unacceptably high level of casualties," he said.

"We have inducted 10,000 more central armed police constabulary and officers in the state. I have impressed upon the state government and we must show results," he said.

Reacting, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the casualties in the state due to Maoist violence were "considerably less" compared to last year.

Union Home Minister further stated that there were places in 60 police station areas in Odisha that were badly affected by the Maoist. He advised the Odisha government” to learn from other states and centre how to handle the Maoist violence”.

The CM of Odisha said that the govt is alert and vigilant about Maoist activities. Funds earmarked for development work in Maoist-affected areas have been utilized very well, he said.

The Chief Minister said the Government also raised the issue of requirement of funds for completing flood relief work in the State quickly.
Official sources said the issue of how the LWE affects education was also discussed. About 150 schools will be opened and 7,000 teachers appointed in the Maoist- affected areas of the State.

An impact assessment of the SRE (Security related expenditure) scheme is to be done for the entire state of Odisha. The state govt further said that now the SRE scheme is confined to 15 districts and sked the Union Minister to include five more districts “ Ganjam, Nayagarh, Denkanal, Jajpur and Bargarh under the IAP ( Integrated Action Plan) .

Increasing Maoist-related violence over the past few years has become a major cause of concern for the government with officials expressing helplessness in tackling the situation. According to official sources, the Communist Party of India-Maoist has influence in at least eight of the state’s 30 districts. They are Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj.
Besides, with the increase in the base of the naxalities 20 out of 30 districts, the dependence of the State Government on the CRPF has also increased over the year’s .Now the strength of the crpf has increased to 73 companies and the State govt wants more deployment.

Knowing the way the police forces operate it does not at all come as a great surprise that it is unable to make any headway in the counter insurgency against Maoist extremists. There is hardly any improvement in the colonial mind set of the forces since British left the country. If anything, it has deteriorated because of heavy political interference. For a common man the police are no more than an instrument of oppression. With the law enforcement by and large having abdicated its responsibility, it should not come as surprise that Maoists are thriving under the pretext of savior of the poor.

Home Minster will continue to whistle in the dark unless the government forces are trained in emotional intelligence, empathy, subtlety, sophistication, and political adroitness in meeting the Maoist challenge and move away from the use of brute force solutions.

The Naxal problem must be seen in a new perspective. As the few parts of the country are developing fast but at the same time remote rural areas are stagnant as earlier. The media has accentuated their aspirations as well but the prevailing system failed to deliver. So countering violence with violence is no solution. Govt needs to act to bring them in the mainstream of development.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS, TASVER E HIND,
ORISSA, SAMBALPUR

November 07, 2011

BALI YATRA AT ORISSA IS GOING GLOBAL


BALI YATRA AT ORISSA IS GOING GLOBAL 7/11/2011
ORISSA UPDATES:-


Bali Yatra literally means "A JOURNEY TO BALI". This festival is held in Orissa, particularly in the city of Cuttack, to mark the day when ancient Sadhabas (Oriya Sailors) would set sail to distant lands of Bali, as well as Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines and Sri Lanka for trade and cultural expansion.


This festival of Bali Yatra is celebrated in October-November for five consecutive days before the full moon to memorize the maritime legacy of Orissa. Bali yatra also marks the culmination of all religious festivities held during the month of Karthik.
Others opine that Sri Chaitanya MahaPrabhu, the great Vaishnavite Saint, first landed in the soil of after crossing the sand-bed (Bali) of Mahanadi river on his way to Puri on this auspicious day. The date may have been the same but Kalinga’s Maritime tradition predates Chaitanya Dev’s journey by centuries.


Bali Yatra is celebrated as an open, fair near the Barabati Fort area. Children float toy boats made of colored paper, dried banana tree barks, and cork in the Mahanadi river, ponds, and water tanks, to commemorate the voyage of their ancestors to Indonesia. The toy boats with their small oil lamps light up the autumn evenings like a second Diwali. It is also known as festival of boats.

These days Bali Yatra is a high profile fair that is visited by many from Orissa and outside. And the popularity is attested by the fact that once a five day affair, Bali Yatra today has been extended to eight days in view of the huge influx of enthusiasts and visitors from across the country. The fair has all sorts of stalls selling almost everything. Visitors to the fair can lay their hands on almost everything from pearls and costly metals to local spices. And then there are throngs of stalls selling varieties of delicacies. From traditional dahi-bara- aludum to gupchups, biryanis and chowmeins , these stalls are real crowd pullers.


With time the Baliyatra has changed a lot but it still retains the traditional flavor for which it is known for. The unprecedented flow of visitors and tourists through the years has forced the organizers to expand the fair to near the banks of Mahanadi over and above the old yatra ground that lies near the fort.


What is pleasant to see in Bali Yatra even today is the fact that people still remain associated with their culture. Though the modern day fair has changed a lot with times, the historical event is still celebrated along the same objectives that made it such a popular affairs of the yore. Though the ports along the coast have become inactive due to gradual silting in the river bank, the pomp associated with the festival has only grown. And the festival today is more an opportunity for the people of the state to revive pleasant memories associated with long nourished tradition of glory that casts a halo around the festival.

There are certain measures taken by the Government and The Municipal Corporation of Cuttack as the Yatra is nearing. It will start from November 10th.

A formidable task is required to ensure a ‘Polythene-free Bali Yatra' in Cuttack where over 1,500 make-shift stalls are erected—half of which are food stalls—on an area of 40 acres with over two lakhs visitors throng to the city everyday for over a week. Measures will also be taken by the corporation and the district administration to make sure that no unhygienic and unpleasant food is served to people during the festival.

The organizers, particularly the district administration with active cooperation from the local civic body are doing a great job to make the Bali Yatra more successful.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS, TASVER E HIND,
ORISSA , SAMBALPUR

November 06, 2011

TOP RED REBEL CAUGHT IN SAMBALPUR

A TOP NAXALITE/MAOIST CAUGHT IN SAMBALPUR DISTRICT 6/11/2011
ORISSA NEWS : SAMBALPUR


On Saturday 5th November , police arrested a top/senior red rebel, Arta Bhoi, in a nearby village in Sambalpur District. The SP of Sambalpur Nikil Kanodia confirmed that the senior Naxalite was caught on Friday night by SOG Commandos and CRPF jawan, near Bisloi Village in jujomura police station area. Bhoi was involved in many criminal cases .

Police also got some explosives from Bhoi. The SP also uttered that Bhoi was arrested in 2005. He was bailed out in 2009 and went to his village. The police were keeping a close eye on his activities but it was found normal. Then all of a sudden some of the naxalites was cropping up in nearby Sambalpur District and according to Police it was found that Bhoi’s involvement in many of the activities was confirmed.

Due to top rebel arrest many significant information will be highlighted about the Maoist activities. The SP further added that they have got some important information from his mobile phone. They are trying to find out many persons activities whose mobile numbers are stored in Bhoi’s cell.

While interrogation Bhoi revealed that their organization wanted to extort money from a company but when they didn’t find any senior official of the company then they took to terrorize and flashed with torch to the vehicles to give a shock to the company workers.

The establishment of this Red Corridor is certainly a far cry from the origins of the movement, which sprouted from the Naxalbari area of West Bengal in 1967. Then, they were a motley crew, discordant and incoherent, susceptible to internal vendettas and feuds. With a marriage of Marxist-Leninist ideology and Maoist tactics, the movement staggered and stuttered through near annihilation to emerge as a highly dangerous force.

Some crore families live below the poverty line in India. That's just one of the shocking figures in a new report that has left the government red in the face. This comes at a time when India faces its biggest internal threat from the growing Maoist movement. And it begs the question - is the government's denial of growing impoverishment and food scarcity actually feeding the Maoist movement. This is a question mark.

SANGRAM KESARI PANDA,
CORRESPONDENT,
THROUGH
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS, TASVER E HIND
ORISSA, SAMBALPUR.

November 05, 2011

PROUD TO SAY WE ARE ODIA

PEOPLE OF ORISSA IN A CELEBRATION MOOD 5/11/2011

People of Orissa now Odisha are elated to be known as Oriya to Odia. All are in a joyful mood. Orissa’s name was officially changed to Odisha and Oriya to Odia language then presidential approval Friday 4th November to a bill passed by Parliament and the issuance of a notification. In the first official letter on the letterhead of Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik thanked President Pratibha Patil for his “historic decision”.
“I convey to you the deep gratitude of our people by the state that is now known as Odisha,” Patnaik wrote.

The secretariat of the Chief Minister, ministers and officials saw a brilliant display of fireworks. The Chief Minister declared a holiday today i.e. 5th November, Saturday. All government offices, schools and universities closed.
Sweets were distributed to those attending the celebration, organized in the short term following the instructions of Patnaik. At the beginning of a unanimous resolution was passed in the state assembly to change the name of the state of Orissa to Odisha in 2008, which received the approval of both Houses of Parliament in 2010.
Presidential assent and notification issued today.

The state was formed on linguistic basis on April 1, 1936, was known as Orissa and Oriya language was since.

Actually, in September the Lok shaba had given the concern over the two bills and were awaiting the final endorsement from the President. The Rajya Shaba in March had passed the two bills and for some technical reasons, it had been handed over to the Lok Shaba for some rectifications.

It is sorry to say that this is a political humbug to divert people’s attention. The other way, honestly the people of Odisha are suffering from corruption and rampant deforestation and Industrialization. Now, one can imagine how the people of western part of Odisha are suffocated because of rampant Industrialization and the pollution these industries make out of it. The real issue has never been highlighted. No doubt the western part is full of mineral a resource, that doesn’t mean that the government goes on deforesting the entire region and carries according to their own whims and fancy.

An ass in a lion skin doesn’t make a lion. Becoming an Odia from Oriya doesn’t change the attitude and mindset. How unfortunate the denizen of Odisha that our Hon’ble Chief Minister Mr. Naveen Pattnaik doesn’t know how to speak in Odia and still carries the British Legacy with his so called Dhoti and Kurta and speaking in tongue twisting British Accent i.e. English only? What an Irony?

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS, TASVER E HIND,
ORISSA, SAMBALPUR

November 04, 2011

JOURNOS LACK INTELLECTUALITY


JOURNOS LACK INTELLECTUALITY 5/11/2011

Last night i.e. 4th November I witnessed a debate on CNN IBN , where Karan Tapar was anchoring. They were categorically discussing the role of media as per Justice Markandey Katju statements as a Chairman of the press council. That propelled me to write something on this issue.

I fully agree that the role of media is to show the transparent and crystal clear picture of the society rather than Lady Gaga shows , some fashion elements and Bollywood type events and Cricket , which has become the opium of the masses. These events take more spaces than the poverty, maladministration, economic crisis, corruption, bribery which have become the primary thing for the media to highlight.


I agree and disagree with some points of Justice Katju. We have to analyze it in details. The press has not taken the criticism in right spirit. Some of the editors and owners think that they are above the law and their motives should not be questioned, but the truth is press like any other organization is full of self serving and selfish people. The press has also evolved from the same society like the rest of us and they should be prepared to face scrutiny like the rest of us. There are numerous examples where the press reporters have been found to indulge in all kinds of nefarious activities. The press wants the political class to clean their house; the press should do the same. It’s about time the press had a hard look into the mirror.

Let us not confuse the issue. Markandey Katju, warned, “If media proves incorrigible, harsh measures may be required”. Such measures could include imposing heavy fines on defaulters, stopping government advertisements for them and even suspending their license.
He added that poverty and unemployment were major issues facing the country that needed to be highlighted and not the wife of some film actor getting pregnant. “But these days, it makes big news,” Justice Katju opined.


I totally disagree with the statement of Justice Katju ,” The majority, I'm sorry to say, are of a very poor intellectual level, media people, I doubt whether they have any idea of economic theory or political science, philosophy, literature, I have grave doubts whether they are well read in all this, which they should be.
Yes, it may be possible to some extent but most of the journalists are well equipped with updates (Economics, political science, philosophy and much more) and pregnant with ideas. This is a poor and immature remark on the part of the Justice.


Was this immaturity expected of a retired Supreme Court judge? He took charge of Press Council barely a month back and he wants wide ranging powers to ‘instill fear’. Should he not focus on exercising the existing powers to regulate print media and prove himself before bargaining for additional powers?
Also is less than a month sufficient period for deciding conclusively on the ‘intellectual level’ of journalists? Even if it is, has he not alienated the journalistic community forever with this mindless indiscretion?


I agree with some opinion of Mr Katju when he says “Media divides people.” Justice Katju has noticed what we have noticed and suffering since long. We need people from other communities to raise this because the loved one's we are losing due to blasts doesn't belongs to one community. It’s a collective conspiracy by the government agencies, media, and right wing political parties. It clearly shows that the blasts were organized by the Hindu groups killing themselves and blaming largely Muslims. ATS Chief Hemant Karkare cracked this conspiracy and people know what happened to him, it is organized in such a way that the killers are from Pakistan so that no Indian be blamed on this therefore no question will raise on Indian political leaders like LK Advani, Praveen Togadia, RSS & Shivsena. There is a need to control the electronic media which is working on communal parties interest. We are protesting against the corruption in government departments but we are ignoring the corruption amongst the electronic media. We need an independent body to control them. Otherwise they will demonize anybody not only Muslims currently Muslims are target.


"Press freedom is a bulwark for the Indian people against the onslaught of people in authority, and the Guild will firmly oppose the assumption of any draconian powers by a Press Council that was created with an altogether different purpose," the Editors Guild rightly said on 1st November i.e. Tuesday.

The Editor Guild could very well have taken this an opportunity and done introspection. While it does not want external supervision, what has been its track record in enforcing self regulation? Its own Revised Code of Practice of 2007 lists 22 ‘Dos and Don’ts’ for journalists and many of them cover the same issues voiced by Katju. Unfortunately the Code does not talk of any disciplinary action for violation.

According to me, during the pre-Independence period, the media had a sense of nationalism. Leading newspapers played a vital role in educating the masses and inculcating the spirit of nationalism. But in the post-Independent era, the foremost interest of the media has been profit, since most of the leading media houses are owned by corporate houses. Freedom of expression is, no doubt, a fundamental right but we need to act when it is abused.

It’s high time that strong controls should be put in place which can stop or reduce corruption in our 4th pillar. Journalist and editors need to invest more on finding truth, focus on key issues and not on sensationalism, reduce bias in articles/stories, do fair coverage, do not push hidden agenda, present facts and not twist them, educate people of India, create awareness around social issues, innovate how you present do not copy CNN or BBC anchors, show more news, less advertisements and do not create fake or twist tweets” No Joke at all.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS, TASVER E HIND, ORISSA, SAMBALPUR

An American judge took law in his own hand by beating his daughter mercilessly



An American judge took law in his own hand by beating his daughter mercilessly 4/11/2011

This was a violent beating and anyone who doesn't see it as such has some serious issues to explore. I would be ashamed/reluctant/ disgraced to even admit I could condone such behavior. We are a civilized society, not some barbaric people whose only outlet for conflict is violence. I would never, for one second, consider doing this to one of my dogs, much less a human being, regardless of their behavior.

A YOUNG American girl by the name of Hillary Adams has posted an online video on YouTube, which is really a shocking one, where she has been beaten by her father countless number of times with a belt. She was beaten by her father as she had downloaded some files, for which she has not paid, as reported by ndtv.com. Her father, William Adams is a Texas judge by profession.

The Police department of their hometown, Rockport has been looking into the video very seriously, as they are trying to analyze whether the video has any criminal activity in it. The Williams family seems to be in a lot of trouble, which they seem to be aware of after the video became public. There was no one at the Judge's house and even his office calls remain unanswered. But, William Adam has told Corpus Christi television station KZTV, that the video looks worse than it is. He does not believe that he has done anything wrong in it and said he was making his child disciplined, as reported by ndtv.com.

The recorded video has become an instant hit on YouTube, where it has been posted. It has received more than 950,000 clicks after it was uploaded last week. The video is said to have been captured in 2004, when Hillary Adams was just 16 years of age. Hillary had posted the video but she does not want her father to be punished for his act and she seems to be regretting about her video post now.

Hillary Adams says her parents were angry because she had downloaded pirated content online, and that she turned on the camera because she sensed something was going to happen.
William Adams, who presides over child abuse cases, is still being investigated by the state's judicial conduct commission and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which on Thursday requested that he be removed from its cases until the investigation concludes.

Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the agency, declined to elaborate on the exact nature of the investigation. But he said that in general, the agency would only investigate a case in which a suspected abuse victim has already reached adulthood if there are still children in the home who could be at risk. Adams was granted joint custody of his 10-year-old daughter in his 2007 divorce.

Adams, now 23, said she had received an outpouring of support and encouragement since posting the video last week. But her feelings were tempered by the sadness that her father lashed her 17 times with a belt after threatening to beat her "into submission”. She told the Associated Press, “I’m experiencing some regret because I just pulled the covers off my own father’s misbehavior after so many people thought he was such a good person. … But so many people are also telling me I did the right thing.”

Adams, 51. likely would have been charged with causing injury to a child or other assault-related offences for the 2004 beating of his then 16-year-old daughter but the five-year statute of limitations had expired, said Tim Jayroe, police chief in Adams's town of Rockport. "We believe that there was a criminal offence involved and that there was substantial evidence to indicate that and under normal circumstances a charge could have been made," Jayroe said.

Adams's lawyer, William Dudley, said in a written statement that Hillary Adams's explanation of her decision to share the video "have been confusing and hollow .Very few people find palatable her claim that it was to 'help' her father."

Judge William Adams says in his defense about her daughter, “She’s mad because I've ordered her to bring the car back, in a nutshell, but yeah that's me, I lost my temper," Adams told us. "Her mother was there, she wasn't hurt. It was a long time ago.. I really don't want to get into this right now because as you can see my life's been made very difficult over this child," Adams continued.

When asked if he felt he was going to face any suspension or discipline from the state over the video Adams responded, "In my mind I have not done anything wrong other than discipline my child when she was caught stealing. I did lose my temper, I've apologized. It looks worse than it is."

Corporal punishment is nothing less than child abuse. This judge needs to face the same law he delivers to others. According to clinical instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, Jim Hopper,”This is an act of brutal violence. To beat someone into submission is not discipline. To beat a child into submission makes it harder for that child to take in rules and the values that the parent believes they are imposing on the child.”

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS, TASVER E HIND,
ORISSA, SAMBALPUR

Orissa State women’s Commission Chief demanded arrest of college girl’s murderer and rapist


Orissa State women’s Commission Chief demanded arrest of college girl’s murderer and rapist 4/11/2011

Orissa News : - Sambalpur

An intermediate student ( 10+2) of jharsuguda , which is 50km away from sambalpur , went missing on Nov 24th after coming from college from her residence. On Monday police recovered the dead body of the girl near Ghandhi Chowk on the Jhasuguda to Brajrajnagar road. According to circumstantial evidence it is under suspection that she had been raped before being killed.

Orissa State Women Commission Chairperson Jyoti Panigrahi , while making a visit to Jharsuguda met the SP , Dayal Gangwar and the Principal of Women’s College to inspect into the matter urgently. She demanded that the rapist and murderer must be arrested to the immediate effect. “ It is an outrageous and heinous act and the criminals should not be let free. I have asked the SP to look into the details of the matter and accused must be put behind the bars as soon as possible,” She told the media persons in Jharsuguda.

She further suggested the police must take special care against eve teasing, basically near educational institutions. The murdered student had to travel 25 km everyday to reach the college because she could not avail a seat in the college hostel.

DID YOU feel ashamed? Ashamed that when you were 13 years old, a passer by grabbed and pinched you? Ashamed that men passed ‘lewd’ remarks when you walked past? Or brushed against you? Ashamed when drivers adjusted their rear view mirrors to stare at your chest? Ashamed that it happened to you because you thought you walked, talked and dressed in a manner that was wrong?

Rape, eve teasing, molestation are encountered almost every day. The mark that these everyday instances leave on our psyche is immeasurable, eventually making an individual insensitive to such incidents and devastating one’s self image. The worst of it is by the society, which ironically blames the victim, in most cases the woman. By labeling them to be indecent, provocative and having an unfavorable attitude. ‘Freedom’- the word seems neatly imprinted on the papers, where stalwarts of our society use and misuse it to portray their deceptive liberal attitude. Our law grandly states: “ IPC Section 354 - whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine or both.”

SANGRAM KESARI PANDA,
CORRESPONDENT,
( THROUGH)
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESEDAYS, TASVER E HIND,
ORISSA, SAMBALPUR

November 03, 2011

IS THERE ANY WAY OUT TO MAKE THE POLITICIANS MORE REFINED?


IS THERE ANY WAY OUT TO MAKE POLITICIANS MORE REFINED AND RESPONSIBLE OR VICE VERSE? 3/11/2011



Personally I would like to unite of Indian Parliamentarians salaries to the average salary of a working western or European people for example a member of Parliament can earn no more than five times times the average European salary or create a system where if they can't balance the budget, their salaries are automatically lowered by a certain percentage. My other ideas include dramatically limiting earmarks and only permitting votes on tax laws with 60 days of a general election.

If only we could all be gifted with the ability to say the perfect thing, at the right time, at all events. Trying to balance the time you have to speak with the words that impart what you are trying to convey, often in an impromptu setting, is difficult.

If you see the western scenario no matter what issue or problem in Canada concerns you, making the largest corporations and banks in Canada more responsible and accountable will help win the changes and solutions you are seeking.

A total of 155,000 corporations and 40 banks that the federal government regulates are not effectively required to act honestly, ethically, openly, responsibly or to prevent waste.

Incredibly, the laws and enforcement of parking a car illegally are stronger than most corporate responsibility and bank accountability laws and enforcement systems in Canada, and in some cases the penalties for parking illegally are higher than for corporate executives who act dishonestly, unethically, secretively, irresponsibly or wastefully.

No federal political party has focused on Canada's corporate responsibility system in the past 140 years. Most recently, the federal Liberals had majority power from November 1993 to June 2004, and then after the June 2004 election controlled a minority of seats in Parliament, and then the federal Conservatives have controlled a minority of seats in Parliament since the January 2006 election until they won a majority in the spring 2011 election.

The federal Liberals did not do nearly enough between 1993 and 2004 to ensure that Canada's largest corporations and banks are effectively required to act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively or to prevent waste, and the federal Conservatives have also not done enough since January 2006.

In fact, the federal Conservatives used the public's money through the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation to bail out Canada's big banks by buying $70 billion of home mortgages from the banks, and also used the Bank of Canada and other subsidy programs to help the banks, for a total of almost $200 billion in subsidies in 2009 -- yet they did not require anything from the banks in return.

And while the federal New Democratic Party (NDP), the Bloc Québecois Party, and the Green Party have focused more than the Liberals and Conservatives on strengthening the federal corporate responsibility and bank accountability systems, they have also not made these changes a top priority issue.


Canada's largest 1,000 corporations spend more than $25 billion annually on their lobbying and promotion efforts, including on about 10,000 full-time lobbyists across the country. In contrast, there are only about 500 full-time citizen group lobbyists, and citizen groups spend only about $50 million annually on lobbying and promotion. As a result, Canadians must all work together and push hard if there is any hope to counter the corporate lobby and win key corporate responsibility changes.

According to that country’s constitution, an incumbent President cannot run for presidency for the second time. Experts have argued that if Estrada was allowed to seek the presidency for the second time, he might have been less corrupt in his first term. It is possible to rebut their argument by citing the Indian example: the chance to run for an elected office again has not been sufficient to discipline most Indian politicians.

But in India every politician understands what is in his or her short-term interest. They know what the party leadership wants, what their campaign contributors want, and what lobbyists want. At what point does the longterm interest of the nation as a whole come into play? Who represents the interests of future generations? Today, our future is determined by cowardly politicians who can only think as far as the next election. Our economy is guided by short-sighted corporations that only care about hitting their quarterly numbers, lest their stock nosedives and they get taken over by a rival corporation.


However the no of MLAs with criminal cases have gone up from 18 percent to 20 percent and more to that. This has happened in spite of the fact that before elections, leaders of both the major national parties promising that they will not field any candidates with criminal records, again shows the need for making our parties more accountable. As we enter into a new year, getting ready for general elections to put a new government in place at center, can civil societies mount enough pressure on our establishment to make them more responsible as stated by Anil Bairwal.


Sometime I feel the government system , i mean whole government machinery is responsible for putting restriction on both Politicians and the people. They are the ones who are responsible for making sure that everyone follows the law. But under pressure from government and under pressure of corruption, they not only allow everyone to be engaged in unlawful activities but they themselves also get involved in unlawful activities. Could anyone escaped from law if these government servants would have done there job properly? Would court cases would have been pending for 15-20 years, would criminals dare to contest in elections and roaming free on road, could people dare to get illegal water connection, could some used a wall as public toilet, could someone paid some money and got illegal passport if these government servant would have done their job?


As a saying goes "Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible".It is a fact that when we start accusing or start pointing fingers for the present condition of the nation, the first community that comes into our mind, is the community of Politicians. Politicians, who were responsible to rule the nation for us, for their personal benefits, did all sort of corruptions, found holes in the law, tool wrong decision and messed up this nation.



Some people object to many ideas because there are too many irresponsible people in India especially, people who will cause trouble if the government doesn't restrain them.They say we must have big government because some people won't act decently toward others, some people won't plan for their own retirement, some people are too stupid to take care of themselves properly.

In fact, the entire effort to wed morality and politics is based on the assumption that there are immoral or irresponsible people whom the government must control.It's because politicians don't use the power and money you give them to do the things you want. They use those resources to do what they want. And all they want is more power and more power and more power.

Give people the freedom to make their own decisions, to face the consequences of their own acts, to see for themselves what their actions do to others and how others respond to them.Only free people have an incentive to be virtuous. Only people who bear the consequences of their own acts will care about those consequences and try to learn from their mistakes.A free society rewards virtue and punishes irresponsibility. Government does just the opposite subsidizing irresponsibility while taxing work and responsibility.

If other states keep taxes constant, voters may punish the incumbent by defeating him in the next election - even if the tax increase is relatively small. Elections are a weapon that voters have to discipline politicians. Sharp and effective though this weapon is, it can be used only once in a while, say once in five years.

We need to have a fast and effective judicial system to discipline corrupt and inefficient politicians, at the same time enjoying the fruits of democracy and the services of the few good politicians we have. Otherwise, the democracy remains lame duck most of the time, becomes active and effective only once in five years, or two years, to go by the frequent elections we have had in India in the past few decades.


It's often said that freedom and responsibility are two sides of the same coin that if you want freedom, you must first accept the responsibility that goes with it.
The truth is simpler. Freedom and responsibility aren't interconnected things. They are the same thing. Freedom is responsibility. Responsibility is experiencing the consequences of your own acts not the consequences of others acts or making others pay for what you do.

And that's what freedom is. Without government to force others to pay for your pleasures or mistakes, and without forcing you to pay for what others do, you are a free, responsible human being. We have to decide whether we want a nation of self-reliant individuals who improve their own lives by offering needed services to others or a nation in which everyone is responsible for everyone else and so the government must control every aspect of our lives. We don't need a moral revival, we don't need politicians making moral decisions for us, we don't need more controls. If we want people to act more responsibly.

There are plenty of people who won't act responsibly. There are people who have no regard for the consequences of their own acts. There are people who seem incapable of behaving wisely or nicely.

Meaningless shouting, sloganeering and protesting are futile efforts to express dissent. Today's youth is a beautiful concoction of good, creative minds with great insights. So why not choose creative means of expression as the key mantra?

Very often, the youth is misled and provided a wrong perspective. The confusion that leads them in a state of aggression must be addressed. Nobody is born corrupt, they learn it from their elders. Meaningless shouting, sloganeering and protesting is not the right way. The youth consists of good, creative people with marvelous brains, which is going to waste. The effort should be to provide them creative means of expression. One must take an individual stand and never indulge oneself into mindless protest. There are better option also.

Indians may call itself a "democracy" but it is only in name. And we are forgetting the key element to any functioning democracy, a free press that properly informs its citizenry. We have had neither for a long, long time.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
TASVER E HIND, THESE DAYS,
ORISSA , SAMBALPUR

ORISSA CM OFFICE DENIES RTI REPORT


ORISSA NEWS : CHIEF MINISTER OFFICE DENIES AN RTI APLICANT 3/11/2011

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s office has returned an RTI applicant empty handed who wanted to know his and his ministers’ property.

City-based lawyer Biswapriya Kanungo had submitted an application on September 17 for information relating to the property of ministers. Kanungo’s request also included putting the minister’s property list in the public domain, the list of ministers who have disclosed their property and steps initiated against the defaulters.

The lawyer said that he got an information from the parliamentary affairs department PIO, who is at present the charge of carrying the similar responsibility in the CM’s office expresses his inability to furnish the information. It is quoted in the the official letter “ The required information will be sent to you after receipt of the same from the CM’s office, with whom correspondence has been made.”

Rather Mr Naveen Pattnaik claims to focus on good and efficient governance in Orissa and with crystal clear and transparency. What an irony? This is an official release made during the day claimed the state as a leading in matter of RTI Act.

Corruption watchdog Transparency International India Thursday accused Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of protecting the corrupt and not acting against tainted officials despite a public outcry.

The statement by the group comes a day after the state government opened a dispensary in the confiscated house of a tainted former Indian Administrative Service Officer (IAS) in state capital Bhubaneswar.

Reacting to the chief minister’s statements that his government was punishing the corrupt, Biswajit Mohanty, a board member of the watchdog, said such claims were hypocritical.
“This claim is totally hypocritical since numerous scams have been bedeviling the state during his tenure of 11 years. They include multi-crore scams like pulses scam, mining scam, port scam and coal scam,” he told IANS.

Transparency International has lodged several complaints with the chief minister with specific allegations of wrongdoing, favouritism and lack of transparency in award of major contracts, but he has yet to order a single enquiry, he said.

He also accused Patnaik of not sanctioning prosecution against some senior officials despite requests by the state’s vigilance police, even though government guidelines state that such sanctions are supposed to be given within a period of two months.
“Some cases are pending for more than five years now and the accused officers continue to enjoy prized postings in critical government departments having budgets of more than Rs.2,000 crore,” he said.

I always wonder how a person holding a post of this stature can behave so arbitrarily.

But with sycophants being appointed as info-commissioners, how can one expect any law-abiding behavior. “So, need of the hour is to revamp the appointment process of info-commissioners and make it transparent and participatory.

SANGRAM KESARI PANDA
CORESSPONDENT
THROUGH
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF. THESE DAYS, TASVER E HIND,
ORISSA, SAMBALPUR