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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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