Kosli Tribals demand action against fake caste certificates

Courtesy:- The Pioneer

Hundreds of tribals of Balangir, Sonepur and Boudh and other districts carrying their traditional weapons marched on the streets here on Friday, led by leaders Brajakishroe Singhbhoi, Nirnajan Bisi and Satyanarayn Bhoi of BalangirZilla Adivasi Kalyan Sangha They demanded action against the fake certificate holders and scraping of State level scrutiny committee, formed to look into the fake caste certificate issue.

"So far out of the 353 fake certificate complaints we have submitted to Government till today, only 11employees have been dismissed and three have resigned. While the district level scrutiny committee has cancelled 34 caste certificates, the State level scrutiny committee has cancelled only six fake caste certificates. If in a year the State committee have cancelled only six caste certificates, one can imagine it would take how many years to decide the fate of 353 fake caste certificate cases," questioned Niranjan Bisi.

"We demand immediate scrapping of the State level scrutiny committee and the certificate cancellation power be vested with the competent authority district who are issuing the caste certificate," demanded Bisi.

Even today the Kulis and Doras are enjoying the benefits of tribals even though they are not tribals .We demand the arrest of those people who have enjoyed the benefits of tribal's and recovery of the same benefits from these persons, Bisi further demanded.

Later they submitted a 32 point memorandum to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary through District Collector SN Dey and demanded revival of district level scrutiny committee. "When RS Gopalan was Collector, we submitted our demands of taking action against the fake caste certificate holders and immediate action against more than 36 fake tribal people were taken, informed Bisi.

The Collector who received the memorandum from the tribal leaders assured them of necessary action.

"We didn't take steps to paralyse the district administration as requested by it. We are waiting for one month. Unless concrete action is taken we will take further steps in this regard," he informed.

A three-tier police arrangement was made and seven platoons of police including armed police, SOG jawans were deployed during the protest, said Superintendent of Police Ajay Sarangi.

Deaf & Dumb Orissa Govt Silent On Farmer Suicide In Kosal

Courtesy - NDTV

In a small village in Western Orissa's Sambalpur district, in a small house, a family looks to its neighbours for support. 61-year-old Shukla Chand killed himself by drinking pesticide. In this part of Western Orissa, this has become a frighteningly familiar story. Since November, 11 farmers from here have killed themselves.

Farmers have been catapulted from one crisis to another in Western Orissa since 2009. Floods, drought, and then exceptionally heavy rainfall last year before the harvest. The deaths of 100 farmers have officially been registered as suicides. The state government says it wasn't their failed crops that drove them to their death.

For farmers whose crops were wiped out by pre-harvest rains, the Centre has sanctioned Rs. 400 crore for Andhra Pradesh and another Rs. 600 crore for Maharashtra. No compensation for Orissa has been announced so far.

The state government, led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal, has offered to pay farmers Rs. 400 per acre for rain-fed areas and Rs. 800 per acre for irrigated land - only if the farmers can prove he has lost his entire crop. But farmers point out they invest at least Rs. 9,000 per acre for their paddy crop. So the compensation being offered is worthless.

For farmers like Shukla Chand, it seems like there's no one on their side. His suicide note says after his last crop of paddy failed just before the harvest, the loans he owed seemed insurmountable. He had cultivated eight acres of paddy with an initial investment of Rs. 80,000. He then took a bank loan of five lakh to buy a tractor, and another three lakh from private money lenders. When heavy rains destroyed his standing crop in November last year, he could no longer cope.

"The Centre and state are playing a cruel joke on our farmers. The policy to compensate for losses due to calamities has not kicked in. There are thousands of farmers like Shukla Chand who are not dead as yet, but on the verge of death," says Saroj, the leader of a local cooperative of farmers.

Western Orissa awaits so-called promised hospitals since decades - Another Example of Criminal Negligence By Orissa govt towards Western Orissa

Three medical colleges were proposed in 2004 for western Orissa, facilitated by Western Orissa Development Council (WODC), but they are yet to see the light of day. Other subsequent proposals are still in very early stages.

The planning and coordination department sanctioned Rs 10 crore each for medical colleges in Rourkela, Jaring (Kalahandi district) and Balangir and the state government had provided 25-acre land each to these proposed colleges.

Officials said the proposed medical college at Balangir has faced a dead-end. After WODC advertised seeking private partnership for the proposed colleges, there were two responses. But both the parties failed to qualify in the technical expertise criteria.

Before this, three private parties, selected for Balangir college, quit at various stages. First, GSL Trust of Andhra Pradesh was selected for medical colleges at Balangir and Rourkela and a MoU was signed on January 31, 2004. But the MoU was cancelled since the trust did not commence work. The government signed another MoU with Sri Balaji Educational and Charitable Public Trust on October 6, 2006 for Balangir. After its delay in the start of work, the MoU was cancelled and RVS Educational Trust was selected as a private sponsor. The trust expressed its inability on February 17, 2010 to execute the project.

Work for the medical college at Jaring in Kalahandi, being undertaken by Selvam Educational and Charitable Trust, Tamil Nadu, is under way, after a MoU was signed on January 30, 2004. A 500-bed hospital was supposed to function by January 30, 2008, (five years from the date of MoU). But as of now the hospital is ready in part. While a building for the 300-bed hospital, three operation theatres and a seven-bed ICU is ready, the hostel buildings are yet to be ready.

"The outcome of the inspection by the Medical Council of India in May 2008 was not satisfactory. The trust filed a fresh application before the MCI on November 30, 2010, and the team visited the site once again in April-May," a senior health department official said. Construction of the Rourkela college is being undertaken by Vigyan Bharati Charitable Trust after the government signed a MoU on July 4, 2008. Construction work is on. WODC officials are, however, optimistic. "Barring the Balangir college, the other two projects at Rourkela and Jaring are doing reasonably well. They should be commissioned as early as 2012," said WODC chief executive officer Aswini Mishra.

While neglecting the cause of Western Orissa...Orissa govt went ahead and gave full funding for setting up an ESI medical college in Bhubaneswar which was initially proposed at Balangir then was moved to Rourkela due to our ineficient local leaders.

Time has come for people of Western Orissa to stand united and starts a bloody revolution for our basic rights from the currupt Orissa administration who are more than busy blaming center for everything.

Eunuch Politicians and local Leaders are good for nothing...How many more years they will be fooling us like this ???

Note:- Some of the Contents were taken from Times Of India