Commission of Inquiry needed on Commission of Inquiry

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Noted RTI activist Pradip Pradhan has shared with me information officially received that the State Exchequer has coughed up a sum of Rs. 1,04.51.317/- for Justice C.R.Pal Commission of Inquiry, constituted to inquire into the demands of different bar Associations and to make an in-depth study in respect of establishment of a permanent Bench/ Circuit Bench anywhere in the State other than the Principal seat.

The Commission was appointed on 11.3.2008 for six months and was asked to report its finding within that period. But, despite several reminders from the government, Justice Pal has not completed his work and not submitted his report. For the tenth time, his tenure has been extended till June 2013. There is no guarantee that the inquiry shall be completed by this time.

It is a serious syndrome. If Justice Pal has no expertise or ability to complete the inquiry within the stipulated time, he should have been honest to go away from the assignment; because the delay in completion of the inquiry is injuriously expensive for the State.

One may not err if the delay seems to be a means to a continuous earning for the Judge in his retired days. Any retired judge heading any Commission of Inquiry like Justice Pal should be made answerable for draining out of the State Exchequer if he has accepted the appointment to conclude the inquiry within a given time; but has wanted and obtained extensions after extensions, taking thereby more money from the exchequer than what was originally estimated.

A Commission of Inquiry on the Commission of Inquiry that causes so much delay in concluding the inquiry is necessary to ensure timely conclusion of the inquiries that State is instituting in matters of urgent public interest.

Grand Reception given to victims of the gang of Samaja occupiers

Mirzapur_podium

Devi Prasanna Nayak and Subash Chandra Singh, President and General Secretary respectively of the trade union of the Samaja employees and Brajabhai, under whose stewardship the down going paper was brought back to rejuvenation around a decade ago, were given a grand reception in a public conference convened by ‘Save the Samaja Forum’ in a densely populated patch of rural Orissa at Mirjapur of Jajpur on May Day, 2013, immediately after they were released from judicial custody.

mirzapur_Pabitra

Pabitra Maharatha, coordinator of SSF initiated the public meeting with a brief description of how release of the trio has proved that for all times to come the miscreants cannot keep the law hoodwinked. He passed on to the participants in the conference the wishes of solidarity sent by eminent journalist Prasanta Patnaik, joint convener of SSF, who, busy in MUFP action against police atrocities on media persons covering the lower Suktel unrest, could not attend the conference.

Chaired by journalist Ranjit Raut, the event was addressed by the representative-in-chief of orissamatters.com Sri Subhas Chandra Pattanayak, the other convener of SSF. Welcoming the three victims of false allegations back to their freedom, Sri Pattanayak praised them for their prudent and principled role in dealing with the illegalities the Samaja employees are subjected to. He gave a detail depiction of how the paper founded by Pt. Gopabandhu, revered and remembered for humanitarianism, is being used against human rights of the employees and how unfair labor practices are rampant in the organization in absence of valid standing orders.

Mirzapur_SCP

Devi Prasanna, Subash and Brajabhai had to suffer loss of their liberty because of a nefarious design engineered by a combine of swindlers of the funds of the Samaja and a pack of police black sheep, taking advantage of a defective judicial system, where the primary court does not think it necessary to go beyond the assortment of accusations to be prima facie convinced that the forwarding officer is not influenced by the accuser, said Sri Pattanayak.

Educationist Benudhar Dobai, and eminent socio-political leaders of the locality Raghunath Das and Laxman Raut expressed solidarity with the trio in their just fight against oppression and against corruption in Utkalmani’s paper, the paper to which the people of Orissa have always emotionally helped.

mirzapur_brajabhai

In response to the reception, Brajabhai informed the public that his positive role in bettering the Samaja has led to exposure of the negative role played by fellows like Manubhai Patel and therefore, in nexus with a corrupt police they have coined concocted cases against him.

Subash Singh said, the workers and working journalists of the Samaja shall continue to treat the paper as their own and therefore, the looters of the Samaja fund and users of the paper in their own interest would continue to treat the employees as their enemies. But the working class shall win and the manipulators shall fail, he said.

Mirzapur_Devi P.Nayak

Devi Prasanna Nayak declared that he shall continue to oppose the killing of the spirit of Gopabandhu in the Samaja set up and thanked the general public for its tremendous support to the employees in their fight for justice.

Amongst others, educationist Binod Bihari Behera, Prashant Dwivedi, Sridhar Sahu,Subash Mishra, Purusottam Das, Kedar Deo, Uday Mallik, Jnanaranjan Aich, Bijay Kumar Das were conspicuous by their participation.

Youth leader Ranjan Deo proposed vote of thanks.

The name Kamakshya Nagar is an insult to the great battle for freedom led by Vir Baisnav: Prof. Abani Baral

vir baisnav

CPI leader Prof. Abani Kumar Baral, in addressing the celebrations of birth centenary of Vir Baisnav Charan Pattanayak at Bhubaneswar on 29 April 2013, has demanded that Kamakshyanagar be re-named Madhi, in memory of the freedom that Pattanayak had given it in leading the people’s war against the tyrant king of the ex-state of Dhenkanal.

The legendary leader of Prajamandal movement had declared war against the king of Dhenkanal and in that war, Madhi was liberated from the pernicious control of the king. So, in the history of India’s freedom movement, Madhi has a unique place. But the shrewd tyrant had wiped out the name of this historic place by changing its name from Madhi to Kamakshyanagar by the name of his son, before abdicating his throne.
Continuance of this name is an insult to the sacred memories of Vir Baisnav as well as to the martyrs this battle had given to the motherland, he pointed out while demanding that the name of Kamakshyanagar be changed back to Madhi.

CPI(M) leader Sivaji Pattanayak, Ex-Minister Prafulla Ghadei, MLA Prafulla Malik, MLA Navin Nanda and Minister Rajanikant Singh also agreed that Kamakshyanagar should be changed to Madhi in view of its historic uniqueness. Jogesh Chandra Tripathy presided over the meeting.

MUFP DEMANDS UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF AMITABH PATRA AND ARREST OF COPS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BRUTAL ATTACK AGAINST THE JOURNALIST

under the freedom tree

The Media Unity for Freedom of Press ( MUFP) today staged a protest demonstration under the Freedom Tree near Jaidev Bhawan against the brutal police attack on a television journalist Amitabh Patra while he was covering the local agitation at Dunguripali in Lower Suktel project area in Bolangir on the 29th of April.

Sri Patra who is now receiving treatment at the Burla medical college hospital is still in police custody because he has been arrested on false charges that he was inciting the protesters ! The visuals captured by local media persons shows clearly how he was targeted by a group of policemen who beat him black and blue with lathis and kept kicking him even when he had fallen on the ground.

The MUFP has demanded immediate and unconditional release of Amitabh Patra as well as the identification and arrest of the police officials who were involved in the attack that left him with serious head injury. The media body has also demanded payment of compensation for or replacement of Sri Patra’s damaged video camera.

MUFP has strong reasons to believe that Sri Patra was targeted because he was recording the barbaric manner in which the police were beating up the peaceful protesters including young women with his camera. His camera was smashed before he was roughed up by a group of men in khaki who were reportedly drunk.

MUFP has threatened to resort to state-wide agitation if Amitabh Patra is not released unconditionally and no action taken against the policemen responsible for the brutal attack on him.

Over 30 scribes and photographers led by senior journalists Prasanta Patnaik and Rabi Das participated in today’s protest.

MUFP stands with TV scribe

The MUFP condemns the brutal attack by armed police on TV reporter Amitabh Patra on April 29 early morning who was doing his duty of covering an agitation against Lower Suktel Dam in Dunguripali of Balangiri district.

AMITABH PATRA_INJUREDHis TV camera has been smashed and he has sustained grievous injury on his head. No head scan has been done so far. Without any reason he has been arrested.

The MUFP demands the following:

1. Immediate and unconditional release of Amitabh Patra

2. Offering him proper medical treatment in a proper place with cost to the state

3. Restoration of his camera and returning the same to him in its original condition.

4. Arrest of police officials who have launched the brutal attack on him

5. Compensation for the injury and for loss of property

6. Release of other media persons including Lenin Ray of Nissan

6. Provide proper protection to media persons on duty in sensitive areas and on sensitive matters.

For MEDIA UNITY FOR FREEDOM OF PRESS (MUFP ), Presidium.
Prasanta Patnaik, Subhas Chandra Pattanayak, Gopal Mohapatra, Rabi Das,
Prafulla Das, Ashok Mohapatra, Dwinjen Padhi, Gourahati Das, Sampad Mohapatra, Dwijen Padhi, Sudhir Patnaik

Editor's Picks

Oriya Language created Orissa and therefore Orissa must be ruled by Oriya Language

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seems to have developed a wrong notion that governance of Orissa in Oriya depends upon his mercy. His press-note of December 17 and full page display advertisement in major broadsheets of today force us to arrive at this apprehension.

In his December 17 press note it was declared that he had held a meeting with the five members of the ministerial committee on that day for the purpose of “strictly implementing the Orissa Official Language Act, 1954 in official and non-official level” to facilitate which a website has been floated by the government. In the full page multi-color advertisement in broadsheet dailies today, this is intriguingly missing.

The advertisement is designed to tell the people that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has taken historical steps to save and develop Oriya language, and has enumerated the steps he has taken. This is blatant lie. Neither he nor his government has executed any single item claimed to be “historical” in the official advertisement. The entire advertisement is nothing but false propaganda. What a shame it is, that, the people of Orissa are taken for granted by their Chief Minister! Read more →

Navakalevara: Legends and reality

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Legends are the most misguiding mischief aimed at superimposing lies on reality so that indigenous people of an occupied land are kept too dazzled to see the dark face of the rulers and the class of exploiters can keep its victims subjugated to its authority, while forcing them to forget the heroic history of evolution of their own philosophy of life, their own splendid spiritual realizations, their own socio-economic uniqueness, their own ancient culture, their own valorous past, their own way of social integration and their own civilization.

We see this mischief galore in the context of Navakalevara of SriJagannatha.

So, here, we are to rip apart the legends and bring the reality of the Navakalevara to light, as thereby alone we can reach the lost uniqueness of the people of Orissa.

We will use Puri Sankaracharya’s self-proclaimed authority over Navakalevara to proceed with our purpose.

  Read more →

Samaja in Maze of Forgery: Two former Ministers of Orissa – Lingaraj Mishra & Radhanath Rath forged the WILL of Gopabandhu; Both benefitted till their death; SoPS continues to Loot

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The Oriya daily SAMAJA founded by late Utkalmani Pandit Gopabandhu Das, to which, out of their love and reverence for the great humanitarian leader, the people of Orissa had and have been giving their financial and moral support, is in a menacing maze of forgery and loot.

Sadly, two of Gopabandhu’s trusted men – Lingaraj Mishra and Radhanath Rath – who, because of being known so, had the opportunity of becoming cabinet ministers in Orissa, were the masterminds and/or makers of the forgery from which the paper is yet to be salvaged.

Both of them – Lingaraj and Radhanath – had partnered with each other in forging the last WILL of Gopabandhu to grab the Samaja, which being Gopabandhu’s paper was of superb credibility and the greatest political instrument of the day. They had performed this crime behind the screen of and in nexus with Servants of the People Society (SoPS), of which, while breathing his last, Gopabandhu was the Vice-President. Read more →