Orissa Matters

Orissa Kranti Mancha conducts a Search for Alternative Social Order

Orissa Kranti Mancha held a State level symposium on the need of an alternative to India’s present chaos in the Lohia Academy auditorium on September 8 with Dr. Laxmi Narayan Raysingh on the chair.

Inaugurating the symposium, former Speaker of Loksabha Sri Rabi Ray opined that frequent meeting of people in every sphere of society to discuss how the state is running, with reliance on non-violence, would open up avenues for a change of the prevalent social order from bad to better. Progressive persons should take the lead in this respect he said.

In his keynote address, the Mancha Convener Prafulla Kumar Mishra dwelt on how post-independence India has drifted away from the mission of economic emancipation of the common man. Exposing the factors of evolution and consolidation of imperialism, he pointed out that replacement of a government by another government of the same economic creed will not be the alternative which people are searching for. Only a change based on political economy of socialism can save the country. Hence how to build up a campaign for such a change should be the issue, he said.

Initiating the debate on the keynote, journalist Subhas Chandra Pattanayak observed that even as democracy was giving way to plutocracy in Nehru era, the division of the Communist Party of India helped consolidation of anti-people forces, as a result of which, the country is now a grazing ground of corporate horses. And, economy of the people is in such dire straits that according to a finding of Citizen’s Alliance against Hunger and Malnutrition, 43% of children below the age of five in India are malnourished, when the UNICEF says, “malnutrition is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa”. It is a shame that “around 46 % of all children below the age of 3 are too small for their age in India, and 47 % are underweight and at least 16 % are wasted”. To save the country from this debacle, going back to the CPI should be seriously considered by all the communist fractions and then only, the country can get the alternative it so urgently needs, he said. He suggested that till then, there should be built up movements for ceiling on properties and delinking of candidates from constituencies in order to curb corruption and to stop the growth of mafia raj that plutocracy has been promoting.

Senior journalist Rabi Das emphasized on mass awareness on how the economic policy clamped by Dr. Manmohan Singh has ruined the purposes for which the freedom fighters had made so much sacrifices. He stressed on elimination of inequality in standard of education and removal of charity in the name of serving the socially disadvantaged.

Prof. Bishwaranjan criticized the differences the Government is creating amongst the people. Even government employees of the same rank and salary are divided by various cadres. He regretted that the society is braking down into compartments. Dependents on lands are being displaced in the name of development that only a few enjoy. He stressed that instead of considering the society in the yardstick individual, priority should shift to considering the individual in the yardstick of society.

Husain Rabi Gandhi regretted that with advent of Manmohan Singh’s economic policy, members of the crorepati club have increased phenomenally in strength, but the masses of India have been weakened. The country must extricate itself from this trap, which can be possible only if progressive people unite to defeat the design of world imperialism, he said.

Prof. Abani Kumar Baral elaborated on causes of growing gap between the rich and the poor and lack of concern of the government for the common man. He gave a thought provoking insight on decadence of democracy in a government induced environment of discrepancies and stressed on left unity to build up an alternative to the present pattern of government priority.

Prafulla Samantra, Tusar Kant and Mayadhar Nayak also gave their views. Sudhir Kumar Mansingh proposed the vote of thanks.

ORISSA MATTERS CONDEMNS THE BRUTAL ATTACK ON MEDIA MAGNET SOUMYA RANJAN

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
(Pictorial input from Atulya Mohanty through Prasanta Patnaik)

ORISSA MATTERS strongly condemns the brutal attack on media magnet Soumya Ranjan Patnaik by the Orissa Police that hounded him into the residence of Rabinarayan Pani, a ruling party MLA, before inflicting on him injuries, simply because he belongs also to the Congress party, that had a tremendous congregation before the Assembly on September 6 in protest against continuous misrule by the BJD.

For a corrupt and anti-people Government, the last hope for survival lies in terrorizing its opponents. The bloody attack on the Congress congregation by use of the Police, therefore, is not surprising.

Having usurped power under circumstances not yet clearly comprehended by many, but clearly when minemongers even of foreign countries were zeroing on Orissa, the nature’s monumental depository of mineral wealth, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has given a government that has earned a non-dismissible disrepute as a government more eager to oblige mines-eyeing industries than the land-loosing indigenous people.

The administration’s dubious conduct in squandering away mines apart, people have reasons to be aggrieved in every sphere, as corruption has become so all-pervasive that shrewd fellows in the lowest rank in government offices like night-watchmen and peons have become multimillionaires. How much the top functionaries have benefited is not easy to fathom out. In the language of the Opposition, it is a loot raj.

Against this loot of the State, the Congress party had given a call for protest in front of the Assembly. More than a lakh of people congregated in the earmarked area on the Mahatma Gandhi road on September 6. Government did not tolerate.

The pictures would present what happened.

Blood oozes out as corrupt administration promulgates brutality.

They had no qualms in attacking the rally participants before TV cameras.

Brutality knew no limits. So many police personnel pried upon a single person.

The rightful congregation of Congress party was held with permission from the appropriate authority.

Yet the police terrorized the participants to flee.

The attackers.

State terror knows no barrier.

Office of the Opposition vandalized.

Another blood-drenched victim of the suckers of the State.

Tolerance reached the last limit.

The people retort.

Wrath knows no fear.

When the people retorted, a good many number of police personnel suffered injuries.

The congregation was politically surcharged, yet peaceful. Had the police not been rash and rather could have been vigilant enough to control the agent provocateurs, the road named after Mahatma Gandhi would not have witnessed the avoidable violence.

ORISSA MATTERS Exposed a Malady that reached a Remedy, thanks to Prasad Harichandan and the new Health Minister

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

ORISSA MATTERS had exposed a malady in Orissa’s health care sector, which, thanks to Opposition Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan and a number of alert MLAs and a considerate minister-in-charge has reached a remedy on September 1.

While investigating into how far welfare verdicts are being honored by the Government, ORISSA MATTERS had stumbled upon a milestone judgment delivered by the Orissa High Court a year ago on 28 July 2011 in the matter of compensation claimed by the father of a small kid of 17 months, infected with AIDS because of transfusion of unsafe blood supplied to him by a government blood bank in course of his operation.

In response to the case, the blood bank as well as the State Government had claimed that “safe blood”, determined to be so by screening in ELISA method, was supplied to the kid.

But the kid’s advocate Mrs. Sujata Jena had put up a tremendous argument. She had established that ELISA method was not efficient beyond doubt to detect HIV in its “window period” which comprise about three months from the day of infection.

If blood is drawn from a HIV infected person within the first three months of infection, the virus may escape detection through ELISA screening and may appear to be “safe” even though HIV positive. This had happened to the kid, Jena had argued.

Accepting her well researched argument, the High Court had come to the conclusion that the disaster could not have befallen the kid had the blood given to him on an operation table could have been screened through the “latest technology” called Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) in Polymer Chain Reaction (PCR) method.

And, thus determining, the High Court had awarded a compensation of Rs. 3,00,000/- to the child including cost of his further treatment to be borne by the State, and had issued a mandamus that “the Government must ensure that in all Blood Banks, the PCR method is available to identify the virus of HIV during window period”.

But as is its wont, the government run by Naveen Patnaik did not welcome the mandamus.

Therefore, despite a bureaucratically constituted committee comprising eminent serologists and Professors of microbiology in all the Government Medical Colleges of Orissa having “unanimously” resolved on 25 Feb.2012 that the NAT PCR technology, being “the latest and foremost technology available in India”, “need to be introduced for screening of the blood units to reduce the gray zone period of Transfusion Transmissible Infections like HIV-I, HIV-II, Hepatitis-B and HCV”, the political Government ignored the same.

We exposed this malady in these pages on 8 July 2012 as it came to our attention while investigating into non-implementation of welfare verdicts.

It was a cue for other newspapers in Orissa to stress on the necessity of blood screening in NAT PCR method.

But to our shock, the Government wanted another committee to undo the 25th February “unanimous” recommendation of the committee aforesaid.

The new committee, wherefrom the experts of the previous committee were kept out, rejected the recommendation for NAT PCR method and resolved on 24 July 2012 to challenge the High Court order dated 28 July 2011 through a review petition.

Harichandan turned it turtle

As we again exposed this mischief, it attracted the attention of Sri Harichandan, the well erudite Opposition stalwart. With the Assembly in session, he headed an adjournment notice that came up for discussion on September 1. Government got the jolt.

In initiating the debate, Sri Harichandan completely razed down the 24 July decision of the Government in Health department that had tried to justify non-implementation of the High Court order for adoption of NAT PCR method for blood screening.

He cited National Blood Policy and many other referral documents including the 1996 Supreme Court verdict in Common Cause case to demolish the government stance reflected in July 24 resolution and castigated the government for the contempt shown to the High Court order and for discernible lack of concern for human life as is seen in its reluctance to equip blood banks with the latest technology to ensure that the bloods collected and supplied by them do not carry latent viruses of HIV-I, HIV-II, or other Transfusion Transmissible Infections like Hepatitis-B and HCV as happens in the “window period”.

If HIV and other killer viruses continue to spread from the blood supplied by blood banks, patients would fear to take blood transfusion and all the blood banks will collapse, causing thereby serious dislocation in health care in the State, he warned. Though the Red Cross is tagged to Blood Banks, it cannot bear the cost of NAT and hence the State must provide necessary fund for adoption of the method, he said.

Besides the fire his speech usually emits, he was so much his persuasive best in this matter of immense public importance, that, despite the 24 July resolution to challenge the High Court verdict, the Minister of Health announced that the Government will adopt the NAT technology to obtain safe blood for transfusion.

Stop all avoidable luxurious spending by ministers and bureaucrats and give primacy to blood screening by NAT PCR method instead of avoiding it under the plea of financial constraints, said Pratap Sarangi. Dr. Prafulla Majhi supported the demand for adoption of NAT technology in place of ELISA even as Dr. Nrusingh Sahu cited the cost factor in support of continuance of ELISA method. Dr. Ramesh Chandra Chyau Pattanayak and Alekh Jena contributed their input to the debate.

In reply to the debate, Minister of Health Dr. Damodar Raut pointed out that the departmental reluctance to adopt NAT PCR method was driven by, cost factor besides, lack of direction in NACO and NBTC guidelines.

But, he confessed, howsoever marginal be the failure in detection of HIV through ELISA, it is most unfortunate that a kid of only 17 months was infected by AIDS, which is being attributed to unsafe blood transfusion.

He announced to introduce blood screening through NAT method in the four most busy blood banks in the State, to begin with.

So bureaucratic bungling may no more stymie the latest technology and NAT should soon be in use in the blood banks operating in each of the three Medical Colleges and the Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar.

For us in ORISSA MATTERS, it was a day of victory, as the malady we had exposed got remedied.

The Samaja Editor is under Enforced Hallucination

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

A front page boxed clarification in today’s edition of The Samaja published in fidgeted reaction to the statement of ‘Save The Samaja Forum’ in a press conference yesterday, gives a pathetic feeling that its editor is now under enforced hallucination.

The Samaja was invited to the press meet and had also deputed a reporter to cover the event. The said reporter had not only heard the joint conveners of the Forum, Sri Subhas Chandra Pattanayak and Sri Prasanta Patnaik addressing the Press, but also had been supplied with a copy of the written statement on which both the conveners had elaborated.

But, instead of publishing the information transmitted to his representative in the press meet, including document-based allegation of forgery against the Servants of the People Society (SoPS), and massive, unpunished misappropriation of the funds of The Samaja by functionaries of the SoPS, and unfair labor practice resorted to by the dubious occupiers of The Samaja, the editor has published the boxed clarification, denigrating therein the persons that are trying to save The samaja.

This clarification has failed to deny the allegation that the SoPS has hijacked The Samaja by forging a will of Pt. Gopabandhu Das.

It has failed to deny the allegation of massive misappropriation of the funds of The Samaja by the SoPS functionaries.

It has failed to counter the fact-based revelation of monstrous irregularities in finances of The Samaja.

It has failed to deny unfair labor practices resorted to against leaders of the employees association.

It has failed to produce the true will, if any, of Gopabandhu Das, if that differs from the one orissamatters.com had exposed on 8 August 2012 and the Forum had displayed in the press meet and distributed amongst the media persons including the representative of the editor, yesterday.

But, instead, in fidgets, it has tried to tell the people that by challenging the genuineness of the will, the Forum has raised fingers at the morality of Lala Lajpat Rai, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajarshee Purusottam Das Tandon, Balwantrai Mehetta, Bishwanath Das, Radhanath Rath and Krushna Kant et cetera, they having led the SoPS in the past.

The issue is not the morality of the persons named above by the editor. The issue is loot of The Samaja on the basis of a forged will.

The SoPS must show the people if any will, other than the one exposed and discussed by the orissamatters.com and displayed in the press meet and circulated to the Press by the Forum, is under its possession.

Only thereby, there shall be no question on the morality of any.

Otherwise, the question we have raised cannot die.

The SoPS, which appears now as a body of forgers engaged in active exploitation of a forged will of Utkalmani to their individual and collective benefit, cannot escape under the smokescreen of morality of the persons the Samaja editor has named in his misconceived clarification.

And, what a farce, and what a tragedy!

The press meet and the Save The Samaja Forum and this reporter, who had stumbled upon the so-called will of Gopabandhu and on examination had rejected its genuineness, are all in one reflection of vested interest, the editor has said.

As we know the editor personally, he being a member of our fraternity for decades, and a close colleague of ours in the Media Unity for Freedom of Press that has been fighting against every hurdle to freedom of expression, it is very paining for us to see that he has suppressed the press statement of the ‘Save The Samaja Forum’, which tantamount to suppression of information and, on the other hand, has, in his published clarification, used obnoxious terms against the very people that are trying to save the Samaja from the grip of forgery, embezzlement and irregularities and from the environment that is killing the spirit of Utkalmani.

As we know the editor, and know of his adherence to journalistic ethics, we are sure, in normal condition, he could never have done this disservice to journalism.

Obviously he is under enforced hallucination.

Save ‘The Samaja’ Forum Demands for Salvaging the Paper from Servants of the People Society

The urge to stand with the people’s paper of Orissa – The Samaja – and to extricate it from the labyrinth of problems created by vested-interest members of the Servants of the People Society (SoPS), has given birth to ‘The Save The Samaja Forum’, said its joint conveners Subhas Chandra Pattanayak and Prasanta Patnaik, in a Press Conference at Bhubaneswar this evening.

They raised three issues of urgent public importance in their statement. We produce below the text:

Immediate Investigation needed into whether or not Gopabandhu’s will is fake.

The Samaja, the premier daily of Orissa, object of people’s emotional attachment as the carrier of Utkalmani’s memories, is in a devastative quagmire due to rampant corruption and internecine quarrels amongst members of SoPS, which has kept it under its illegal ownership since the sad demise of Pt. Gopabandhu Das.

During research, we have stumbled upon “an exact photo” of what is claimed to be the ‘will’ of Pt. Gopabandhu Das. But on examination we find that it does not carry Gopabandhu’s signature and therefore we suspect that it is a fake will.

Unless the will is proved to be genuine, it would no more be correct to accept the SoPS as owner of The Samaja.

So, we call upon the SoPS to make public the genuine will of Pt. Gopabandhu Das, if any, to convince the people of Orissa that it is in rightful occupation of the Samaja and the Press and properties thereof.

We urge upon the State Government to take over the Samaja and the Press and all its related and generated properties as unclaimed properties of Pt. Gopabandhu Das and to hand over the Samaja and the Press with necessary running capital to the registered association of journalists and non-journalist employees of the Samaja for continuation of the publication of the paper and to support the arrangement with necessary regulations.

We further call upon the Government, under such circumstances, to immediately treat the SoPS members as unauthorized trespassers and by debarring them from further handling with the funds and movable, immovable properties of the Samaja, to launch a CBI investigation into embezzlement of its funds so far and to take steps for recovery thereof.

CBI investigation needed into rampant loot of revenue of The Samaja

Investigations conducted by Dr. Nilakanth Rath had exposed huge financial irregularities when Dr. Radhanath Rath was at the helm of affairs. He had even exposed how the President of SoPS had misappropriated huge money through false records of medical treatment.

When the practice of corruption did not recede and several instances of misappropriation of the revenue generated by the paper were brought to focus by informed persons and despite police action against a once blue-eyed boy the SoPS leadership stayed untouched by the law, the impact thereof continued to create a free for all environment to indulge in embezzlement of the income of The Samaja. Intriguingly, the SoPS tried to suppress the rising discontentment over the economic offenses through a stage-managed inquiry. Accordingly, an inquiry committee was constituted under chairmanship of Justice Arijit Pasayat.

In his report, Pasayat, a trustee of SoPS, has shown how a life member of SoPS and some of the employees obviously led by him did their best to obstruct the investigation. Yet, despite evidences of huge misappropriation of the funds, and illegalities resorted to in various transactions, and corruption involving crores of rupees, the Pasayat Committee did not recommend either any means of recovery or penal prosecution. It seems, the Pasayat Committee has helped the offenders escape with the loot.

So, an investigation by the CBI into the rampant financial irregularities and embezzlements going on in The Samaja under the cover of the SoPS is unavoidably urgent.

The Save The Samaja Forum call upon the State Government to take over the Samaja management to facilitate such investigation.

Unfair Labour Practices Must be Interfered with

From cases registered in Police Stations and instituted in civil courts, it is clear that corruption sic passim, internecine quarrels and rivalry have divided the SoPS into two belligerent camps. With the help of a local life member in whose context the Pasayat Committee had used words like “his life-membership has to be terminated”, the fraction led by Manubhai Patel, who at the time of Dr. Radhanath Rath had taken huge money from The Samaja fund for his personal political electioneering in Gujarat – but had not returned the money despite repeated notices – has captured the Press and the Paper. This SoPS fraction, the locus standi of which has been challenged in police as well as civil cases instituted by the officiating President Kishor Chandra Tripathi, has resorted to acute unfair labour practices against the leaders of the Utkalmani Newspaper Employees Association by transferring its President to an outside of the State station and by arbitrarily reshuffling the active members of the Association / journalists and non-journalist employees in order only to create panic in them and to push them into pusillanimous conditions so as to enforce their hegemony on the newspaper set up.

The labour law implementation inspectors should have stopped this unfair practice; but they are seemingly overwhelmed by engagement of ex-IAS and IPS and IFS officers by this fraction in various positions in matter of the paper and thereby perhaps, the police is also browbeaten into silence. If this design is not defeated, it would so much demoralize the workforce that The Samaja can hardly be recovered from the injury inflicted upon it by the miscreants.

This Forum, therefore, calls upon the state government to immediately intervene in the matter and to save the paper from the unholy nexus of illegal occupiers and retired civil servants.
Subhas Chandra Pattanayak,
Prasanta Patnaik.
29 August 2012