Orissa Matters

Naveen will leave Orissa Bankrupt: Media should start educating the people

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Professional aloofness displayed by physicians may not be found faulty; but the same in media is unfortunate and blatantly anti-people. Media must be the medium of public education in matter of management of the State.
Orissan media is oversaturated with fellows that pursue the only mission of ingratiating with the ministers, and bureaucrats whom ministers rely upon. Media houses in Orissa run mostly by economic offenders encourage their representatives in this mission so that powers that be may protect them at times of need.

This is why ruling BJD and Chief Minister’s blatant failure in protecting Orissa’s interest in matter of Polavaram project is not yet known to the people. Similarly the people have not yet known that this government is pushing the State into bankruptcy.

The State Finance Minister has told member Dillip Ray in response to his question, on 14th December that the loan of the State shall reach by the amount of Rs. 56,540.13 crores putting debt load on every citizen to the tune of about Rs. 14 thousand. This financial year itself shall be loaded with a loan amount of Rs.12, 800. 38 crores that surpasses all the previous borrowing records.

Loan for development is not unusual. But, the peculiarity in this is that, the State government is borrowing increasingly higher amounts year after year without any workable planning for repayment. It has already impoverished the State denuding her of valuable natural resources and reducing her to a greasing ground of avaricious anti-people non-Oriya industries; and more dangerously, by ruining the peasants’ confidence on self-employment in their traditional agriculture.

There is no easy way for the people to know if the borrowing is productively used and if so, why instead of repaying the loans the State has been borrowing higher amounts every year to reach the state of bankruptcy. Audit Paras on wrongful expenditure and loot of exchequer are galore; but no penal action against any offender is discernible. Why? Shouldn’t media come forward to focus on it?

Acquittal of Salman Khan makes people look askance at Judiciary: Supreme Court should take note of it

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

A man died and four persons were fatally injured under the wheels of actor Salman Khan’s uncontrolled car while sleeping on a footpath of Mumbai in the night of 27 September 2002, according to what the area magistrate had recorded the eye-witness accounts of Khan’s bodyguard Ravindra Patil. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment by the Sessions Court. But a single judge bench of the Bombay High Court has quashed that order and acquitted him completely of all the charges. This has shocked the people.

What was the eye-witness account? What had Patil deposed before the Magistrate?

According to him, Salman Khan and actor Kamaal Khan had gone to hotel (JW Marriott) when Patil was waiting in Salman’s Land Cruiser. They returned at about 2.15 am. Salman drove the car despite Patil’s advice that he should not drive when drunk. “He was drunk and was driving … at the speed of 90 to 100 kilometers per hour. Before coming to the junction of Hill Road, I told Salman to lower the speed”, Patil had stated under oath before the Magistrate. He had further stated, “He could not control his motor car while taking the right turn and it went on the footpath. The people were sleeping on the footpath. The motor car ran over (them)”.

This was almost the same as Salman’s friend and companion Kamaal Khan had told the Police on October 4, 2002. He had stated: “On the night of September 27, 2002, I went to meet Salman at his residence and we planned to have dinner outside. Salman, his bodyguard and I went out in a Land Cruiser to Rain Hotel at Juhu. His brother Sohail and his bodyguard came in a different vehicle. We had reached the hotel around 11 pm and it was very crowded.

Salman, Sohail and I had snacks at the service counter. After about an hour or two, we left for JW Marriott Hotel in the white Land Cruiser. After spending some time there, we left.

Salman sat to drive the vehicle, while his bodyguard sat next to him. I was behind the driver’s seat…Salman was driving and we started to head to his house. We were heading from St Andrew’s Road to Hill Road. While taking a right turn, Salman lost control of the car and it went on the steps of a building and crashed into a shutter. I heard shouts and people gathered around the car. The crowd was shouting ‘Salman come out’. Some were trying to help the injured. When we got down, people pushed us. Salman’s bodyguard told the people he was a policeman, which calmed down the crowd.”

When Police did not produce Kamaal Khan as witness in the Sessions Court, Patil met death in a pathetic condition during pendency of the case.

Now the High Court has concluded that the prosecution has failed to establish the guilt of Salman.

In its words, “For the reasons separately recorded in the judgment and order the following operative order is passed:

ORDER:
1) Criminal Appeal No.572 of 2015 preferred by appellant Salman Salim Khan is allowed;
2) The impugned judgment and order dated 6th may, 2015 passed in Sessions case No. 240 of 2013 is hereby quashed and set aside;
3) The appellant-accused Salman Salim Khan is acquitted of all the charges. The bail bonds of the accused shall stand cancelled;
4) If the fine amounts which are imposed in view of the impugned judgment and order, are already paid, the same shall be refunded back to him……….”

Of what value then are the eye-witness Statements of Salman’s body guard Patil before the Magistrate and of Salman’s friend and companion Kamaal Khan before the Police?

The High Court has of course directed Salman to execute a PR.bond under Section 437-A of Cr.PC. This Section requires the accused, before conclusion of the trial and before disposal of the appeal, to execute bail bonds with sureties, to appear before the higher Court as and when such court issues notice in respect of any appeal or petition filed against the judgment of the respective Court and such bail bonds shall be in force for “six” months.

What shall happen if the State of Maharastra does not prefer any appeal in the Supreme Court?

The very question is tormenting.

The matter looks like using law for covering up a very serious instance of illegality. Looking at askance the judiciary in such a situation would not be unnatural. Whether or not the State of Maharastra prefers appeal against the High Court order, the Supreme Court should do justice to the people of this dazzled country by instituting a special investigation into this case from its beginning to end and passing necessary orders after such investigation.

Justice should appear justified.

Let the Supreme Court ensure this.

Governance of Orissa in Oriya // Gateway to open today after heroic battle of the people

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Only a few hour left. The heroic battle of the people of Orissa for governance of Orissa in Oriya shall step into the 2nd phase of success at 10.30 AM today in Orissa Secretariat, as the Government’s statement affirming its decision for use of Oriya in every aspect of administration as per its agreement with the Odia Bhasa Sangrama Samiti, will come alive.

The first phase of success had come on July 8, 2015 Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik created a committee of five ministers to work with seven representatives of the Odia Bhasa Sangram Samiti that was spearheading the mass movement for implementation of the Orissa Official Language Act, 1954 languishing since the day of its legislation.

According to decision of the Chief Minister, a joint action committee for implementation of the Official Language Act was formed with Sri Debi Prasanna Mishra, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Arun Kumar Sahoo and Pranab Prakash Das – all ministers and Sankarshan Parida, Gajanan Mishra, Dr. Subrat Kumar Prusti, Dr. Bhagavan Prakash, Dr. Natabar Satapathy, Journalist Subhas Chandra Pattanayak and Baishnab Charan Parida MP – all representatives of Odia Bhasa Sangram Samiti. Linguist Dr. Debi Prasanna Pattanayak was taken into this committee where Principal Secretary of Law, Principal Secretary of GA, Director of Odia Bhasa Pratisthan were members from the executive side. Joint Secretary of GA department was taken in as convener of the Committee.

In its first formal meeting, when Dr. Prakash could not attend due to his absence at Bhubaneswar, the ruling party MP Baishnav C. Parida, despite being a member, had unsuccessfully tried to derail the discussion on selfish ground. He has been spewing venom against the Chief Minister whenever an opportunity comes and wants to use the language issue as a whip to beat the CM with. On seeing that the meeting was proceeding in the right direction he was obviously frustrated and the unnecessary noise he made was out of that frustration.

However, the meeting had proceeded with very clear and constructive cooperation of the rest of the representatives of the Bhasa Sangram Samiti. Three resolutions were adopted in this meeting. (1) Dr. Debi Prasanna Pattanayak would draft and submit a language policy; (2) an user-friendly website dedicated entirely to implementation of the Language Act would be created and (3) members of the Committee would advance their suggestions as should be helpful in implementation of the Act.

Accordingly, when Dr. Debi Prasanna Pattanayak has submitted a draft Language Policy Sri Subhas Chandra Pattanayak has submitted draft of the legal tools necessary for implementation of the Act. Both these documents have been placed in the site created in Oriya for Orissa.

Any legitimate citizen of Orissa can submit his observation and/or suggestions in the matter of implementation of the language Act in a specific page provided in the site and can watch official responses thereto.

The site will not only ensure governance of Orissa in Oriya, but also empower the general public to intervene in case of any deviation.

Kanungo Couple’s Statues Installed In Salagan

Statues of former Estate owner Kshirod Chandra Kanungo and his wife Mahindramani Kanungo were installed today in Salagan near Chowdwar in presence of Justice B.P.Das, Justice B.P.Roy and Justice Shatrughna Pujahari. Sri and Smt. Kanungo had passed away on August 10, 1999 and May 11, 2001 respectively. Both of them were highly humanitarian in nature. They were of immense spiritual quest and to them, education was the only way to emancipation. Hence, they had always helped whosoever was deserving help to have education.

Their 3rd son, eminent Mining Engineer Jatindranath and his wife Smrutirekha (Montreal, Canada) played key role in installation of the statues. 2nd son eminent Textile Technologist Ratindranath (Ahmedabad) conducted the ceremony. Eldest son-in-law Journalist Subhas Chandra Pattanayak released the souvenir containing tributes to the late couple by family members and friends. Kshirod babu’s eldest daughter Prof. Sabitarani Kanungo, second daughter-in-law Smt. Pratima Kanungo, second daughter Smt. Gitarani Kanungo (Reader, Rtd) and her husband Sisir Ranjan Mohanty (OAS Rtd), 3rd daughter Smt. Namita Kanungo and her husband Ananta Kumar Das (BDO Rtd) were present. The eldest son of the revered couple, internationally acclaimed academic in the fields of Psycology, Behavioral Science in Business management and Leadership, Prof. Rabindranath Kanungo, unable to attend the function due to age and health, sent the following message:

“They had a nature you could not help loving
And hearts that were purer than gold
And to those who knew them and loved them
Their memory will never grow cold”.

The event was a collective act of the children of Late Kanungo and of his beloved sister late Chhayamani Mohanty (wife of late Kishore Chandra Mohanty, OAS of Kakata, Kendrapada): Their eldest son Er. Bijay Kumar Mohanty (Chief Engineer Electricals Rtd) and his wife Smt. Priyambada Pattanayak (Reader Rtd), 2nd son Ashok Kumar Mohanty (Reader, Rtd) and his wife Smt. Basanti Mohanty, 3rd son Dr. Binaya Kumar Mohanty (Associate Prof. Endocrinology) and his wife Smt. Supriti Mohanty (Reader, Rtd), 4th son Dr. Amiya Kumar Mohanty (Addl. Director HE Rtd) and his wife Smt. Nirupama Mohanty, Eldest daughter Smt. Shubhalaxmi Mohanty and her husband Deba Prasad Mohanty (Central Govt. Audit Officer Rtd), 2nd daughter Smt Bhagya Laxmi Mohanty (Reader) and her husband Dr. Ajaya Kumar Das (Reader) were conspicuous by their active role in the function. Grand children and great grand children of both the Kanungo and Mohanty families – from brothers and the sisters – were present. Bijay and Priyambada’s grandsons – Ayananshu and Amrutanshu – recited Vedic hymns as the Statues were unveiled by the three hon’ble Judges.

Senior members of extended family such as Ullas Kanungo, Birendra Kumar Kanungo, Smt. Charulata Kanungo, Jagdish Kanungo, and Rituraj Kanungo were facilitated.

Felicitations were also offered to members of the younger generation of the family such as Adwiteeya Mohapatra, (granddaughter of Sabitarani and Subhas Chandra Pattanayak from their daughter Suchismita), Sujot Mohanty (grandson of Gitarani and Shisir Ranjan Mohanty through their 2nd son Jyotiranjan), and Ayananshu as well as Amrutanshu (grandsons of Bijay and Priyambada through their son Suchit)

At the podium of the statues, a village park namely Dadhibabana Udyana was inaugurated to mark the event and a health check up camp was held by Star Club of Salagan in collaboration with Age Care Associate, Bhubaneswar. As many as 950 patients from nearby villages including Salagan received free medical check up and advice, particularly in endocrinology from a team of eminent physicians such as Dr. G. C. Nayak (Medicine) and Prof. Dr. Binaya Kumar Mohanty, Dr. Soumyasudha Mangaraj, Dr. Debarttan Jena and Dr.Pratap Mishra (all endocrinologists). The health camp was inaugurated by the President of District Board Prasanta Kumar Behera.

Chief Guest Justice Bimal Prasad Das paying a glowing tribute to the late couple, lauded the family unity witnessed on the occasion and praised the people of the locality for their pure participation in such inspiring programs.

Brilliants students of the locality were conferred with Kshirod Chandra Kanungo Memorial Award, Mahindramani Kanungo Memorial Award sand Minati Kanungo Memorial Award. For these three awards, Rasmi Ranjan Satapathy, Gnana Ranjan Mohapatra and Jaya Prakash Swain were selected respectively on basis of their school performances. Famous Singer Ms. Anindita Das sung a few songs in honor of the revered couple.

Volunteers such as Rajat ranjan Das, Lalatendu Das, Soumya ranjan Das, Shubham Panda, Kamalesh Sahu, Pintu Behera, Sunita Mohanty, Krushna Chandra Behera, Rakesh Das, Biswa Bimohan Das, Dharmendra Choudhury made the event a grand success under the leadership of Tusarakant Kanungo and Gutu Kanungo, President and Secretary respectively of the Star Club.

A few relevant pictures:

Religious Terror is created by Religions and Weapon-manufacturing Lobbyists: Saswat Pattanayak

Twelve hours ago journalist Saswat Pattanayak in a note shared in social media had written:

“Whereas Islamic terrorism is a reality, let’s not forget that the “War on Terror” is also a religious war. Islamic terrorism may have little to gain other than causing emotional havoc. But the War on Terror, in our names, is a profiteering agenda that causes fear among the victims, unites the jingoists, and financially enriches the weapons-manufacturing lobbyists. In fact, the seeds for terrors have been planted by those very folks who are today implementing the “War on Terror” as a way to viciously perpetuate the cycle while they continue to profit from military-industrial complex and increase defense budgets with a scared citizenry meekly consenting to nationalist rhetorics”.

For whosoever shudders to see the unilateral extinguishment of hundreds of innocent civilians of Paris by a religious terrorist body that shamelessly claims credit for the brutality, in the night of Friday, I post here Saswat’s Face Book Posting:

Terrorists killed 26 and wounded 60 in Iraq yesterday. They killed 43 and injured 181 in Lebanon the day before. They killed 66 and injured 107 in Pakistan last month. And last month alone, 56 Palestinians were killed by Israeli terrorists.

Let’s stand in solidarity with Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan and Palestine too and change our grieving profile pictures across social media accordingly. Let’s hope that Facebook also activates “Safety Check” button for relatives of victims and potential victims of terrorist attacks in each of these regions. Not just for the folks who have relatives in France.

Sadly, this is a wishful thinking. What will happen is branding of those who are condemning selective outrage, as inhuman creatures lacking empathy. The truth is, when people are killed by terrorists in the global South, those are matter-of-factly dismissed as suicide bombings. When NATO terrorists sanction killings of innocent people, they are justified and glorified as a “Global War on Terror” instead – which is now going to be expedited in the wake of Paris, even as it has already killed well over 4 million Muslims so far.

Whereas Islamic terrorism is a reality, let’s not forget that the “War on Terror” is also a religious war. Islamic terrorism may have little to gain other than causing emotional havoc. But the War on Terror, in our names, is a profiteering agenda that causes fear among the victims, unites the jingoists, and financially enriches the weapons-manufacturing lobbyists. In fact, the seeds for terrors have been planted by those very folks who are today implementing the “War on Terror” as a way to viciously perpetuate the cycle while they continue to profit from military-industrial complex and increase defense budgets with a scared citizenry meekly consenting to nationalist rhetorics.

The need in our times is to not “other” people or to isolate “them” as suspects. The need is to come forward as one human race to combat the grounds that facilitate terrorism; to end the growing militarization that romanticizes violence as a tool of justice; to stop revenge politics which promotes retaliation across ideological spectrum.

Contrary to mainstream media claims, Paris did not happen after 9/11 – and neither of those two incidents were attacks on “western values of freedom and liberty”. Paris happened after Baghdad, which happened after Beirut, which happened after Sindh and Baluchistan. Likewise, 9/11 had happened after various militarist interventions in regions that were challenging a unipolar world order following dissolution of Soviet Union.

Yet, the righteous tears are suddenly flowing now and they were not flowing last week, because whether or not we agree, its only White Lives that Matter in the world that is still very much Eurocentric. This is yet another RIP Princess Diana moment – a fetishization of equating race with aspiration for freedom, and the selective emotions associated with such assumption. A convenient alibi to discard the reality that countries in the global South also aspire for freedom from occupation, from the hooliganism of the NATO member states that has not stopped even as there is no Warsaw today.

A historical blunder it would be to forget that it is the United States under Ronald Reagan which funded the Taliban/ Mujahidins so they could destroy a secular Afghanistan under Dr. Najibullah. An egregious oversight it would be to not hold the NATO powers accountable for the birth, rise and sustenance of ISIS – a threat from which the refugees are fleeing for safety, in a region systematically marked by political uncertainties to benefit Israeli hegemony. It was Hillary Clinton’s State Department under Obama administration that refused to brand Boko Haram as a terrorist group because the US was funding it. To kill a leader of Gaddafi’s stature, it was the NATO again which funded Al-Qaeda. In so many ways, ISIS is a direct consequence and is a beneficiary of the funding of hate, instituted by Obama administration and its Saudi allies – in Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and well beyond.

To imagine that there will be no backlash at all, despite us thriving in moral and financial superiority at the expense of the wars of our own creations, is to simply dwell in fairy tales. Except, unlike the stories, there are possibly no happy endings in sight.