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Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer and tathya.in.

The State-run Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa Limited (IDCOL) plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore by 2015. Speaking on the occasion of the 47th Foundation Day of the IDCOL on Saturday, its Managing Director Ashok K Meena said a Vision Document has been prepared and, accordingly, the investment proposition has been envisaged.

He announced that with the rate of success in achieving Rs 475 crore as turnover and Rs 100 crore as cash surplus, the PSU has embarked upon for short, medium and long-term measures to make the industrial conglomerate a really international one.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOL)’s Chairman S. Beuria called on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday at Orissa Bhawan in New Delhi and appraised him about the progress on 15 MMTPA Paradip- refinery -cum- aromatic complex.

He indicated that approximately Rs 1,254 crore had already been spent on the project.

“Due to cost and time overruns, the project cost is likely to go up to Rs 46,000 crore and the project will take 42 months to get completed,” he said.

He further indicated that they have already received environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest. Construction of water and power supply system has also been completed. The work of dredging and reclamation of land is under progress.

Beuria informed Patnaik that the seven year- holiday available under Section 51-B will be withdrawn effective from April 1, 2009 It would affect the viability of the project.

… Patnaik asked the Beuria to take up the peripheral development works for the benefit of the project affected people of Jagatsinghpur district.

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

Sparsh Hospital is planning to come up with a 250-bed set up in the City. The new project would house all super speciality facility under one roof.

Currently, Sparsh is an 80-bed hospital with a modern OTS, ICU, dialysis unit, casualty, pathology and radiology units.

Promoted by a team of young professionals and cancer specialist Dr Ghanashyam Biswas, the hospital has tied up with a number of corporate houses and is running a series of programmes like free health check-up camps.

The top ten according to Gap Adventures, as mentioned in a Travel Bite, UK, article, is:

• The Indian state of Orissa holds a Chariot festival in July and sees hundreds of thousands of devotees of Jagannath – the lord of the universe – gather to perform a colourful and noisy ritual.

  In the town of Puri gigantic chariots hauled through the main street and the air is filled with the rhythmic clang of metal gongs, the blowing of conch shells and trumpets, and the chanting of holy men.

• A combination of livestock trading and religious festivities provides a truly spectacular experience at the Pushkar camel festival in the Indian state of Rajasthan each November.

  Around 50,000 camels are sold, decorated, shaved and raced during the festival, followed by religious rituals which culminate in thousands of devotees bathing in the holy lake on the full moon.

• Across the border in Pakistan, thousands travel to Shandur in the far north of the country for the world’s highest polo tournament.

  These polo games are not like the modern variety, applying 800-year-old rules that are cut-throat to say the least.

• In Guatemala every March the Semana Santa festival draws thousands to celebrate the rebirth of Christ in a typically Central American combination of Catholic symbolism and Mayan tradition.

  For a whole week the people eat, drink and dance for a fruitful harvest, culminating in a sleepless three-day march of holy statues through the streets.

• One of Mexico’s most macabre and memorable festivals takes place in the beautiful colonial city of Oaxaca – the Day of the Dead.

  This joyful honouring of the lives of deceased family members is on All Hallow’s Eve, when people decorate the graves of their loved ones with flowers, candles and even food.

  The whole community gathers with food, music and mescal (think tequila with a nasty kick) all part of the fun.

• Inti Raymi, or the Festival of the Sun, is Peru’s most famous festival and the week-long event sees huge crowds watching ceremonial processions through the flower-draped streets of Cuzco.

  The ceremony itself takes place on June 24th, when a person representing the Sapa Inca (the emperor) calls for blessings from the sun amid a heady mix of music, prayers and dancing.

• One of the most important festivals in Tibet is the new year celebration of Losar, held over three days in February.

  This colourful, traditional and exotic Buddhist festival features symbolic rituals performed by the yellow-hatted Tibetan lamas, followed by massive parades and fireworks meant to chase off the devils of the old year.

• Mongolia’s Naadam festival echoes the country’s warrior past and the ‘manly games’ involve displays of the three major traditional sports in Mongolia: wrestling, horse racing and archery.

  The festival begins with a big parade down the main street of Ulaan Baatar and travellers can take the opportunity to compete in the events and stay with the nomadic herders in their tent-like ‘gers’.

• Thousands of people gather in Kyoto each May in the hope of witnessing a rarely-seen performance of the geisha dancers of the Pontocho district.

  The Kama-gawa Odori festival has been held since 1872 on the banks of the Kamo-gawa river and is one of Japan’s most celebrated spring geisha dances.

• For something completely different attend the world famous Calgary Stempede in Canada in July, celebrating rhinestone, country music and wide-open spaces.

  The rodeo competition, stage shows, concerts, chuckwagon races and pancake breakfasts held all over the city during Stampede Week offer fun for all.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Pioneer.

Vedanta Aluminium Limited signed an MoU with the Apollo Health & Life Style Limited on Tuesday to open two units of The Apollo Clinics at Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda.

The MoU was signed at the Vedanta office in Bhubaneswar by M Siddiqi, Director and CEO, Aluminium Sector, Vedanta Group, and Ratan Jalan, CEO, Apollo Health & Life Style Ltd, in the presence of Vedanta Aluminium CFO Virendra Agrawal, GM and Head, PR & CSR, Prashanta Hota and other officials form both sides.

The MoU deals with the establishment and management of the two well-equipped Apollo Clinics, which would be fully supported by Vedanta Aluminium. Funded fully by Vedanta, the two units have accepted the responsibility of recruiting doctors, providing all kinds of diagnostic facilities, specialist treatment, extending other modern healthcare facilities and running the clinics at both locations.

Involving a total investment of about Rs 5 crore, the day-to-day operations would also be fully funded by Vedanta.

Besides rendering quality healthcare services to the project-impacted people and employees of Vedanta Aluminium and their dependents, the clinics would be running a Sick Bay Unit in the plant premises and regularly conduct Outreach Programmes in the periphery villages.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

An 11-member team comprising industrialists from Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh is on a three-day visit to Orissa to explore possibilities of investments in ancillary industries. The team on Wednesday visited the Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex at Dubri in Jajpur district.

Orissa is now focusing on ancillary units of mega projects that are coming up in the state with a view to further value addition and employment generation.

While the proposed Jindal Stainless Steel Downstream Park (SEZ) at Kalinga Nagar is the focus, the government is also promoting the Choudwar Industrial estate to the visitors. Orissa is keen to have ancillary industries in Rourkela, Sambalpur, Paradip and Dhamra regions in addition to the Somnathpur Industrial Estate in Balasore.

The steel SEZ (JSSL) is to come up on 300 acres near the 1.6 mtpa steel plant project of Jindal Stainless, and will house industries to move up the value chain by churning out specific products for different sectors. Investment in the SEZ is envisaged to be to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore.

A study conducted by JSSL and international consultancy firm CB Richard Elis has pointed out that the precision cold rolling, pipes and tubes, auto components, engineering products, kitchenware and lifestyle products hold much promise.

"Advantages of setting up projects in Orissa are manifold as it is at the core of emerging Markets in eastern India comprising West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and north east", the director industries, Hemanta Sharma, told the visiting industries. It is also the gateway to the Southeast Asian countries in terms of exports, he added.

The state government had lined up a comprehensive package including incentives and concessions to promote ancillary enterprises, Sharma said.

Asserting profitability of the ventures here, CEO of Jindal Stainless SS Virdi said applications of steel are growing faster compared with any metals as per capita consumption (PCC) is on the rise. In India, the PCC is only 1.1 kg compared with 15-20 kg in developed countries.

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

The ambitious second railway bridge project over river Mahanadi near Cuttack is complete.

About Rs 124 crore was invested in putting up the gigantic structure, the length of which spans over 2.1 km.

… With its completion, the doubling of the Talcher-Cuttack-Paradip railway track has also come to an end.

Sources said, the completion of the project and the doubling of rail tracks will help the railways run more coal-laden wagons from Talcher and Paradip to the thermal power stations in South India. Besides, the new infrastructure will allow smooth movement of passenger trains and reduce delays.

According to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, the project was completed a few months ahead of the scheduled period of three years. In all two firms were involved in putting up the second bridge. While Mumbai-based Gammon India laid the foundation and the sub-structure of the bridge, Kolkata-based Braithwaite Burn and Jessop Construction gave shape to the super-structure.

The structure consumed 8,200 tonne of structural steel. No date was, however, announced about its commissioning. Laying of the rail tracks to the end point of the bridge from Cuttack station-end and Kendrapara road station-end was yet to be completed.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in New Indian Express.

… honey would soon be available in pouches.

The board plans to take up this project once the proposed modern honey processing unit starts functioning on its premises. It has already received a grant of Rs 18 lakh for the unit.

Board secretary Manmohan Rath said, their ultimate goal is to increase honey production substantially in the State and popularise its consumption. At present, honey consumption in the State stands at 18 gram per head as against the countrywide figure of 38 grams.

The Government is in the process of setting up bee keeping nurseries in Bhawanipatna, Balangir, Koraput and Rayagada. He said, the ensuing programmes would entail employment generation and supplementary income to BPL families.

On promotion of khadi and raising production capacity, he said a production-cum-training centre would be set up at a cost of Rs 1 crore here.

Modern 10 spindle charkhas will be used in the centre. The Khadi Board has so far created about 3,100 rural entrepreneurs and provided employment opportunities to about 29,000 people under the Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP).

The nine-day REGP exhibition, which concluded here today, provided such entrepreneurs a platform to showcase their produce. The secretary said, plans are afoot to take up a Rs 3-crore project at Khaprakhol block in Balangir district, a rich cotton growing region.

The project is basically for setting up a khadi centre producing superior quality thread. It will also provide employment opportunities to about 500 persons. The success of the project might also check migration from the region.

Disclosing plans for popularising bamboo items, Rath said a Rs 50-lakh pilot project has been presented to the Khadi Commission for value addition of bamboo items. The project will directly benefit another 500 families.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Thaiindian.

Around 850 families in Orissa’s Keonjhar District alone earn their livelihood from Badi making. Traditionally, the Badis have been prepared by grinding the Udad pulse (split black gram Dal) on a sil-stone. But to produce it for commercial purposes, today machines are used to grind the pulse for the Badi paste.

Today, the Badis prepared in Keonjhar District gaining popularity all over the country and in different parts of the world.

“We are supplying Badis to foreign countries too. The women in the old town of Keonjhar prepare these Badis. These Badis are made of Udad Dal (split black gram Dal) and various types of spices are mixed in it,” says shopkeeper Pradumna Patnaik.

Most of the Badis are marketed by Orissa Rural Marketing Services (ORMS) which also facilitates getting advance from banks to the women entreprenuers.

“Every house of Keonjhar district is preparing Badis. It is a part of their culture. For a few years, the people of Keonjhar are commercially preparing the Badis and they are also making it and it helps in their livelihood and promotional activities,” said Anant Charan Sahoo, the Chief Executive of, ORMAS in Keonjhar.

“We are also giving them training to value addition of making Badis in Keonjhar District. More than 200 groups are now engaged in Badi activities. Some parts of Keonjhar like Ghatna, Harichandanpur and Sadar block, the groups are engaged in this activity and they are even getting more money out of that Badi activity,” he added.

Many varieties Badis that are prepared by mixing Udad dal, pumpkin, almond, cauliflower and various other items and condiments. Badi added to enhance the taste of dishes.

“The Badis are very famous in Keonjhar. Badi is such a food item that tastes very good when it is fried with onion and garlic and being eaten with even overnight cooked rice. It also tastes good if it is made with vegetables. The Badis are also used in the marriages and fasts. The food doesn’t taste well without Badis. It is such a food item which can be eaten with rice even by roasting it in fire,” said Harekrishna Patnaik, a buyer.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Air Deccan is going to offer special packages to the tourists to visit Bhitarkanika mangrove forest, the second largest mangrove forest of India. Apart from that they would get a chance to pay a visit to the beaches of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, the world’s largest rookery of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles, the doorless village of Sialia under Rajkania, the magnificent Royal palace of Rajkanika, Hukitola island and nearby tourists spots, said managing director of Deccan Aviation Captain Gopinath on Saturday at Rajkanika.

Gopinath along with a senior official of Deccan Aviation PB Devaya, visited Bhitarkanika on a helicopter on Saturday. The helicopter landed on the ground of royal palace of Rajkanika. The scion of royal family of Rajkanika Shivendu Narayan Bhanjadeo accompanied the officials, who visited the water bodies and dense mangrove forests on a boat. Bhanjadeo said, "As the park is situated about 110 km from Bhubaneswar and the connecting road conditions from the capital city to Bhitarkanika are not so good for which tourists are not taking interest to visit the park."

"As no air communication facilities was available from Bhubaneswar to Bhitarkanika, a couple months ago, I urged the officials of Deccan Aviation to take initiatives to run flights to the national park to boost tourist inflow. After getting invitation, two senior officials visited Bhitarkanika to conduct a survey. Presently, the ground of the palace at Rajkanika will be used as a temporary airfield or helipad for the landing of helicopters and small planes", said Bhanjadeo.

Recently, the State Government formed a Bhitarkanika Eco-Tourism Society (BETS) to attract more tourists to Bhitarkanika, said Bhanjadeo, who is also a member of the society.

The forest officials have recently constructed a tower in Bhitarkanika for the tourists to watch the birds, spotted deer, wild boars, water monitors, crocodiles, snakes and other animals from the top.

Do it Online!

Following is from  http://nandankanan.org/adopt-an-animal.asp.

Ever feel like bringing home an animal or bird you are charmed by when you visit the Nandankanan Zoo? Now, you can bring one home in your heart when you contribute to the ‘Adopt an Animal’ programme. Your adopted animal or Bird will remain at the Nandankanan Zoo in the care of Zoo professionals and as a Zoo Parent; you will have the pride of knowing your gift helps to extend better care and welfare to the animal. You will be pleased to know these wonderful animals will be here to stay for many years to come.

Adopt-An-Animal is a great way to add a fascinating animal or bird species to your family! Your new "wild child" won’t really be coming to live with you, though. Instead, you will become a foster parent of sorts. When you adopt an animal, or bird your contribution goes to the animals at the Nandankanan Zoological Park for care, feeding and enclosure enrichment and renovation.

The Adopt a Species program is launched to support the Zoo’s world-class care and services for all inhabitants by providing quality food to meet their nutritional requirements, medical care, equipment, up gradation of the enclosure and enrichments. The Adopt-An-Animal program would benefits the animals directly with all proceeds going toward the care and feeding of the animals at the Nandankanan Zoo!

All the captive animals and Birds at the Nandankanan Zoo would be available for adoption. The Adopt-An-Animal Program would be an annual support program and all adoptions would be for a period of one year or multiple of one month. The animal adopted would remain at the Nandankanan Zoo, receiving proper care and housing.

Be a part of our mission: You may adopt our charming animals and bird species starting at Rupees 500 and up. For your generosity, you’ll receive a "Thank You" in the form of a printable Adoption Certificate, plus exclusive incentives depending on your giving level .

Habitat loss, human encroachment and poaching are just some of the challenges facing endangered animals today. Your support would go a long way for wildlife conservation efforts and would help us provide exemplary care to many endangered species. You can make a difference and your gesture would help to save a species from the brink of extinction. As an Adoptive Parent your contribution would help us to ensure a brighter future for these species.

This would help not only in raising funds, but would also ensure participation of the individuals, corporate bodies and others in the management of the Zoo. Opening the adoption scheme to the public, corporate bodies and institutions would bring them closer to the zoo and heighten their love and passion for the captive animals and birds. By doing this, there will be some involvement of the communities and people towards the zoo. Therefore the Zoo would like to invite philanthropists, institutions and industrial houses and individuals to lend a helping hand by donating liberally to the zoo.

It is proposed to make available all the captive animals and Birds at the Nandankanan Zoo would for adoption. The adopter (Zoo Parent) would pay the amount fixed for each species he would like to adopt. The proceeds would be utilized to support the care and services for all the zoo inmates by providing food, health care, equipment, up gradation of the enclosures and enrichments. The Adopt-An-Animal Program would be an annual support program and all adoptions would be for a period of one year or multiple of one month. No adopters would be allowed to take the animals home. All the adopted animals would remain in the care and custody of the Zoo, and no ownership rights would be conferred. In case of the adopted animal is removed from the collection of the Zoo under exchange programme, the sponsorship will be applied to another animal for the rest of the year of the same species and the adopter would be duely informed. Some popular animals may be allowed concurrent adoptions.

It is proposed to open the animal adoption scheme to the;

• Corporate bodies
• Business houses
• Institutions
• Individuals(Indians,NRIs and Foreigners)
• Families
• School ,Colleges and Universities
• Clubs
• Animal lovers
• NGOs

Animal adopters would receive

• A customised adoption certificate.
• One free entry ticket (to admit maximum 5) for each animal adopted.
• The adopters name would be displayed at the special board at the entry gate.
• Special mention in the Annual Report of the Zoo.

How can you adopt

Please download the adoption form, choose the animal of your choice and fill it up and mail it along with the A/C Payee, Cheque /Demand draft drawn in favour of Director Nandankanan payable at Bhubaneswar in the following address.

Registration Form (257 KB)

Online Registration

Director, Nandankanan Zoological Park
Mayur Bhawan, Saheed Nagar
Bhubaneswar-7, Orissa
Tel : 0674-2547850(0)
Fax: 0674-2547840

You will receive the adoption certificate and the acknowledgment.

Some of the art can be seen in the pages: [8],[9],[10],[11] and [12].

Following is what a Telegraph report says about them.

The exhibition of artists from Orissa titled Dimensions & Directions that has opened at Mon Art Gallerie is a refreshing change from the cliched works displayed over and over again at most city galleries nowadays.

To begin with, these young artists have a more heightened awareness of the political situation in the state and also of the degradation of environment as the direct fallout of some political decisions. Some of the works may seem a trifle crude but nobody can doubt their effectiveness despite that shortcoming.

In Debarchan Rout’s canvas a man on a scaffolding is painting a wall green, while ironically greenery has been erased from the terrain beneath him in the name of development. The world map has turned into a black umbrella stopping acid rain from destroying a sapling in Rajiblochan Pani’s canvas.

Traders would once set out from Bali from the Orissa coast, but now the rivers have turned dry and sand is carted away from it. Huge factories come up in background. The entire scene in this work by Sovan Kumar is painted on a piece of tarpaulin.

Birendra Pani once again focuses on the young cross-dressing dancers of Orissa, this time folk style. In Rohit Supakar’s painting, a brand new car emerges from the trunk of an anthropomorphic tree, in an obvious reference to the resistance put up by local people against forcible appropriation of farmland by the government.

In Ramakrishna Behera’s wide-angle paintings of Ladakh, the dividing line between fact and fancy melt away. It must be mentioned that however well intentioned the installation on Ridley turtles may have been it ended up looking too obvious.

 

The following list is from www.orissatourism.gov.in/new/Identified_Tourist_Centre_of_Orissa_261207.pdf.