___________

New Indian Express has a report on this. Following are some excerpts.

The Centre will invite global tender through the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for the preservation of the 13th century heritage Sun temple at Konark.
…
The Centre would release Rs 13 crore for the project as well as periphery development around the Sun temple.
…
the Centre has sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the renovation and development of the State museum at Bhubaneswar. Besides, Rs 92 lakh has also been earmarked for construction of the open theatre, Kalamandal, here.
…
The ASI, NCF, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Indian Oil Foundation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for five important monuments of India – Sun temple, Konark, Kanheri caves, Mumbai, Group of temples at Khajuraho, monuments at Hampi and Warangal Fort. The IOC has contributed Rs 25 crore for the project.

Samaja reports on this is as follows. Central government should, if they don’t have one yet, have a similar scheme for tribal districts.

Following up on our earlier article on this, currently Bhubaneswar area has three FM stations: Radio Choklate 104 FM, Big 92.7 FM and 93.5 SFM. The first two plan to expand to Rourkela soon. Nationally, two other FM stations, Radiocity 91.1 FM and Radio Mirchi 98.3 plan to expand to all state capitals and business centers across the country. Hopefully they will soon be in Orissa. (Acknowledgment: The above is based on a news item in Sambada.)

While South Indian food types and Punjabi food types are commonly associated with Indian cuisine, various states of India have their own specialties. Orissa has its own cuisine, besides the world famous roshgollas. Following are some links.

• Cookbooks:
  • Purba: Feasts from the East: Oriya Cuisine from Eastern India, Laxmi Parida. [Barnes-n-Noble]; [Amazon]
• Recipes in the web
  • Oriya Kitchen
  • Surf India
• Newspaper articles on Oriya Cuisine
  • Hindu, July 28, 2004
  • Hindu, June 18, 2005
• Locations of some Oriya cuisine restaurants
  • Dalema (3 locations in Bhubaneswar: Unit IV, Master Canteen, near KIIT)
  • Dalma (old Bhubaneswar)
  • Odisha Hotel (Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar)
• Restaurants with Oriya Cusine in their menu
  • Restaurant in Swosti hotel
  • Restaurant in Swosti Plaza
  • Phulpatna Restaurant, Hotel Toshali Sands, Puri.
  • Orissa Bhavan, 4, Bordoloi Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110 021.
  • Utkal Bhawan, Kolkata

Following are pictures of the menu of the Dalema restaurant near Master Canteen.

Following is a picture of a vegetarian plate of Oriya cuisine. Its very different from a similar plate of south Indian thali (plate) or north Indian thali.

Following is the exact address (with phone number of the two Dalema locations). The third one from where the above pictures were taken, is the one near KIIT.

(Postscript: I have no relation with Dalema, except that I am a satisfied customer,and next time I am in Bhubaneswar I will definitely visit one of their locations. I have also eaten at Odissa hotel in Saheed Nagar. They use copper utensils.)

Pioneer reports on this. Following are some excerpts:

Club City, a leading food court chain known for its unique food fusion concept, opened its 19th outlet at Swagat Palace at Bhouma Nagar on Sunday.

… he food chain successfully mixes Indian delicacies with that of American European, Chinese and Mexican food flavours. Initially, her outlet could manage to bring four food concept brands out of the total 15 — Dosa Plaza, Sanghai Post, Chillzzzz and Club Thai. Dosa Plaza is India’s largest menu of Dosa making and would cater to nearly 27 varieties of Dosas, while Shanghai Post would deal with delicate Chinese items. Chillzzz and Club Thai would offer varieties of Mocktails and shakes along with delicacies of Thailand .

Deepikaglobal has another report which talks about Club city’s further plans.

… about seven more outlets would be opened in Orissa to cater to the customers growing demand of ‘fun dining’ experience. The new outlets would be opened in Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar, he added. … The CEO also added that the traditional Oriya cuisine would soon be included in the menu.

Financial express reports that Orissa growth rate for the current year is better than national growth rate. National Industrial growth rate increased at 6.93% for the 11th plan period while in Orissa the growth rate was 11.34%. Simultaneously, while agricultural growth rate in the National context was 1.03% , in Orissa the growth rate was 3% across the 10th 5 year plan period. The overall growth rate was 7.3% for orissa as opposed to National growth rate of 6.5%. Excerpts from the article are as follows:

‘‘The growth rate of Orissa ws 7.3 % during the 10th plan period against the national average of 6.5%,’’ state finance minister Prafulla Ghadei said while replying to the discussion on Appropriation Bill in the state assembly.

Ghadei said the state was on growth path due to the strict fiscal discipline maintained by the government after Patnaik took over the reigns. ‘‘While the growth rate during the previous Congress regime was below the national average in 9th plan period, it increased in the 10th plan period,’’ he said.

Seeking to justify his argument, the finance minister pointed out that while national growth rate in agriculture was 1.03% during the 10th plan period, it was 3% in Orissa which was higher than many other states in the country.

While the national growth rate in industrial sector was confined to 6.96% in the 10th plan period, it was 11.34 % in Orissa, he said quoting what he claimed data obtained from the national sample survey. ‘‘Isn’t it an achievement of the Orissa government,’’ Ghadei asked the opposition, which earlier described the government as ‘non-performing’’. Referring to poverty, Ghadei said Orissa was ahead of neighbouring states like Jharkhand and Bihar in controlling poverty.”

The above reports prove a point that the state has gone beyond signing MOUs and creation of fruitful economic activity in the state, since that is reflected in the survey results.

We just need fruition of the big ticket investments which will result in even greater growth in the next 5 year plan. A note of caution though, current agricultural productivity is still below National average. A plan needs to be formulated to change the per hectare output in the state.

Financial express reports on this. Following are some excerpts:

• ‘‘The growth rate of Orissa ws 7.3 % during the 10th plan period against the national average of 6.5%,’’
  
• ‘‘While the growth rate during the previous Congress regime was below the national average in 9th plan period, it increased in the 10th plan period,’’
• while national growth rate in agriculture was 1.03% during the 10th plan period, it was 3% in Orissa which was higher than many other states in the country.
• While the national growth rate in industrial sector was confined to 6.96% in the 10th plan period, it was 11.34 % in Orissa.

Hindustan Times reported that,

the Orissa government is examining a proposal from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to set up a 4,000 to 6,000-megawatt capacity nuclear power plant, which could be the largest in the country, which today has a total nuclear power generation capacity of only 4,120 MW.

The project is being proposed in the wake of the US government’s offer of technology under the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement with India.

“The NPCIL made their initial selection of the site based on satellite images,” Orissa Energy Minister Suryanarayan Patro told Hindustan Times on Monday.

A nine-member committee of NPCIL had visited Bhadrak and Ganjam districts for site selection and had finally selected Pati Sonapur in Chikiti Block of Ganjam,he said “They have asked the Orissa Hydro Power Corporation to drill six deep borewells as part of their investigations,” he said.     

Tathya.in reports that OTV will now have competition to its cable business. Following are excerpts of that report.

Wire and Wireless India Limited (WWIL and Ushodaya Enterprises Private Limited (UEPL), which controls popular ETV joined hands to float Variety Entertainment Private Limited (VEPL) …

VEPL, which has set up the state of the art control rooms in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela promises to provide better cable services in the cities of Orissa.

Announcing the launching of the services Deepak Chandnani, CEO WWIL, said that it will provide 87 channels of national and regional interest to the viewers in Orissa.

He said the services will be expanded in near future to provide digital services including triple play – voice, video and data under the aegis of “GalaxZee” by digitalization of signals.

Chandnani said GalaxZee will provide crystal clear picture, digital audio and video quality.

More number of channels will be added with multilingual facility, said he.

Provision for e-education, e-commerce gamming and video on demand facilities will be given in near future, said Chandnani.

Arvinda Mohan, Executive Director, WWIL said that the cable network service in Orissa depends on the court’s verdict.

The Orissa government web site currently has the following classics in oDiA script.

• Sarala Mahabharata
• oDiA Bhagabata
• Chha maana aatha gunth

The site http://www.odia.org/ also has several books and pages in oDiA script.

• Gita Gobinda: By Jayadeba
• Taapoi: Khudurukuni
• Sabitri: Savitri Brata Katha
• Paita Mantra: Jajrubediya
• Kaluribenta: Kaluri Benta Katha
• Mo patha bahi
• oDiA cheat sheet

Various Oriya poem sites:

• The site http://www.orissainfoline.com/kabita.htm has some poems by Mayadhar Mansinha.
• Oriya Poetry: Kabighara

The daily pioneer reports that some more road projects have been finalised.
They are as follows.

• Sambalpur-Rourkela – 165 km
• Joda-Bamebari – 18 km
• Koira-Rajamunda – 46 km
• Nirgundi-Kurundamal (Kaipadar) – 98 km – This is expected to act as a decongestor for the regular Cuttack Bhubaneswar line. I find this as a sign of good planning.
• It has been conceptualised to link Paradip Port directly from Bhubaneswar with a 93.5-km road at an estimated cost of Rs 562 crore
• Suakati to Dubuna in Keonjhar district comprising 56 km is to be upgraded using PPP.
• Palaspanga -Bamebari SH road – 28 km under the Keonjhar Infrastructure Development Company for 48 crores
• Nayagarh- Khandapara road
• Nayagarh-Odagaon-Nalubhal
• Circular road in Angul town
• Gania- Kantilo road
• Saintala- Tikarapada – Kantabanjhi road
• The Centre has approved the improvement of Naranpur-Pandapara-Harichandanpur-Brahmanipal-Duburi road under EIS at a cost of Rs 302 crore during 2007-08.
• Jagatpur-Kendrapara-Chandbali-Bhadrak-Anandpur-Karanjia- ashipur
• Berhmapur-JK Pur
• Kerada-Rayagada-Muniguda- Bhawanipata-Khariar
• Aska-Bhanjanagar-Daspalla
• Daspalla-Banarpal

Business of cinema.com web site says the following on this:

Apart from Hindi music, Orissa stands at top in production of album songs, which comprise non-filmy songs with a local flavor. In Orissa album songs are commonly known as devotional songs, and modern songs.

According to Chitralipi Magazine, every year more than 300 albums are being released by Oriya music industry. And more than 75 lakhs audiocassettes and CDs are being sold in Orissa market.

Interestingly, in the Orissa market, non Oriya singers like Sonu Nigam, Mohammad Aziz, Udit Narayan and Babul Supriyo are more popular. Recording of all the cassettes is done in Orissa’s studio and dubbing is done in Mumbai, Kolkatta and Chennai. Having seen the popularity of album songs, the singers have been featuring in the video of their songs.

Following is an excerpt from that report.

Promoted by the Chennai based Sun Network, the station promises to fill listners’ daily dose of entertainment with loads of superhit music and the best of RJs round-the clock.

“It would be witty, adventurous, cheeky and stylish,” said head, Operations and Programming, Nisha Narayanan talking to mediapersons here.

The station will position itself as a single source of contemporary entertainment, driven mostly by the choice and taste of listeners. “It would reflect the local flavour of the city and aim to pep up the spirit of youths as well as other age groups,” she said. The station can be heard at a radius of 60 km off Cuttack.

Unlike other stations, 93.5 SFM (where S stands for superhit) would be recognised as a “format radio station” with single and dual hour shows instead of four-hour block programmes to bring in an air of freshness and pace to establish a distinct style among the listeners.

The programmes would be interspersed with timely information on weather, traffic movement in the city and on highways and sports updates.

In the last few months several FM stations have started broadcasting from Bhubaneswar. Following is a list.

1. Big 92.7 FM (Adlabs)
2. Choklate 104 FM (Eastern Media Ltd.)
3. 93.5 S FM (Sun Network)

This website has a list of radio stations in Orissa. With new FM stations coming up so fast, this list is not completely up-to-date as of writing this. But it would be a good future reference. This other list shows the FM channels all over India that have been allocated in phase II.

New Indian express reports that the CM wants assistance from the Rural development ministry for this project. It maybe noted the Mr. Subhas Pani who was the chief secretary in Orissa earlier has joined the rural development ministry as a secretary now.

Tathya had reported this news some time back.

Excerpts :

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sought financial assistance from the Rural Development Ministry for construction of the proposed Vijayawada-Ranchi road.

Naveen met Union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday before returning here. According to a release issued here, the Union Minister promised all support for the project.

The Chief Minister also requested the Minister that selection of Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) beneficiaries should be done on the basis of the 1997 below poverty line (BPL) list as the new list is yet to be finalised.

The news item mentions that one can now file RTI in the US. The exact steps are given in the site http://rti.aidindia.org/content/view/263/78/ which we reproduce below.

1. Make the application:

All you need is one plain sheet of paper. You can type or hand-write your application with all the questions you want to ask, Address it to the PIO and sign underneath [yeah, that is all]. You can ask multiple question in same application. Please look at some sample applications

Few things to note:

Mention that you are exercising your right under RTI 2005
Frame the questions to best of your understanding as “precise” answers depend on precise questions.

2. Attach personal check for 24 Cents [equivalent to Rs. 10] and mention in your application that you have attached it. Checks should be made in favor of ” Embassy of India, Washington DC”.

3. Attach your passport first page copy(this is proof that you’re an Indian Citizen)

4. In the application give your return address where they can respond (including email)

5. Send the application and the check attached to:

The Public Information Officer,
2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
USA – 20008
Contact: Mr. George Kutty – georgek@indiagov.org

There are plans to connect the Pravat cinema area to Samrat Cinema area in Cuttack by a flyover. For people who are new in Cuttack ‘Pravat Cinema’ is close to two big landmarks. Rajatarangini Cinema Hall and Buxi Bazaar. Buxi Bazaar is the central point in Cuttack. Following are excerpts from a Pioneer report.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday held a review meeting on the progress of the upcoming over-bridge that would connect Pravat Cinema to Samrat Cinema. The projected cost of the bridge is estimated at Rs 144 crore.Later speaking to reporters, Cuttack MLA and Minister Sameer Dey said Finance department would release Rs 1.50 crore to the RITES organisation to prepare the detailed project report of the project.

It has not yet been decided whether the bridge that starts from Pravat cinema will touch the Malgodam area or not. The DPR of the project will be completed within five months.

As a byline I might add that there is a huge drain which runs from Pravat cinema till Samrat cinema. It would be a good idea to have a flyover over that. This will eliminate the need for land acquisition and improve sanitation in CMC.

The Hindu has a nice rememberance of poet Mayadhar Mansingh. Following is a picture from that article.

The Hindu reports that Orissa is planning a palace on wheels similar to the concept of the one in Rajasthan. It will be the 3rd such state after Rajasthan and Haryana. I’m sure that Orissa has higher potential than these two states in terms of tourism. Following is an excerpt.

In an attempt to attract more tourists to the state, Orissa tourism has mooted to introduce luxury trains for travellers following Rajashtan’s much hyped palace-on-wheels model. If implemented, Orissa would be the third state in the country after Rajashtan and Haryana to be the proud provider of this service. Sources in the Department of Tourism said talks were on with the Ministry of Railways for earliest launch of the service following which the Indian Tourism Finance Corporation has undertaken a survey to find the feasibility of the project.

The project proposal has already been endorsed to the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) that has evinced keen interest in it, the sources added.

Collaborative project

While the Ministry would provide the luxury train, the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) would look after the hospitality expenses of travellers, the proposal says. It would be a collaborative project of the IRCTC and the OTDC, it was learnt.

The travel plan would extend over a minimum period of one week and a maximum period of a fortnight.

The train would commence its journey from Kolkata and would be back to its originating point via Balasore, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Berhampur, Koraput, Sambalpur and Rourkela, it was learnt.

Nice step.

Several news reports mention that the Ministry of Tourism of India has been very impressed by the evolution of Raghurajpur village of Puri district as an arts village. There every house has become an art gallery. So impressed the ministry of tourism is with the village, it plans to replicate it in five other locations of the country. Following is an excerpt from Chennaionline.

What started as promotion of ‘pattachitra’ (painting on palm leaf) in Raghurajpur village in Puri district as part of rural tourism project five years ago culminated into transformation of the village into a vibrant centre of folk art.

In 2002, only about 6,000 tourists visited the place. In 2005, the tourist arrival figure went up to 34,000. The sale from the art and craft work went up from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 52 lakh during the same period.

Stone craft, pattachitra, palm leaf inscription, papier mache, sodhai work, mural painting, golden grass coir, screwpine leaf and wood work, filigree, applique, terra cotta and bell metal work greet visitors whose number is increasing every year.

“Every house in this village is an art gallery,” said a senior ministry official.

“The village has served us not just as a role model for generating employment through rural tourism but also as an inspiration for how to preserve folk art,” the official said.

Besides Raghurajpur, the other villages identified for setting up gurukul tradition of teaching art are Pochampalli in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh, Hodka in Kachch district in Gujarat, Pranpur in Ashok Nagar district in Madhya Pradesh and Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala.

Anubhuti Bishnoi in Indian Express reports on the progress towards making a 2-lane Ranchi-Vijaywada highway zig-zagging through 1219 kms of Orissa and passing though most of its tribal districts, many of which are naxalite infested. The article has a nice map showing which towns the road will pass through in Orissa. Following are some excerpts from that article. (Thanks to Manoj Sahu in Africa for mentioning this article in Agami Orissa.)

At a recent meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways was asked to expedite finalisation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor cutting through Orissa, and take it up on a priority basis. … Around 1,219 km of the 1,729-km corridor planned between Vijayawada and Ranchi will fall in Orissa, and the state government had requested that its state highways, district and rural roads be incorporated in the corridor. Now 235.8 km of national highway sections, 878 km of state high ways and 104.5 km of rural roads will be a part of the corridor. The road from Vijayawada enters Orissa at Motu in Malkangiri district and leaves at Tiring in Mayurbhanj district on the north. … While the Ministry may not call the stretch NH as yet, with the Prime Minister taking a keen interest, it is set to be developed as per national highway standards. What that means is that tribal areas of Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Anugul, Sambalpur, Deograh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Boudh, currently insurgency hotbeds, may emerge out of the hinterlands. Confirming that the project had been put on the fast track, a senior Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways official said: “The DPR of the corridor is underway and should be ready in six-seven months.”

Note: As mentioned by Digambara a map of the route is at http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=592. I removed the faulty map that Indian Express printed.