Latest Updates from Guest Column

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The statistics are horrifying. As many as 119 elephants have been electrocuted in the state in the last 11 years, most of them falling victim to sagging overhead wires. Of these deaths, 24 occurred in 2018-19. The giant beasts have also been falling to the bullets of poachers and dying on […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Islamic State (IS) chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may have killed himself by detonating a suicide vest to avoid capture by the US forces inside a tunnel in Syria on October 26 but his violent legacy is still being discussed amidst fears that his followers may soon re-group themselves under a new […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Two hardcore Maoists, who gave up arms in the hope of leading normal lives, took the wedding vows in a temple in Angul district the other day. The ceremony marked their return to the social mainstream, something that many rebels secretly crave for but find hard to achieve because of their […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The success of the first-ever day and night cricket test match in India played at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens had created a buzz. That India won this pink ball contest with ease has only made the fans more euphoric about test cricket, like the two shorter versions of the game, being played […]

By Ashutosh Mishra London: As the polling day — December 12 — draws closer there are clear indications that it is going to be a close race between the Conservatives and the Labour Party. The gap between them, according to the latest Britain Elect poll, has narrowed to just seven points. Britain’s first December election […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Ruling Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) membership is reported to have crossed the 80 lakh mark which, if true, is quite an achievement. With urban body polls likely to be held sooner or later all parties are keen to enrol new members but the focus has been on BJD and its prime […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Polavaram dispute is going to put the renewed friendship between BJP and the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to a severe test. The multi-purpose project coming up in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh that threatens to submerge several tribal villages in Odisha’s Malkangiri district was granted a two-year work extension by the […]

Migrants’ exodus has started in different parts of the country with the rise of the second wave of Covid-19 Pandemic. Thousands of Migrant labourers working in the big cities of…

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Nearly two decades ago when South Korean steel behemoth, POSCO signed an MoU with Odisha government for setting up a steel mill in Jagatsinghpur district the then government led by Naveen Patnaik touted it as its crowning glory. The agreement symbolized the arrival of Odisha on the country’s industrial scene and […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha is among the top beneficiaries of Centre’s CAMPA fund meant for compensatory afforestation. It has received more than Rs.5000 crore on this account this year which is much more than the share of bigger states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The fund, as evident from its nomenclature, is aimed at restoring […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Forest and police officials face a big challenge with wildlife smuggling in Odisha going hi-tech. Officials who busted a pangolin smuggling racket recently discovered to their surprise that deals were being made online with criminals operating through WhatsApp groups. The same pattern is obviously being followed for the smuggling of other […]

By Ashutosh Mishra London: The month of October saw thousands of climate change protestors laying siege to this capital city. Brought together by the activist group Extinction Rebellion, they marched through the streets of London blocking several roads including those around the Parliament. The protestors, many of whom were arrested by the police, sought changes […]

By Sandeep Sahu Who drove the Rairangpur lady lecturer to suicide? It was certainly not Soumya Ranjan Sahoo, the man who allegedly raped her and was arrested for it – but only after her death. Had that been the case, she would have committed suicide nearly a month back, soon after she was raped by […]

By Ashutosh Mishra London: Struggling to recover from the trauma of last Friday’s killings by a convicted terrorist who had been released from prison this city will seek to build new defences to ward off such incidents in future. The lessons learnt from the bloody rampage that ended with its perpetrator, Usman Khan being shot […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Opposition parties have launched a series of protests against the spurt in crime against women. Considering the enormity of the problem the protests should be converted into and sustained as a people’s movement. The fact is that while the whole country is talking about the gang-rape of a veterinary doctor in […]

By Sandeep Sahu So, the ‘game changer’ has turned into a ‘game spoiler’! Of course, it was too good to last and had to unravel at some stage. After all, the outgo from the state exchequer on account of just the first six monthly installment of Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) alone […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Trouble is brewing in Malkangiri’s “swabhiman anchal”, a benighted hinterland which got its new moniker following the inauguration of Gurupriya bridge by chief minister, Naveen Patnaik last year. The bridge that linked what was once officially known as the ‘cut-off’ area comprising 151 villages with the mainland after a gap of […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Santhali, the language spoken by India’s largest tribal community spread across Odisha, Bihar, Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand, found an articulate voice in the Rajya Sabha on Friday when Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member, Sarojini Hembram used it to make a point during the zero hour. This was the first time the language was […]

By Sandeep Sahu Such jubilation on the streets is seen only when Team India wins a major world cricket tournament like the World Cup. Sweets were exchanged, crackers burst and “Hyderabad police Zindabaad’ slogans rent the air across the country. In Hyderabad, scenes of people showering flowers on city police personnel were reminiscent of lawyers […]

By Ashutosh Mishra London: In less than a week from now the people of Britain will be exercising their franchise to decide the future of the country, a future that seems to be hanging in the balance with a fierce debate still raging over Brexit. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson himself has described the December 12 […]