Opinion News Updates

The temple city of Puri is now witnessing in what appears to be a well-designed reform package where the devotees have been marginalised and local residents discriminated against in matters of vehicular access to different parts of the city and the temple providing a pampered treatment to only sevayats and VIPs.

There are two types of Indian Cricket fans during world events. 1) Beat Pakistan even if you lose the Cup. 2) Win the Cup, nothing else matters. Unfortunately, the Indian team had irked both types of fans in the first two games itself.

For Jagannath devotees, the mention of Nepal reminds them of Shalagrams and Kasturi or the fragrant extract from the musk deer.

Migration to work in brick kilns demonstrates human distress in most acute form. Children too are engaged in brick making while they ought to have been in school.

Niyamgiri is the abode of the Dongria Kondh tribe, an endemic and unique tribal group whose population is less than 10,000.

Odisha’s incredible wildlife wealth needs to be preserved for the future so that our children become true inheritors of this state’s natural heritage.

Odisha needs to embark upon a programme of consolidation of villages with the objective of relocating tiny villages and creating viable villages, each having a population of at least 500.

A report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) last month, reveals that in Odisha crimes against women in 2020 rose nearly 10% over the previous year, one of the biggest spurts in the whole country.

It remains a mystery that the New Bhubaneswar Railway Station has not yet been put to meaningful use. A full-fledged satellite station for Bhubaneswar is absolutely necessary. The city has expanded towards the north and the New Station should have better access and amenities without further delay. 

Many of the Mahasiddhas such as Kanhupa, Luipa, Sabaripa, Bhusukupa, Birupa composed Charyapadas in Lalitagiri Mahavihara, Jajpur. One of the fascinating aspects is the mystic language that Buddhist teachers employed. An inscription collected from Ratnagiri has lines of Buddhist hymns that go - “Dhara dhara. Hara hara. Prahara hara. Mahabodhi chitta dhare. Chulu Chulu…”

Gift is a device to create an unethical bonding; it creates an obliging clientele. Therefore, terming the payment of Dearness Allowance (DA) by Odisha government as puja gift is likely to dent objectivity of the government employees.

Away from the election, the rules for the common person awaiting the festivities are quite different. There have been several restrictions in Odisha ranging from the absurd to the downright bizarre.

Job and business opportunities continue to be extremely limited in Odisha. A career in UPSC civil services is held in admiration in the state. The real reason behind youths increasingly getting disinterested in IAS, IPS or IFS exams seems to be the growing inadequacy in academic field that has made it increasingly difficult for Odisha candidates to compete.

In view of the serious dimension the drug menace has assumed in Odisha, there has to be adequate strategy to control the problem. Government needs to address urgently issues like adequate staffing, training, adequate equipment and inter-agency coordination challenges.

I was in school when I used to see him chasing the cyclones, my generation was never glued to the MET department or Radio updates but we would wait to watch Arindam Bhai, Swayam Bhai and Kasturi Ma’am wearing a raincoat or holding an umbrella with a boom. An indicator of the coming disaster.