Orissa HC rejects CBI probe into multi-crore coal linkage scam in Orissa

29.6.2011 (UNI) Orissa High Court today refused to order for a CBI probe into the alleged multi-crore subsidised linkage coal scam in the state.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda and Mr Justice B N Mohapatra, while disposing of a PIL seeking court's direction for a CBI probe into the scam, observed that the State Vigilance Directorate should be allowed to continue its probe in the matter.

'At this stage, direction for CBI probe is not necessary,' the division bench ruled ordering the State Vigilance to conduct the enquiry.

The court also directed the Vigilance department to take appropriate coercive steps against the accused persons involved in the scam and the anti-corruption wing of the police should complete the enquiry as soon as possible.

However, petitioner Nishikanta Mishra, an advocate of the High Court, indicated that he would challenge the High Court ruling in the Supreme Court in a special leave petition (SLP).

Mr Mishra had filed the PIL in June last year in which at least seven persons, including the Director of State Vigilance, were made opposite parties.

Earlier, the vigilance sleuths had registered at least seven criminal cases against several persons including IAS officer Srikant Prusty, two officials of Orissa Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) were also arrested in connection with the scam.

State Urban Development Minister Badri Narayan Patra and School and Mass Education Minister Pratap Jena, who on different occasions headed the OSIC were alleged to have been involved in the corruption as irregularities were committed when they were heading the OSIC.

The incident created a furore both inside and outside the State Assembly as the opposition parties created a hue and cry over the issue and demanded resignation of these two ministers.

The High Court had granted anticipatory bails to as many as 20 officials and traders, including BJP leader and former president of Orissa Consumers’ Co-operative Federation (OCCF) Golak Mohapatra who were booked by the State vigilance directorate for their involvement in linkage coal scam.

Former Managing Director of OCCF Akhila Chandra Jena, former MD of Cuttack DIC Srikant Prusty, were among the accused who obtained the anticipatory bails.

Later the Vigilance Directorate submitted a status report in the High Court stating that at least 83 witnesses had been examined and a total of 97 documents were seized so far in all the seven criminal cases. UNI

Ostracised families knock on HC

The 52 families of Patana and another 12 of Gobindpur who were ostracised by antiPosco activists for supporting the steel project, have sought the Orissa High Court intervention into their plight. The families, led by Chandan Mohanty, filed public interest litigations (PILs) against the State Government, Jagatsinghpur administration and leaders of Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti. Their demands include resettlement in native villages and provision of maintenance allowance, education, health and other basic amenities. These families knocked on the High Court door after their repeated pleas to the Chief Minister, the Governor and the district administration to resettle them in their villages at Patana of Dhinkia panchayat failed to elicit any response. Around 217 members of these families are living in a rehabilitation colony of the company. Though Posco has been giving maintenance allowance to 52 families of Patana, no allowance has yet been given to the families from Gobindpur, claimed a villager. Besides, 12 families of Gobindpur were forced to leave their village in 2008 due to clashes between the anti and proPosco activists in which a person from the antiPosco camp was killed. Meanwhile, United Action Committee (UAC) has also appealed to the district administration to help the families to return to their villages.Work Continues to be StalledWork remained stalled at Posco's proposed plant site near Paradip for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, prompting Jagatsinghpur administration to invite agitating villagers for talks to break the deadlock. The administrative sources said that members of the United Action Committee (UAC), who are opposing the work on boundary wall and rehabilitation colony in Nuagaon and Gadakujang areas were invited for talks. Stating that the administration was waiting for UAC response, the sources added that the deadlock over UAC's six demands was likely to be resolved in two to three days to pave the way for resumption of project activities. UAC's demands include contract work for the local youths, rise in the price of homestead and agricultural land and increase in the compensation for betel vine workers and others.

Orissa: 134 schools likely to be adopted by different corporate houses

In a bid to improve the quality of education and also provide opportunities to various companies in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sector, Orissa govt. has decided to hand over some schools to corporate houses in 10 industrialized districts.
These schools are presently run by SC and ST welfare department. The department has proposed for the new idea and asked the collectors Keonjher, Sundergarh, Koraput, Rayagada, Dhenkanal, Angul, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Jajpur and Kalahandi to take immediate follow-up action.
The Collectors will first call up a meeting with the CSR heads of the concerned corporate houses and will request them to take up the schools under the School Adoption Programme. Then after five year perspective plans will be drawn up along with commitment on part of both the schools as well as the adopting organization with clear cut responsibilities of either side. While doing the five year plan a financial implication for different activities will also be worked out.
A total of 134 schools are likely to be adopted by different corporate houses such as  OMC, Essel Mining, Rungta Mining, Sirajuddin, Ahluwalia, RSP, SAIL, Vedanta, IMFA, Bhusan steels ltd., JSPL, MCL, NALCO, Hindalco, Aditya Alumina, VISA, NINL, OHPC, NTPC, Monnet, Rohit ferrotech and JK Paper Mills.
Once the adoption programme is complete, then various activities are to be taken up, added the govt. notification sent to 10 district collectors.
There will be exchange programme of teachers and students with capacity building of teachers. School library and laboratory will be developed with modern equipments. Computer aided learning programmes will be carried out with visiting of eminent personalities. Regular Health check up, eye check up, blood donation camps will be organized.
Apart from this steps are to be taken to develop the infrastructure aspect of the school campus. Provision of drinking water, separate toilet for boys and girls, a good auditorium, school and hostel electrification are the important parameters for infrastructure development.

Hold babu’s salary till teacher gets dues, tribunal tells Orissa

The State Administrative Tribunal has ordered that the salary of senior IAS officer, who is the secretary of the Orissa school and mass education department, be held back till a Sanskrit teacher gets his dues from the department.

SAT chairman Nityananda Prusty directed the government to stop the salary of Aaparajita Sarangi from this month till the teacher, Prafulla Chandra Mishra, got his dues from the department. Chief secretary B K Patnaik said the government would abide by the tribunal’s order.

SAT sources said Mishra had filed a case before the tribunal over payment of his dues under time-bound advancement scale of pay from 1988. In August 2009, SAT had asked the department to pay Mishra his dues within four weeks. When the dues were not given, Mishra filed a contempt of court case before SAT in August 2010.

Cloud Computing comes easy for IT aspirants

NIIT Limited has announced launch of newage BSc(IT) bachelor's degree in information technology programme that can be pursued from anywhere anytime, by leveraging the unique 'cloud learning methodology'. NIIT is the leading global talent development corporation and Asia's largest IT trainer. The pioneering NIIT Cloud CampusTM empowers the student to learn on his/her own terms, at his/her own pace, wherever and whenever s/he wants it. Students enjoy higher mobility as they can easily access educational services using a 'Netbook' that connects them to NIIT's Cloud CampusTM network. The BSc(IT) syllabus is based on a revolutionary educational paradigm called collaborative learning which takes students beyond the traditional classroombased studentteacher relationship. The technologydriven learning environment of NIIT's Cloud Learning Methodology supports group learning through interactive features like 24x7 lab and elibrary access, instant tech updates, interaction with faculty and peers and access to online video streams. G Raghavan, Chief Executive, Career Building Solutions, NIIT Limited, said, "The newage BSC(IT) programme will help create a pool of trained professionals for today's globalised knowledge economy.'' Cloud computing is a phenomenon of the 21st century, an all new services delivery model that uses the Internet as a platform. TNIE SCHOLARSHIP: In order to enable the college students acquire most essential skills at graduation level, The New Indian Express has announced scholarships for BSc (IT). The scholarship entrance test will be conducted at specific education centres of NIIT in Orissa. The scholarships will be in the form of substantial fee subsidy to PlusTwo appeared students belonging to any stream in the State aspiring to begin their career in the new global economy.

Annapurna Studios launches International School of Film & Media

Annapurna StudiosPrivate Limited today announced the launch of the International Institute ofFilm & Media (ISFM) in Hyderabad, the onlyprivate, non-profit film and media institute in India.  The institute has the dual mission ofproviding world-class education to aspiring students and offering highlytrained talent to the entire media industry. The launch event was marked by thepresence of Mr. Akkineni Nageswara Rao, veteran actor Nagarjuna and instituteCEO, Mr. Kurt Inderbitzin who jointly unveiled the logo of the institute.

Located in the premises of Annapurna Studios, the International School of Film and Media will provide a world-class learning experience by combining government-recognized degrees with the best practices of international higher education. Theinstitute will also associate with multiple international film schools,establishing student and faculty exchange programs and other internationalopportunities for aspiring students

Privately managed, non-profit filminstitute

·       Awards recognized Degrees

·       Offers students cutting-edge technology

·       Modelled after the best higher education institutes in the world

·       Rivals the best film and media programs

·      Largest campus of any film school in Asia: 22 acres.

ISFM is built ona pillar of state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology, aiming to addressvery relevant concerns raised by the media industry today. These concernsinclude, according to FICCI Frames 2008, a shortage of quality institutionsoffering technical training in media and resulting in a huge “shortage ofskilled media professionals.” These concerns also include, according to theNational Skill Development Corporation, that the Indian media and entertainmentindustry will require an additional 3 million trained staff over the nextdecade.

CEO KurtInderbitzin summed up the issue: “India should be a globaldestination for media content production. But unfortunately it is not.. Despite the fact that India is developing world-class studio facilitiesall over the country; despite the fact that labour here is still relativelycheap; despite the fact that the country has extraordinary locations forshooting; despite all of that, relatively little international media is createdin India.  And we believe the majorreason for this is the accurate perception that there is a lack of properlytrained people here in media.”.Annapurna Studios, one of South India’s leadingfilm production companies and studios, has taken a giant step towards tacklingthese problems by way of creating access to a 22 acre campus, with 10 soundstages, permanent sets and cutting-edge post production facilities for aspiringstudents at the International School of Film &Media. The institute is affiliating with the world’s best media technologycompanies to provide students with 24 hour access to the latest computers andfilmmaking software and is backed by some of south India’s biggest names in filmmaking,acting, animation and visual effects. These relationships will provide studentswith unparalleled opportunities for internships and placements.

As India’s firstprivate, non-profit film institute, ISFM will strive to help the film and mediaindustry  throughout the country byputting students’ quality of education over profits and by encouraging mediacompanies to be involved with the school by offering training input,facilities, equipment and/or donations. Also, as part of the institute’scommitment to giving back to the community, all full-time students will beinvolved in community service, helping other charitable organisations tounderstand and utilise media better.

The institute isalso establishing an endowment fund, managed by an independent board ofdirectors, to provide scholarships to talented students from underprivilegedbackgrounds.

ISFM is built ona model of openness and transparency, with publicly available data postedonline for all to see, and staff and faculty meetings open to the public.

Mr. N AkkineniNageswara Rao, Founder, Annapurna Studios, commented at the event that “Sincetime in memorial, the Akkineni family has made a mark in a variety of ventures.There has always been a discussion within the family on ways to give back tothe industry and community and the country. We strongly felt that the best wayto give back was through education, and specifically, education in media.Hence, a decision was made to develop a non-profit film school to train thenext generation of media professionals.”

CEO Kurt Inderbitzin added: “The mediaindustry in Indiahas not historically embraced professional training.  Now, as competition increases in Indiafromdomestic and international media sources, there is a growing realization thatfor Indian media to survive and prosper long into the future, it must havewell-educated professionals to lead the way. And that is what we will beproviding at theInternational School of Film &Media.”

Courses:

Admissions openfrom 1st July for short courses in film-making. These courses have small classsizes and limited seats. Students are requested to apply as early as possible.

Admissions fordegree programs will open in the next six months to a year.

Faculty:

The faculty willbe comprised of experienced filmmakers and media industry professionals. ISFMis currently in talks with potential faculty across India and around the world, and islooking forward to announcing our teachers shortly.  The faculty will undergo rigorous training toensure that their teaching methods are top-notch.

Veteran actorNagarjuna commented, “The major force of change is globalisation. Indian filmsare reaching wider audiences around the world and international films areconstantly being released in India.The result is that Indian film, television, and animation has to compete on aglobal stage. Today, there is a greater tendency among the young Indians tocompare Bollywood movies with the latestHollywoodproductions and they expect the same technical and story quality. In order tomatch international standards there is a dire need for well-equipped filminstitutes like ISFM.”

Realty loan surges after a lull year

Bank loans to commercial real estate surged during the year ended May 20, registering a growth of 20 per cent, compared to a one per cent growth in the same period the previous year, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. Overall bank credit has risen 21.9 per cent in May, compared with 18.1 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

Similarly, growth in home loan disbursements grew at 17.4 per cent, compared with 9.6 per cent the previous year. This was despite RBI increasing risk weight of high-value home loans. During the second quarter review of the monetary policy of 2010-11, RBI had raised the risk weight for residential housing loans of Rs 75 lakh and above to 125 per cent.

Bank loans to non-banking finance companies also saw a robust growth of 54.4 per cent —significantly higher than the 17.5 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

Loan growth to the farm sector, however, declined sharply, to 12.8 per cent in May, as compared with 21 per cent the previous year.

Retail loans, comprising home, auto and education, among others, rose 17.7 per cent, against 5.6 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

In retail, while consumer durables and vehicles loans surged, growth in education loan fell. Banks, worried about delinquencies in study loans, became cautious in disbursing such loans. As a result, education loan growth fell from 29 per cent to 19 per cent. Growth in consumer durables was 26.6 per cent, compared to 1.8 per cent; while auto loan grew 24 per cent, compared to 7.3 per cent.