Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government on Friday extended the validity of Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) qualifying certificates for lifetime from seven years as was the case earlier.
“The candidates once qualified in OTET will be now eligible to appear in recruitments to be held in future for engagement of Teachers in elementary cadre,” the Office of Chief Minister (CMO) tweeted.
The decision has come as a major relief for the candidates applying for the elementary school teacher posts.
Bhubaneswar: The Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre will come up on NISER, Bhubaneswar, campus at Jatni in Odisha’s Khurda district as a joint venture between Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which is the administrative department of NISER, and Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) and Tata Trusts at an investment of Rs 650 crore.
It was among the 3 projects worth Rs 5,800 crore whose foundation was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
According to sources, the plan to have a state-of-the-art cancer hospital at NISER campus was announced by the Centre last year. While NISER has earmarked 17 acre land on its campus for the more than 150-bed cancer hospital, Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will share 13 acre available with it near the campus. The Odisha government has also promised 40 acre for the project, sources further said.
While the DAE will spend Rs 400 crore, which is the major cost of the project, Tata Trusts will chip in with Rs 250 crore. It is likely to be ready in two to three years.
The hospital will not only provide affordable cancer care to the people but also help the institute conduct clinical and scientific research on cancer. Once commissioned, students of three-year MSc in medical and radiological physics being offered by NISER can get training on the campus instead of going to TMC Mumbai and other hospitals, the sources added.
Bhubaneswar: The marathon raid by Income Tax (I-T) department on residence of former Odisha MLA Sanatan Mahakud entered the second day on Friday.
According to sources, the I-T sleuths stayed on at his Shaheed Nagar residence till 10 last night and were seen at the building by 9 this morning. The raids are being carried out amid deployment of police personnel.
Notably, simultaneous raids are being carried out by separate teams of I-T officials at 10 locations in Keonjhar, Joda, Bhubaneswar and his ancestral village at the former Champua MLA since Thursday morning. A number of residential buildings, which are under construction in his name in Bhubaneswar, were also searched.
The operation has been mounted to detect alleged tax evasion by the former legislator. The premises of his personal assistant is also stated to have been searched, the sources added.
Bhubaneswar: With an overall pass percentage of 93.64, Bhubaneswar region, comprising Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, ranked 8th in the Class 10 examination, the results of which was declared on Friday.
It has secured 7th rank with 96.46 pass percentage among all the 16 regions in the secondary school exam last year.
The total pass percentage of the students in 2023 stood at 93.12 – 20,16,779 of total 21,65,805 students cleared the annual exam. Girls recorded a pass percentage of 94.25, whereas the pass percentage of boys stood at 92.27.
While Trivandrum topped the region-wise list with 99.91% followed by Bengaluru, Chennai, Ajmer and Pune. Guwahati figured last on the list with 76.90%. Over 22,000 students secured above 95 per cent in the exam, the CBSE said.
A total of 1,34,774 students will be appearing for supplementary exams which will be held in July. The board further said that lass 10 and Class 12 board exams for the year 2024 will be conducted from February 15 next year.
The examination was conducted from February 15 to March 21, 2023, at 7241 centres across the country.
Rayagada: The Maoists have called for bandh in support of their 12-point charter of demands in Odisha’s 7 districts on May 15.
In an audio release on Friday, the banned outfit has announced that it would enforce bandh in Rayagada, Kandhamal, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Boudh, Gajapati and Nayagarh districts to press its demands. However, essential services including hospital, ambulances, medical stores and examination centres would be exempted from the bandh, it added.
Their demanded included allotment of houses to deserving beneficiaries under PM Awas Yojana or Biju Awas Yojana in 6 months, free supply of oil, dal, salt along with PDS rice, construction of roads, drinking water supply and power connection to all villages and construction of hospitals in every panchayat.
Stating that education has been most neglected in the backward areas of these districts, the Maoists demanded establishment of Adarsh Schools in every panchayat, reopening of the schools closed for lack of sufficient number of students, appointment of teachers in vacant posts and monthly scholarship of Rs 3,000 to tribal students.
Highlighting the unemployment problems in the area, the Maoists demanded payment of monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000, Besides, increasing the old age and widow pension to Rs 3,000 was also demanded by them.
Bhubaneswar: Odisha will have a strong presence in the Indian teams for the upcoming Junior Asia Cup hockey tournaments.
Five girls from the state — Madhuri Kindo (goalkeeper), Anjali Barwa (defender), Jyoti Chhatri & Sujata Kujur (midfielders), and Sunelita Toppo (forward) — have been selected in the 18-member national squad for the Women’s meet to be held at Japan’s Kakamigahara from June 2-11.
In the pool stage, India will face Korea, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan.
As for Men’s Junior Asia Cup, Hockey India named three boys from Odisha in the 18-strong squad.
They are — They are Amandeep Lakra (defender), Sunit Lakra (midfielder) and Sudeep Chirmako (forward).
The Junior Men’s Asia Cup will be played in Salalah (Oman) from May 23 to June 1. India have been clubbed in pool A with Pakistan, Japan, Thailand and Chinese Taipei.
Nayagarh: The stone mafia members on Thursday attacked the members of an Enforcement Team of Ranpur tehsil of Nayagarh district during a raid. According to reports, the stone mafia attacked the team and has critically injured one member.
The incident has been reported from the illegal stone mining at Kusapalla village under Patia gram panchayat of Ranpur block in Nayagarh district.
Reports say that, one of the members of the team has sustained grievous injuries in the attack and was admitted to a hospital.
Due to raid, the mafia attacked the officials with sticks and iron rods and pelted stones at them. The Chandpur police registered a case and launched a manhunt to catch the miscreants who are yet to be traced.
Earlier on February 3, 2023 a sub-collector was allegedly thrashed by sand mining mafia in Balasore district of Odisha.
The incident has been reported from Sahadev khunta Police limits area. The official driver of the sub-collector was also attacked and injured said reliable reports.
It is worth mentioning that, both the sub-collector and the driver have been admitted to the Balasore district headquarter hospital (DHH).
Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made it clear on Thursday that he is not going to join the third front or a common political platform of non-BJP parties.
Patnaik also said that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will go solo in the next Assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls, both scheduled next year.
The Chief Minister told this to mediapersons after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Thursday afternoon.
Patnaik-led BJD has been maintaining equal distance from both the BJP and the Congress. So, when reporters asked him if there is any possibility of BJD joining the third front, the CM replied, “No… Not as far as I am concerned… Not now.”
On his meeting with PM Modi, Patnaik said they discussed issues related to Odisha’s demands, not any political matter.
“Our discussion was mainly related to the demands of Odisha. I spoke to the Prime Minister about the proposed Jagannath International Airport in Puri for which the boundary has already been earmarked,” he said.
“We want an expansion as the Bhubaneswar airport is witnessing too much traffic. The Prime Minister said that he will definitely help in every possible way,” the Chief Minister said.
Patnaik also ruled out any meeting with other political leaders during his trip to Delhi.
Patnaik ruling out joining the third front assumes significance after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met him on Wednesday. He had also held talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in March.
Following the break-up of the BJD-BJP coalition government in 2009, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD has been maintaining equal distance from both the BJP and the Congress. Also, the BJD has not shown much interest to get involved in national politics. The regional party maintains that its focus is on the interests of Odisha and its people.
(IANS)
Sambalpur: A team of Fire personnel on Thursday recovered the body of BBA student Nisha Jha who had gone missing after falling into the power channel of Hirakud Dam at Burla in Odisha’s Sambalpur district 2 days back.
According to sources, Nisha of Jharsuguda, who was pursuing BBA in a Rourkela-based private educational institution, had gone to meet her male friend, a Plus III student of Gangadhar Meher University in Sambalpur, on Tuesday evening. She slipped when water suddenly gushed into their meeting spot.
Following the incident, the personnel of Fire Services launched an operation to rescue the girl till late night but failed to trace her. They extended the search area on Wednesday and continued their operation. Finally, they found Nisha’s body floating on water near Mahanadi Sadak Ghat and recovered it on Thursday afternoon.
Police have registered an unnatural death (U/d) case in this connection and launched investigation.
The police also recorded the statements of some local youths who had attempted to rescue Nisha on the intervening day. The girl’s male friend was detained to ascertain the circumstances leading to the fatal mishap.
Cuttack: Senior Congress leader Ashok Samal on Thursday passed away at his residence in Telengabazaar of Cuttack City. He was 70 year old.
According to family sources, Samal was suffering from liver ailment. He was discharged from the Tata Memorial Hospital recently.
Samal was working as the spokesperson of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) and was always ready to stand and fight for the development of Cuttack City.
It is to be noted here that Ashok Samal had resigned from the Congress protesting against the sidelining of senior leaders and party workers by a coterie. Later, he joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in 2014. However, he made a comeback to the party at a special function in June 2018.
The sudden death of Samal has pushed his family, friends and politicians to the edge of sorrow. Several politicians of the Silver City including Cuttack MLA Mohammad Mukeem, Mayor Subash Singh and former MLA Debasish Samantray visited the house and paid last respect to the deceased Congress leader and prayed for his souls to rest in peace.
Samal’s last rites were performed at the Khannagar based- crematorium, said sources.