by admin | May 25, 2021 | Halal Industries, News
Syed Ali Mujtaba
EID AL-ADHA is one of the most important festivals in the Islamic calendar and obligatory upon faithful Muslims to perform animal sacrifices. This ritual marks the end of Haj, one of the five pillars of Islam.
This year the festival is to be celebrated on August 1, but so far no decision has been taken by the central or any of the state governments. The rumour mill is agog with news that there will be no prayers held in the mosques for Eid Al-Adha and the animal sacrifices will be banned under the pretext of Covid-19.
This kind of anti-Muslim anti-Islam propaganda has unnerved the Muslim community. They are in a state of confusion.
In May, the community had celebrated Eid Al-Fitr virtually remaining at home as the Covid-19 pandemic raged. But now Muslims want Eid Al-Adha celebrations to be held as usual with obligatory animal sacrifices.
This line of thought gained currency because the Odisha government had allowed Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra to be held with usual fanfare on June 23. Over 10 lakh devotees took part in the Rath Yatra in spite of the Covid restrictions.
The Maharashtra government has also permitted the upcoming Ganeshotsav festival on August 22 though with stringent conditions.
It is in this context that the Muslim community also likes to have a clarity on the celebration of Eid Al-Adha. They want to go to the mosque to pray and then perform “Qurbani” or the customary sacrifice of the animal as it’s obligatory upon the faithful to do so.
However, there is a malicious campaign going on in the country that Muslims should not be allowed to make any animal sacrifices as the country is reeling under Covid 19 pandemic and the government can make such rules in this extraordinary situation.
Commenting on the issue of sacrificing the animal on Eid Al-Adha, Supreme Court Lawyer Syeda Hena Rizvi said the Supreme Court in 2015 judgment had refused to interfere with religious practices and said the judiciary could not stop centuries-old traditions of sacrificing animals by different communities.
A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy had said, “The Act itself carves out exceptions for animal sacrifices carried out for religious purposes. That is why the legislature while framing Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act has provided for the exception. We cannot shut our eyes to centuries-old traditions,” the lawyer said quoting the judgment.
The Muslim community is keeping its fingers crossed. So far no decision has been taken as to how Eid Al-Adha will be celebrated this year.
The community urges its leaders to take this matter to the government and get a decision on priority basis to enable the community to celebrate Eid Al-Adha with the same religious fervour as it has been doing before.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Commodity Market, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Investing, News, Politics
Bhubaneswar : The Odisha government on Tuesday targeted the Centre over the delay in announcement of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy and other crops for the Kharif season 2018.
Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah of shedding crocodile tears for the farmers.
“The Centre generally fixes the MSP by mid-June. But, it is unfortunate that government is yet to announce the MSP of major crops till date. The farmers in Odisha are worried over the delay in MSP announcement,” said the Minister.
He said the state government, in a letter, has already recommended the Centre to fix the MSP at Rs 2,930 per quintal.
Odisha had suggested the Centre to fix the MSP of Common Grade paddy at Rs 2,930 per quintal and Grade ‘A’ paddy at Rs 2,970 per quintal. However, the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has recommended Rs 1,745 and Rs 1,770 MSP for Common Grade and Grade A paddy respectively, he added.
Maharathy said Amit Shah, who recently visited Odisha, did not speak on MSP revision though over 60 per cent people in Odisha depend on agriculture.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) President Niranjan Patnaik said even though July has already begun, the Centre has not been able to announce the MSP for farmers.
He said the Centre should immediately announce one and half times of the production cost as promised by the Prime minister for the benefit of the farmers.
BJP MLA Pradip Purohit said the centre is in the process of declaring the MSP price of major crops.
“Centre has started evaluating the MSP issue, some states have sent their reports but few others are delaying it. The committee will commence its meeting soon and the MSP will be hiked as per the promise of the Prime Minister,” he added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Investing, News, Politics
Bhubaneswar : The Odisha government said on Thursday Rs 75,000 crore will be spent in the next five years for developing the state’s water resources.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed the Water Resources department to prepare a comprehensive river policy in the next three months, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office.
Patnaik said several barrages will be constructed on the Mahanadi river to store water which will be utilised for agricultural purposes as well as providing drinking water.
The barrages will be constructed where there is less possibility of displacement.
Official sources said the Odisha government is preparing a master plan to utilise the Mahanadi’s waters by constructing as many as seven barrages in the downstream of the river and 22 barrages on tributaries and distributaries of the river.
The government would also spend Rs 400 crore in next three years for concrete lining of the Bargarh main canal, the statement said, adding the Chief Minister also advised to start the tendering process of the Gangadhar Meher Megalift Canal System in three months.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Bhubaneswar : The Odisha government has sanctioned 54,275 houses for the economically weaker sections of society across 113 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), an official said on Friday.
This was decided by the Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee of the Odisha Urban Housing Mission (OUHM) under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi.
Considering the progress in the matter, Padhi directed the department to intensify the field-level supervision and expedite the rate of completion of the houses.
He also directed to fix an officer-wise target at the level of ULBs and to take stock of the progress at regular intervals.
The committee sanctioned 5,133 houses in the meeting at an estimated project cost of around Rs 156.40 crore and decided to connect each beneficiary in a week for facilitating completion of the houses.
The houses are constructed by the beneficiaries themselves and money is released to their account.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary G. Mathivathanan said that money support is being provided within two days of uploading of the photos of the house under construction.
So far, Rs 103.5 crore has been released to the beneficiaries with zero pendency for payment at OUHM level, said the official.
OUHM Mission Director Suresh Chandra Dalai said that from July 2016 to May 2017, around 29,797 houses were sanctioned in three phases.
Till now, work order has been issued against 24,117 houses thereby recording an achievement of around 84 per cent. The construction of these houses is in different phases.
The sanction order of an additional 20,345 houses was communicated to ULBs during November this year. The ULBS are preparing for issue of work order after due verification of land details of the beneficiaries.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
By Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar:(IANS) Even as the Odisha government talks about its commitment to the agriculture sector, it is witnessing a surprising trend in which large tracts of agricultural land have remained uncultivated for the past several years, a state government report says.
The sorry state of affairs in the agriculture sector is forcing farmers to either quit farming or commit suicide due to an unbearable loan burden.
The contribution of agriculture to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is falling gradually over the years while the number of small, medium and large scale farmers has dropped by 460,000, the report says.
“Around 722,000 hectare of land has remained uncultivated in the state in 2014-15 while it was 756,000 hectare in 2013-14. 849,000 hectare agricultural lands had remained uncultivated in the year 2012-13,” an agriculture department report says.
So, how has it come to this?
“Climatic conditions are one of the major reasons for the decreasing rate of cultivation activities in the state. Besides, the profit margin in agricultural produce is comparatively low. There are no adequate marketing facilities in the state,” Lalit Mohan Garnaik, Dean, College of Agriculture, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), told IANS.
“Besides, the high cost of labour is another major problem. Then, youths look down upon pursuing agriculture as a career,” Garnaik added.
While some opposition parties asserted that the farmers were not showing interest in cultivating their land due to the state government’s apathetic attitude, others blamed the cheap rice scheme introduced by central and state governments for ruining agricultural productivity in the state.
“The cheap rice scheme is one of the major reasons for declining paddy and pulses’ cultivation in the state. With cheap rice available at the doorstep, villagers are seen idling and in no mood to go to the field to work. This results in a serious dearth of agricultural labourers,” former BJP MP and Utkal Bharat president Kharavela Swain said.
The Odisha government is providing 25 kg of rice at Re.1-a-kg every month to six million families.
A total of 6.18 million hectares of agricultural land is available for cultivation in the state. The contribution of this sector to the GSDP has also decreased to 12.33 percent in 2014-15 fiscal while agriculture contributes 15.77 percent towards national GDP.
“The contribution of agriculture and animal resources to GSDP is gradually falling in the state. While it was 15.14 percent in 2012-13, it fell to 13.7 percent in 2013-14 and 12.33 percent in 2014-15,” Agriculture Minister Pradip Maharathy told the assembly recently.
The agriculture sector had contributed 21.67 percent in fiscal 1999-2000.
As per an agriculture census conducted during 2005-06 and 2010-11, the number of small, medium and large scale farmers has dropped by 460,000 during the period, showing that the farmers are gradually shying away from their traditional occupation due to several constraints, including lack of irrigation, non-availability of workforce, low market value and inadequate government support.
However, the number of marginal farmers has significantly increased by 771,000 to 3,368,296 from 2,597,164.
As per the census, the number of small farmers fell by 237,000, medium farmers by 211,000 and large farmers by 5,834 between 2005-06 and 2010-11.
The report said the state now has 1,299,170 small, medium and large farmers.
The agriculture minister had also claimed that irrigation was provided to 3.35 million hectares in the kharif season and to 1.65 million hectares in the rabi season in 2013-14.
However, an audit of water resources department for the year ending March 31, 2013, by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found that the state government has failed to meet the target of providing 35 percent irrigation facilities to the agriculture sector.
It said that of the 6.165 million hectares of cultivable land in 314 blocks, the department could achieve the goal in only 60 blocks till June, 2013.
The audit report revealed that 67 out of the 95 blocks in western Odisha had not received the minimum 35 percent irrigation facilities.
The state government has also admitted that states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have better irrigation facilities than Odisha.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 3,602 people employed in the farming and agriculture sectors committed suicide between 1999 and 2013.
The agriculture minister, however, claimed that none of the suicides was due to farm-related problems or crop losses.
Ironically, the state government has been presenting a separate agriculture budget since 2013-14. This has been pegged at Rs.10,903.62 crore for 2015-16.
(Chinmaya Dehury can be contacted at chinmay.d@ians.in)
