‘LIKE YOU CAN’T GIVE UP JAGANNATH, WE CAN’T NIYAMGIRI’

Can you give up your Lord Jagannath? Will you stop worshipping your deity? If you can’t, how do you think we will surrender our God Niyam Raja and His abode Niyamgiri to Vedanta?” asked Dambru Majhi, a villager of Kunakadu in Kalahandi district in South Odisha, where the fourth Palli Sabha out of the scheduled twelve was held  in the presence of 21 voters out 22 in  the village.

HOLY HILL NIYAMGIRI IN SOUTH ODISHA 

Two out of the total present were women. Hundreds of Dongaria Kandh women and men of different other villages of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts were present too. Dambru compared his God Niyamraja with the Jagannath and pointed his question to the independent observer PK Jena, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the process of the meeting in five villages of Kalahandi district in South Odisha.

“We will die like Renda Majhi and Birsha Munda to protect our God and land,” he said valiantly.All the participants of the Palli Sabha presented their statement one by one. The same opposition to the mining plan resonated in the air. “The Government has deprived us of our basic rights to livelihood, health and education. Our source of living is Niyamgiri. There is no hospital here. Niyamgiri heals our diseases by providing us herbs and roots. It gives us food and water. So, how can we allow you to ruin that?”the villagers asked.

Regarding the allotment of land under Forest Right Act (FRA)– 2006, the villagers said that the administration has allotted only one or two decimals of land to some of the households. “We have not placed any claim in the Palli Sabha till now. How did the administration give the entitlement? they asked and claimed that the officials have generated false claims to give small pieces of lands to some villagers to befool them. “We think our signatures have been forged,” they added.

Like in previous Palli Sabha held in the village Tadijhola on July 23 last, the villagers here also demanded a copy of the proceeding of the meeting before signing it. “All the villagers are opposing mining. They claimed that Niyamgiri is source of their lives,” said the observer to media.  “The same feelings prevail in all the villages of Niyamgiri hills and we hope the villages will oppose the mining proposal,” said Green Kalahandi president Siddhartha Naik. Source: The Pioneer 

Were Ganjem in Goa and Ganjam in Odisha linked in ancient times?

PANAJI: Was the Devi of Ganjem in Goa inspired by Tara-Tarini of Ganjam, Odisha?

A professor in Goa University's history department, Pratima Kamat has posed this question after her ethnoarchaeological research into the 'Boat Deities' of the Mhadei River Valley of the Satari and Sanguem talukas of Goa (Tarini and Tar-Vir: The Unique Boat Deities of Goa, 2008) revealed what she terms as exciting new linkages between Goa and Odisha.

Kamat points out that scholars have written about Goa's cultural links with Bengal, especially about the migration of the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins to Goa, but not much about the maritime traditions and heritage with the state's links to Odisha. "Certain cultural similarities are visible in the ethnographical heritage of the two maritime societies, Goan and Odia, located on opposite coasts of the Indian peninsula etched in the early medieval times that are worthy of more intensive research," Kamat states in her study.

Ganjem was a last port of call along the River Mandovi for centuries, but its past is fading with time.

"Unique votive as well as abandoned sculptures of the Devi-in-a-boat are located in the Satari and Sanguem talukas of Goa. These may be compared with a similar Devi-in-a-boat found in some parts of coastal Odisha," says Kamat.

In addition to iconographical evidence, she points to ethnographical comparisons between the worship of Tara-Tarini/Tara in places like Ganjam, Ghatgaon and Ratnagiri in Odisha, and the votive traditions associated with the Devi-in-a-boat as 'Tarini' in the Satari and Sanguem talukas of Goa.

Kamat draws similarities between the boat festival of Sanquelim, another riverine port like Ganjem, with the Boita Bandana and Bali Yatra of Cuttack, Odisha.

The Goan river, Mhadei and its tributaries are hosts to the Devi-in-a-boat and shaped the region's cultural history as much as River Mahanadi influenced Odisha.

Both states also witnessed the influence of Buddhism and Jainism; have a votive tradition of supplicating the Saptamatrika; enjoy a Shaktipitha status; possess similar maritime traditions, Kamat states in her study.

Referring to the culinary aspect, the Goan patoli and its Oriya country cousin, the endura pitha, Kamat says they suggest another reason to support her research. Source: ToI 

HC Bench in Berhampur still elusive

Berhampur continues to be deprived of a separate Bench of Orissa High Court in spite of several agitations by different sections of society for several years. On the other hand, a commission set up by the State Government to look into the demand is yet to file even an interim report after five years of its formation.

The demand for the Bench at Berhampur dates back to 1st April 1936 when Orissa was made a separate State. Since then the litigants, the people’s representatives, general public, the Ganjam Bar Association and other bar associations have been bringing the matter to the notice of the State Government, Central Government and the High Court of Odisha but to no avail.

The Ganjam Bar Association (GBA) has been resorting to agitations to press the demand since 1974. The advocates boycotted all the judicial courts in the city from December, 2007 to April, 2008. Closure of judicial courts for around four and a half months has posed serious problems for the litigants and the work of judicial courts came to a standstill.

During the period the advocates regularly brought out rallies, organised street corner meetings, besides boycotting the the meetings of ministers.

Following the agitation, the State Government appointed a Commission headed by CR Pal, a retired judge of Orissa High Court, to look into the demand.

The Commission has been continuing its enquiry till date with five extensions and around ` 1.4 crore has been spent on it, But it is yet to submit an interim report.

Meanwhile Jyoti Prasad Chotray, former secretary of GBA, compiled a booklet elaborating the justification of setting up a high court bench in Berhampur and sent it to the President of India requesting him to intervene in the matter.

In the book Chotroy has stated that in 2007 the State Government had requested the Orissa High Court to consider the proposal afresh for establishment of permanent bench in western and southern Odisha.

But the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court turned down the proposal for want of material and considering the judicial guidelines of the Supreme Court.

Chotroy has pointed out that due to lack of safe and comfortable communication system, the litigants have to face hardship in instituting, prosecuting and defending their cases in the High Court at Cuttack. It takes the litigants of Malkanagiri, Nuapada, Koraput, Rayagada and Nawarangapur more than 10 hours to come to Cuttack. Chotroy further said increasing the number of judges in the Orissa High Court cannot serve the purpose due large number of pending cases. The only remedy lies in setting up benches of Orissa High Court at Berhampur, Chotroy concluded.Source: New Indian Express 

Prime Minister approves airport at Brahmapur including 50 other cities in India

The Union government on June 28 decided to set up 51 new low-cost airports across India including 3 in Odisha at Brahmapur, Raurkela and Kendujhar. This is aimed at giving a boost to the civil aviation sector and increase air connectivity to Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Apart from the low-cost airports, the government has also decided to grant new international airport status to Bhubaneswar in Odisha.

 

The state-owned airport operator, Airports Authority of India (AAI), would set up these low-cost airports. The decisions were taken at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister held in New Delhi to finalize infrastructure projects for 2013-14 which was attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Ministers of Power, Coal, Railways, Roads, Shipping and Civil Aviation. Source: PIB

Berhampur University Celebrates its 18th convocation

Source: The Sambad and The Telegraph