118 children of rag-pickers join school in Bhubaneswar

Photo Courtesy: Sangram K Das Mohapatra

BHUBANESWAR: As a positive change in the city, the rag-pickers have sent their children to schools to make them educated like other kids instead of engaging them in the menial job.

During the period of enrolment campaign of the Government, the slum-level community meetings persuaded the people to enrol their children in schools. As a result, 118 children have joined different schools during the period of the Prabesha Utsav-2015 conducted by the School and Mass Education Department as part of the process under the Right to Education Act.

City-based NGO Centre for Child and Women Development (CCWD), mobilised the slum-level committees to make the rag-pickers aware about the value of education and its need in the lives of their kids.

The NGO with the help of the Bernard Van Leer foundation formed seven child clubs along with a State-level federation, the Bhubaneswar Abarjana Gotali Mahasangha, to develop a platform for the rights of rag-pickers. Through the federation and clubs, the organisation convinced the waste gathering workers to send their children to school.

The 118 children including dropouts, rag-pickers, irregular and newcomers were admitted in the primary schools at Goutam Nagar, NAC Colony, Textbook Press, Raghunath Nagar and Budheswari Colony in the city, said CCWD secretary Sadasiv Swain.

According to the CCWD’s slum mobiliser Debabrata Mahunta, most of the parents didn’t go out on the enrolment day in order to send their kids in schools. Mahunta expressed happiness over the school management committees and teachers for encouraging little children along with parents for the good step.

On enrolment of children of waste workers’ families, Dumuduma Raghunath Nagar Primary School Headmistress Sarojini Swain said sensitisation is more essential and parents should take responsibility to send their children to school regularly. 

C Bhabani Reddy, a kid of a rag-picker from Ashok Nagar, was happy while entering to the school with his other friends. The boy, whose joy for attending the school knew no bound, said he would come to school every day.

‘Police harassed me as my Rs 10-meal is better than Aahar’

Sanjay Das

He runs his small roadside eatery in the Capital city and serves meal at a highly subsidised Rs10. He came to limelight after being detained by police for serving the meal at the Capital Hospital when the State Government launched its much-hyped Rs5-meal under the Aahar scheme. Minutes after his van started serving his meal, the Government stall began wearing a deserted look. Though police said he was detained for selling meal at an unauthorised place, the cause behind the crackdown was very clear: It was perceived that he ran a parallel scheme with probably better quality and taste of food thereby threatening to foil the Government-sponsored Aahar.

Hemanta Kumar Pradhan from The Pioneer met Sanjay Das near his mobile van canteen in the city.

Why did you moot an idea about selling Rs10-meal?

I have seen the city since my childhood. There are several poor people coming from rural areas and those who are staying in the city do not get enough money to feed their family in a hotel due to want of money. Sometimes, some people get cheated by hotels as the hotels normally charge Rs40 for a meal by giving substandard rice, dal, khata and vegetable chips. I have been witnessing this from my young age as I’m involved with roadside hotel business since 1988. It prompted me to come up with my ‘Aama Ghara Healthy Food Packet’ on October 5, 2012. We sell a meal consisting of rice and dalma by packets in mobile vans at different points of the city including Baramunda, Indradhanu Market in Nayapalli, Fortune Tower, near Rajiv Bhawan, Kalpana Square and Bapuji Nagar. We sell the meal with other items also for which extra charges are levied. We also accept orders for delivery of food at doorsteps. Our meal for Rs10 is widely famous now.

Do you get any profit from the venture as the meal is highly subsidised?

See, we should not think about loss and profit always. Honestly speaking, I have never experienced loss in my venture, though the profit is not much. For example, I INVEST Rs9.5 for  the Rs10-meal and get Rs500 from 1,000 meals. I am happy that many less privileged people get benefit from my small initiative. Yes, the profit margin is a bit higher in the other items that I sell which are given depending on the choice of the customers.

When police asked you where you GET MONEY to run the Rs10-meal programme, what was your answer?

You know people nowadays tend to get very suspicious when you do something good even if your intent is really good. I explained police the way I operate. But they were in no mood to buy my story. A police officer manhandled me. But my question is when I had launched my venture in 2012, where were the police?

Please explain what had happened on the day police rounded you up?

My helpers were busy selling meals near the Aahar counter of the Government at the Capital Hospital when the incident happened. When the customers deserted the Government stall and showed interest in my meal, police rushed to my van and took my workers to the police station. After a few minutes, the police released my workers due to public pressure and, instead, took me with them to the police station. An ASI beat me there. Later, some activists came to my rescue. Police said some auto rickshaw drivers had lodged a complaint against me for selling the meal near their stand.

Now, consider this: If auto drivers had lodged complaint against me for selling the meal near their stand, why did the police let me off? I had no problem with auto drivers, but the PCR Van came and took me to the police station in a huff. I would have been happy if the Government had appreciated my effort but, instead, it grew vindictive. The police detained me for a vague reason and insulted me. If such things continue in the State, people who do business without caring much for a big profit will be harassed while those fleecing customers will get a shot in the arm.

Hemanta Pradhan gets Laadli Media Award

--Pioneer scribe honoured--

BHUBANESWAR: The Pioneer staff reporter Hemanta Kumar Pradhan on Tuesday was felicitated with the Laadli Media and Advertising Award, a national level honour, for gender sensitivity for 2013-14.

He received the award for his story on conditions of women and children working in brick kilns in Odisha and outside the State. He was conferred with the award at a glittering ceremony organised by the Population First foundation at Vishakhapatnam.

The award acknowledges and celebrates the commendable efforts by various media at providing gender-just perspectives, portrayals and analysis. Hemanta was among the 27 journalists selected by the jury from several entries received from the country’s eastern region.

Population First director Dr AL Sharada said, “Many stories are written by journalists, but Hemanta went beyond news column. He investigated the story and filed the sad story of women working in brick kilns. " Laadli is a campaign launched by the Population First in 2005 to address the mindsets that discriminate against women, promote inequalities and justify gender-based violence.

Hemanta said, “We should try to give voice to the voiceless by reporting the struggles and problems of the less privileged of the society. We need to lend our ears to them who need us the most.”

Film on Dongaria tribals' views on mining to be screened on Feb 19

BHUBANESWAR: A documentary film ‘The Referendum’, which is based on the stand of Dongaria tribes living in the Niyamgiri hills on mining in the area, would be screened at the Ravenshaw University on Thursday. 

The 66-minute- long film produced by the Samadrusti Media Group features a legal battle of the Dongaria tribes to save the hills from the clutches of mining mafia. It narrates the story of these primitive groups’ views against mining in the Gram Sabhas organised by the State Government between July and August 2013 on a direction of the Supreme Court. 

The film tells about the struggle of the tribals since 2005 with several ups and downs which finally came to an end on April 18, 2013 when the Supreme Court in a clear verdict asked the village councils of Dongarias to take a decision as to whether bauxite mining would affect their religious, cultural and other rights or not. 

The documentary captures images, moments and views of the Dongarias in front of the Judges in all the 12 Gram Sabha meetings. They register their dissent citing the reasons thereof and reject mining in the verdant hills. 

According to film’s director Tarun Mishra, the film sets a new trend in documentary genre by presenting the views of the affected Dongarias directly without taking any intermediaries into account. “It combines the present reality with assurance of a better future hidden in each message, image and interview of the tribals,” he added.

Odisha tea vendor donates Rs 16,124 to PMNRF

--urges PM to stop child trafficking

BHUBANESWAR: Brushing aside common man’s perception that people now days don’t come forward to help others selflessly, Siba Shankar Jena, a tea vendor of the city, proved it wrong by donating Rs 16,124 to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) from his small savings. 

Jena while sending the relief money on Tuesday urged the Prime Minister to utilise his money to stop child trafficking in the country.  

Jena, who has a tea stall at Maharaja vending zone in front of the Maharaja Cinema Complex here, belongs to a poor family of Sukindagarh. Despite poverty and family burden (education of children and treatment of mother), he never stops helping needy people. 

According to Maharaja Vending Zone secretary Rabindra Dhal, Jena campaigns to make people aware about security of women, child trafficking and dowry torture in the society. Though he didn’t get a chance to read in school, he knows the value of education and advocates good education for his children and others, he added. 

It’s very interesting to see his conversation with his customers about issues like child labour and violence against women, Dhal said. 

Jena has been saving some amount of his profit money in installment in a locked box and opened up it on Tuesday in the presence of All Odisha Roadside Vendors Association president Pratap Sahu.   

BJP will come to power in 2019 in Odisha: Arun Singh

‘BJD to suffer from trust-deficit syndrome’

BJP’s Odisha Pravari and national membership campaign co in-charge Arun Singh spoke to Hemanta Kumar Pradhan of The Pioneer on party’s roadmap in the State.

Do you think BJP will come to power in 2019?

We are now busy in strengthening our party from grassroots level so that we can hit our target in a more organised way. We have more than three lakh members in the State and we target to achieve the magic number of 30 lakh to create our committed vote bank. If we get the magic number, we will be the number one party in the State.

Also, we are proceeding towards our goal in a planned way. Our party is focusing on the Panchayati Raj election to be held 2017 in order to show our strength before the general election of 2019. The BJP would take benefit out of the people’s anger against BJD’s misrule. Some BJD leaders were arrested and several others are under CBI scanner in the chit fund scam. Mining, land and house allotment scams have also left the ruling party red-faced. Due to all these scams, the BJD is going to suffer from trust-deficit syndrome in the State. Our party is going to be a political alternative in Odisha as the BJD and Congress are demoralised and frustrated respectively.

Do you feel Modi magic will work here?

If the BJP increased its seats from four to 47 in the Haryana Assembly

elections then why not in Odisha? We will increase our seats from 10 to 120 in the next Assembly polls. Modi magic will work surely. The Haryana model of campaign can be replicated in Odisha.

Once you had told to mediapersons that many leaders from other parties, including BJD and Congress, would join your party. Is it true?

Yes, it’s true. Some top leaders in the BJD have expressed their desire to come to our party fold. They are in touch with us. I’ll reveal the names of the leaders at an appropriate time. Just wait and watch what BJP is doing in near future.

How your party is prepared to continue membership drive in State? Do you think people will turn up according to your plan?

As 2015 is our organisational year, we will observe our party’s

Sangathan Parva this year to renew membership of existing basic or active members and will also add new members to our party fold. We will also restructure the party structure from the grassroots level like the layer of city in urban areas and block in rural areas. The membership drive will continue till March 31, 2015.

You know, youth inclination towards the party is tremendous. The youth love Modiji for his development agenda. We are number one party in the country and are going to be the number one party in the world very soon. I’m confident enough to get good response from the people of the State who are fed up with BJD’s autocratic rule. Our initial membership drive has received good reaction from the people. We will raise important issues of the people at the State and the Central levels and will hit the streets if needed. We will corner the State Government for the welfare of society.

According to the last election results, your party’s base is not strong in coastal area unlike western Odisha. How you can strengthen your base here?

In western Odisha, we are strong. Our vote percentage is high in the region. Still, we are trying to convert our vote share into seats.

We will raise several issues, including distress sale of paddy, farmer suicide, distress migration, jaundice in Sambalpur and starvation death in Nuapada and will promote other popular agitations against the State Government.

Yes, our performance in the last elections was not good in coastal region, but we are now strengthening our base in the area. We are focusing upon the grassroots level leaders to win the confidence of people. Our party is taking several steps to create genuine members to strengthen our party. Hope we will do better in the next elections.

It was a long perception that your party is suffering from ego-clash between senior leaders. How you address the internal issues?

No, not at all. Our senior leaders have already worked at different rallies and assignments unitedly without any ego clash. They are working for the welfare of the people of the State. The youth leaders are working under the guidance of seniors in the party. Our party is united and strong now.

It is seen that some political party workers are indulged in bad practices. Do you have any mechanism to train the workers?

Yes it’s happening, but our party is very conscious in the matter. It is very important to train the party workers because their bad behaviour may ruin the party image in the public. Our national leaders have planned to train 15 lakh workers after the membership drive. We are going to train one lakh members between June and August this year about party’s ideologies, party icons, history of organisation, NDA Government’s achievement and behavioural practices.

The interview was published in The Pioneer English daily on January 12, 2015

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/bjd-to-suffer-from-trust-deficit-syndrome.html 

Why I love the whisper of dew drops

Why I love the whisper of dew drops

And mischievous chilly winds

Why I listen night birds’ painful songs

By letting the coffee cup abandoned in my kitchen

Why my heart beats so fast

When train crosses like a monster behind my backyard

Why I forget to close my bedroom windows

During the killing winter nights 

I ask and ask more and more questions

After your sudden departure from the lane of my heart

I inquire more and more

Why rose can’t bear caresses of capricious dew drops.

I know the moonlit night, singing trees

Haunt me, kill me every time

When I see your face on the moon and

Hear the voice in murmurs of leaves.