The Government has announced the creation of six projects in public-private partnership mode in non-timber forest produce (NTFP), covering around 60 Naxal-affected districts in the country.

The projects, to be executed within six months, will cover Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, according to a Rural Development Ministry release here on Friday.

Bhubaneswar: Anticipating power shortfall in the upcoming summer months, the Grid Corporation of Odisha (Gridco) is in the process of striking power banking deals with other states to ensure uninterrupted availability of power and tide over the deficit. From April 1, Odisha is set to get 200 MW from northern states like Himachal Pradesh and Haryana through the power banking route. Gridco, the bulk power purchaser, is also in talks with other states like West Bengal and Gujarat to procure power through this mode.

JEYPORE: Rural electrification works are in full swing in Jeypore block. Call it ignorance of the election Code of Conduct or a deliberate act, these works are somewhere aimed at fetching votes. Sources said Rajiv Gandhi Gramya Kutir Jyoti programme for BPL families in different villages under Jeypore block was allotted a year back but it could not materialise for unknown reasons. Now that the panchayat elections have come, the contractors are expediting the works by getting poles and conductors erected in Amabaguda and Dhanpur panchayats in Jeypore block.

BALASORE: The injections, which you take hoping that it would cure you of diseases might just prove fatal. In Balasore district headquarters hospital crystal-like substances and fungus were found floating in a couple of life saving injections stocked there. More shocking is that the injections have two more years of shelf-life. The crystal-like substances were found in Mannitol, an intravenous injection administered to high blood pressure or haematoma patients.

The government’s plan of ushering in a green revolution in eastern states doesn’t seem to have taken off in the country’s biggest paddy (de-husked) rice producing state of West Bengal. Till January 20, only 50 per cent of the total funds allocated for the state were released by the Centre.

Officials said a reason for the low funds was the lack of fresh proposals from the state.

BHUBANESWAR: This year, an air of uncertainty hangs over the arrival of Olive Ridley sea turtles along the Odisha coast. With nesting grounds not available yet, wildlife experts are apprehensive about mass nesting (arribada) occurring anytime soon. Gahirmatha under Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and Rushikulya river mouth are the two major rookeries apart from the Devi river mouth where sporadic nesting takes place. However, this year, the beach profile is such that mass nesting may not take place soon at the sites.

ROURKELA: Armed with the Saranda Action Plan, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday detailed his much-hyped ‘peace offensive’ to curb insurgency along the Odisha-Jharkhand border. On his second visit to the Maoist-infested Saranda forest region in the neighbouring Jharkhand, Ramesh laid the foundation stone for the Integrated Development Centre at the remote Digha village of West Singhbhum district, about 16 km from Odisha border and addressed villagers.

The Karnataka government has invoked Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003, prohibiting the open access and sale of exportable power by generators outside the state. The directive would come into effect from February 1 and would be in force till the end of this year.

The tentative rate for power supply by generators under Section 11 and those that do not have power purchase agreements with electricity supply companies would be Rs 5.30 a unit, subject to determination of the final rate by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission.

A year after Jairam Ramesh's final environmental clearance, Korean giant waits for state govt to hand over land
Last January, the Union environment ministry's approval for the Rs 52,000-crore mega steel project by Korean giant Posco at Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district made headlines.

Despite the twin instances of a low-flying chopper carrying a ruling BJD MP in Satkosia Tiger Reserve in violation of the Wildlife Protection Act having triggered a major controversy, the Odisha Government is yet to register a case against either the pilot or the owner of the helicopter. The violations took place in 2009 and 2010 and even forced the then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to intervene.