COLLECTOR RAYAGADA'S VISIT TO RAGHUBARI AND DIMIRIGUDA

REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATIONS 2012

OFSDP ANNUAL REVIEW MEETING

OFSDP ( Orissa Forestry Sector Development Project) annual review was held in Hotel Sai International in Rayagada today. Collector Rayagada in capacity of the Chairman District Advisory Committee presided over the meeting. Sri. Bakhla, IFS, Regional Chief Conservator of Forests, Koraput also attended the meeting along with DFO Rayagada, senior district level officials of other departments and field level forest officers. Members of the village Vana Suraksha Samiti from different areas were also present.

RCCF Koraput in his inaugral address explained the objectives and different initiatives of the OFSDF project. Collector Rayagada said that the forests are like a hen that gives golden eggs and we have to be patient and sensible in consuming the fruits of nature. Indiscriminnate felling of trees by forest mafias for timber and by local communities for shifting cultivation is rapidly depleteing the forest cover and has brought us to a situation, where the very existence of tribal communities is at stake. Due to incresed population and changing lifestyle there is lot of pressure on forests and has also led to man anoimal conflict in many areas. To mitigate this sitaution projects like OFSDP come handy, wherein there are two aspects, one that of conservation and sustainable use of forest resources and creating livelihood opportunities.

FAILURE OF ELECTION: COLLECTOR WRITES TO SEC REGARDING NOMINATION

Even after the second chance for nominations, no nominations were filed filed in all but one GP in Kashipur for the post of Sarpanch and PS member. Also all the nominations filed earlier were withdrawn and it brought a situation where no all the three ZP zones in Kashipur block are vacant. In Election parlance, it is taken as ' Failure of the electorate to return a representative'.

In a situation where there are no nominations or all the nominations are rejected, it is take as a first election. Then a second and final chance for fresh filing of nominations is given where no nomination could be had, which in this case was done from 20th to 22nd January 2012. However there were no nominations in this time as well. This is taken as second election and in case the seat still doesn't have any candidate in fray, it is deemed as failure of election and the relevant rules relating to nomination of a public representative is invoked and the process of appointing a nominee is initiated.

Collector Rayagada, as per the letters given below has intimated the State Election Commission about the same and the necessary steps for nominations has been initiated.

Rule 30 of Orissa Gram Panchayat Election rules, 1965; the sub rule 11 of Rule 11 of Orissa Panchayat Samiti Election Rules, 1991 and rule 13 of Orissa Zilla Parishad Election Rules, 1994, will be invoked now, where in case of Ward members and Sarpanch, the nominations of public representatives will be done by the Sub Divisional Magistrate. In case of Panchayat Samiti and ZP members, the nomination of the public representative is done by the government.

The bigger question is that these rules have been framed keeping in mind a situation where for some reasons no one files a nomination or all nominations are rejected and also hoping that only some stray cases, particularly at the lower strata of the Panchayati raj system, will present such situation. While framing these rules, no one might have contemplated a situation, that exists in Kashipur block now, which is one of organized and predetermined mass boycott and non filing of nomination for many posts, in many places.

For anyone, be it the government itself or government servants, it will be a fairly difficult task to nominate public representatives of all strata in the Panchayati Raj system ( if they may be so called) for as big area as an entire block.

The situation in Kashipur has brought to fore an unprecedented situation as far as election process is concerned. It remains to be seen how the government and the district administration handle such 'nomination' situation.

NO RESPONSE TO ANOTHER APPEAL FROM DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION TO RESOLVE THE JHODIA ISSUE

Yet another request from the district administration to resolve the Jhodia issue went without a response from the representatives of the Jhodia community. The Collector Rayagada had called a meeting on 20.01.12 at 11.00 am, with the members of the Jhodia community to discuss and break the impasse on the no nomination situation arising out of the agitation of the Jhodia community for ST status. A written request is said to have been sent by the district administration thorough BDO Kashipur, which the members of the Jhodia community refused to receive.

The District administration again waited till 1.00 pm, but no one turned up. Even some media persons informed that they had talked with some Jhodia leaders and that they have decided to not to come for the meeting.

The second notification for nominations for different posts in the Panchayat election has already been issued and the last date of receiving the nominations is 22nd January 2012. If in any case the nomination are not filed during this time also, it will be deemed that the electorate has afield to return any representative for the respective posts and the rules relating to ' Nomination by government' will be invoked.

The rule 30 of Orissa Gram Panchayat Election rules, 1965; the sub rule 11 of Rule 11 of Orissa Panchayat Samiti Election Rules, 1991 and rule 13 of Orissa Zilla Parishad Election Rules, 1994 clearly state the procedure of nomination for the post of ward member, Sarpanch, Panchayat Samiti member and Zilla Parishad member.

PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS: SECOND MEETING WITH POLITICAL PARTIES TO SOLVE THE JHODIA ISSUE.

The district administration has informed the State Election Commissionthat 12 G.P.s in Kashipur and one in K.Singhpur has not received any nomination till the last date of filing nomination. Also in due course of time, as things stand, almost all the candidates for the three Z.P. zones of Kashipur have withdrawn their candidature (including political party sponsored and independents).

Also in two G.P.s of Muniguda, no nominations have been filed.

As per the instruction of State Election Commission, fresh notification has been issued inviting nominations in places and for posts, for which no nominations were received.

Meanwhile, in the case of Kashipur where nominations have not been filed or withdrawn, apparently to express solidarity with the cause of Jhodia community, for inclusion in S.T. list, the District Administration has had series of discussion with the representatives of the Jhodia community where in the District Administration had appraised them of the efforts taken by the State Govt. regarding their long standing demand of inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes. They were also requested to not to boycott the Panchayat polls, a decision which they have expressed directly as well as indirectly. The District Administration had discussed with the representatives of the Jhodia community, for as many as three times.

Also on 16.01.2012, a meeting with the political parties was held, which was also attended by the Election Observer. The District Administration had requested the representatives of the political parties to help resolve the impasse by discussing the issue with the Jhodia community and help the smooth conduct of the election process.

Accordingly a meeting was scheduled with the representatives of the political parties of the Block level and the representatives of the Jhodia community on 17.01.2012 at 11.00 AM. The Collector & SP Rayagada, along with the Election Observer and other officials waited for the representatives to arrive for discussion.

However no one turned up.

By 3.00 PM, it was learnt that the representatives of the political parties of the Block level had arrived in Rayagada and had decided to withdraw nominations already filed for the Z.P. zones of Kashipur-A, B and C.

The District Administration sent a word through Sub-Collector, Rayagada to the political parties representatives to have a discussion with the District Administration before withdrawing their nominations and that after this it was upto them to decide either way about their nomination. However, inspite of the request of the District Administration, there was no response from the representatives of the political parties and some of them withdrew their nominations on that day and the rest on 18.01.2012.

The District Administration also had another meeting with the political parties on 19.01.2012, to discuss the same issue and to impress upon them the need to participate in the election process by filing nominations, wherever it has not been. He also requested them to use their influence and contact with the people and to try to solve the deadlock. He impressed that it is a dangerous trend to stall the Election process for fulfilling the demands of people and needs to be checked. The right the masses to vote is one such right which has been got after a lot of struggle and sacrifice and it needs to be valued. Giving up this right to proves against non fulfillment of a demand, howsoever genuine it may be, is against the spirit of democracy, Collector Rayagada said. He asked all political parties to join hands and collectively strive to resolve the impasse.

Collector Rayagada has also instructed the Executive Engineer Rural Works to visit the Raghubari and Dimiriguda GPs, along with BDO Muniguda and appraise the people of the PMGSY road project, which was in rough weather because of issues with Forest clearance. The Collector has discussed the mater with the DFO and the necessary clearance has been obtained. The RD department has to just expedite the work now. The district administration hopes that this will persuade the people to take back their decision to boycott the Panchayat polls, Collector Rayagada said.

CANDIDATES FROM KASHIPUR BLOCK WITHDRAW NOMINATION

To resolve the impasse over the no nomination situation in the Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and the Zilla Parishad zones of Kashipur and other areas, a meeting was called by the district administration, where the representatives of various political parties, representatives of the Jhodia community and other officials, including the election observor were invited. The meeting was scheduled at 11 am today.

The district administration waited, however the delegation from Kashipur did not turn up till 3 pm. At about 3 pm it was learnt that the candidtes for the post of Zilla Parishad member had gone to the Sub Collector office to withdraw the nomination. A message is said to have passed to them by the district administrration through the Sub Collector to first have a discussion with the district administration before deciding about the withdrawl of candidature. However there seems to be no response from the withdrawing candidates and almost all of the candidates of Kashipur's three ZP constituencies have withdrawn their nomination, which leaves three constituencies without any nomination.

The matter will be reported to the State Election Commission and as has been already notified, fresh nomination will be invited from 19 th January onwards. This technically means that in the first election in these three ZP constituencies, the electorate failed to return any representative.

IAS PROBATIONERS' RAYAGADA STUDY TOUR

As part of the winter study tour of the IAS Officer trainees, a batch of 16 officers of the 2011 batch of the Group no. 4 are visiting Rayagada district for studying the tribal development, what is known as tribal attachment.

The group reached Rayagada on 09.01.12 night and the next day, after interaction with the Collector Rayagada, who gave an overview of the tribal development, they proceeded to the Ekalavya Model Residential School and The DKDA Chaitkona. They visited a couple of schools, including the Khajuri village of the Dongaria Kandhas.

On 11th January they are visiting the Gunupur sub division, where they will interact with the Sub Collector Gunupur and the PA ITDA Gunupur about Forest Rights act and OTELP project. Then they are to visit the Lanjia Saura development Agency ( LSDA) at Puttasingi.

Their tour will be over on 11th Jan 2012.

DISRUPTION TO ELECTION PROCESS IN KASHIPUR

SUMAN JHODIA. TRIBAL LEADER FROM KASHIPUR

Group of people belonging to the Jhodia community have reportedly locked the Gram Panchayat offices in as many as seven locations to protest their non inclusion in the list of Scheduled tribes. This has grossly affected the election process in the Kashipur block of Rayagada district.

Earlier this month the representatives of the Jhodia community have expressed their resolve to boycott the elections for the same. The district administration has held series of meetings with the representatives of the community and explained the latest position to the them.

The case of the Jhodia community is typical one. they belong to the larger Poroja tribe and are a subgroup called 'Jhodia Poroja'. The name Jhodia poroja is reflected in the list of STs approved by the Government of India's Ministry of tribal affairs.

During the settlement operation in Orissa in the late seventies and early 80s, the people belonging to the Jhodia Poroja tribe were, inadvenertantly, recorded as only "Jhodia' a name that they were generally known as, but unfortunately, this name does not figure in the approved list of the Scheduled Tribes of govt. of India.

This technical error lead to numerous problems for the Jhodia community and they have been deprived of the ST status, which is enjoyed by other tribes and a few people recorded as 'Jhodia Poroja' ( a name that figures in the list of Scheduled tribes) in their Record of Rights( RORs) in their own community.

There have been number of clarifications from the district administration right from the time when Kashipur was a part of the Kalahandi Estate, the undivided Koraput district and now the Rayagada district, wherein it has been clarified that the people recorded as Jhodia are not different from Jhodia poroja. Even for matrimonial alliances and other cultural aspects people recorded as Jhodia and Jhodia Poroja are one and the same community. It is interesting to note that One' Sri. Jhajuri Jhodia' had contested as a ST candidate and represented the assembly constituency.

Recently the Govt of Odisha has sent a proposal for inclusion of the name Jhodia in the list of Scheduled tribes and it is only a matter of time for the community to get their rightful entitlement.

However inspite of being appraised by the district administration of the same, some elements have locked the Panchayat buildings and tried to obstruct the election process. Collector Rayagada said that, though the district administration is sympathetic about the cause of the Jhodia tribals, any act of lawlessness will be dealt with an iron hand and it wont hesitate to make arrests and take necessary action against those who disrupt the election process.

PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS TO BE IN 5 PHASES IN RAYAGADA

VISIT OF SR. ADVISER PLANNING COMMISSION TO RAYAGADA

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Sri. Mohanty, IAS ( AP) Sr. Advisor Planning commission visited Rayagada district today along qwith Sri. Arbind Padhy, IAS Director Special projects Panchayat Raj dept. Govt of Odisha, visited Rayagada today. They visited the Kolnora and Rayagada blocks and saw various works under the MGNREGS, IAP and other schemes. The Sr. Advisor planing commission was very pleased to see the check dam cum foot bridge projects executed by the Watershed dept out of Integrated Action Plan( IAP) which has proved to be very useful in easing the situation due to prevalence of drought this year. Director Special Projects advised to take up horticulture crops with the water that is made available for irrigation by these projects and make a model livelihood plan out of it, in all such places where check dam has been built.

In the afternoon they also visited the Gumma and Kumbhikota Gram Panchayats of Rayagada district and saw NREGS and IAP owrks there. One such Pipe water scheme has been executed by RWSS on a hilltop habitation in the Champikota village which has been praised by all. It is an endeavor of the district administration to make visible impact in the interior areas through various flagship programs of the government, particularly MGNREGS and IAP. Hence many important projects were taken up in remote and interior areas after assesing the felt need.

The district administration has taken up area opening projects which on olves making alternayive conectivity to areas which otherwise would be accesible only by a circuitous route. Two such projecys were seen bu the senior advisor planning commission, one at chekaguda the foot suspension bridge and the other road opening from Kumang to Nisikhal. These projects would not only redice the distance, but also open up the economy of the area.