Can water ATMs ease the daily struggle of the poor in Bhubaneswar?

At Mamata Gharana, Bhubaneswar’s first community home for members of the transgender community, Madhuri Kinnar, 38, is happy that she and her mates — over 70 others who stay here — now have access to clean water in their own slum for consumption.

“Over the last two decades, we have faced lots of problems in getting water. We had to go to Vani Vihar or Rasulgarh, both kilometres away from the Kinnar Basti (transgender slum) to collect water for our consumption and other daily uses,” Madhuri, President of All Odisha Transgender Association, said, “You can imagine how difficult it is to fetch the entire amount of water we require from such distant places.”

Community interventions reverse desertification trend in Odisha’s Balangir

Byasadev Bhoi, 58, of Pandel village of Odisha’s in Balangir district was very excited while showing the pond the villagers have dug. The pond has changed their lives by ensuring water to irrigate about 150 acres of agricultural land even during dry seasons between the months of January and May. Byasadev is happy that the young members of his family don’t need to migrate to other states in search of jobs anymore as they are now able to grow more than two crops in their fields.

Balangir district being chronically drought-prone, this was not the life villagers of Pandel lived before. 

Women’s control over food brings nutritional equity in Odisha’s KBK region

Pramila Behera, 27, of Pengdusi village in Thuamul Rampur block of Odisha’s Kalahandi district has started her nutrition garden over two decimal of land beside her house. The small garden offers her the freedom to decide what kind of food items she is going to offer to her husband, daughters and son. 

Though the idea of nutrition garden is quite like a traditional kitchen garden. But, the difference here is that Pramila grows a wide range of vegetables, legumes and leaves in her nutrition garden so that it can give her control over food and fulfil the micronutrient needs of her family.

Fishing communities of Odisha protect the endangered olive ridley sea turtle

Fishing communities in eastern India are setting an example by protecting endangered olive ridley marine turtles during their annual mating and nesting activities, and helping millions of tiny hatchlings reach the sea safely.

Villagers of Gokharkuda help hatchlings reach the sea safely © Basudev Mahapatra

Smart Bhubaneswar: City within a city reflecting inequity

It was a joyful moment for people of Bhubaneswar when, on January 28, 2016, the capital city of Odisha got a nod from the Government of India to become a smart city. But after almost three years, the project seems to be suffering from a lot of issues and the city still has a long way to go to become truly smart. According to many city dwellers, despite announcement of many programmes, Bhubaneswar lacks on many fronts to claim itself smart, and the smart city development is confined to a small part only.

No doubt, Rahul Gandhi emerges as a mass leader

The Odisha visit of All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Rahul Gandhi, on January 25, 2019, must have fuelled the state chapter of Indian National Congress (INC) with energy to step into the forthcoming general elections. This apart, his response to questions in a town hall programme signified the emergence of a leader with a vision for the country in Rahul Gandhi.

The issues he raised here were the issues concerning the ordinary and the issues that people in general wanted politicians to speak on and discuss. Gandhi spoke about his vision about education, health, employment, agriculture and possible measures for the agrarian community to re-emerge as a contributor to Indian economy.

In Odisha, Congress Won’t Let Naveen Patnaik’s BJD Have it Easy

Image source: TheQuint.com

With the assembly elections due in Odisha in early 2019 alongside the parliamentary elections, the bugle has been sounded.

Although there is still time for the Central Election Commission to make necessary notifications for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Odisha, political parties in the state have begun their election-related exercises already.

A few media and survey agencies have also started fuelling the political mood of an election through different speculations.

How an Odisha Village Saved its Forest From an Upcoming Brewery

Photo: Basidev Mahapatra

The village of Balarampur, barely 20 KM from its district headquarters town of Dhenkanal and 80 KM from Odisha’s capital city of Bhubaneswar, has scripted a success story while adopting the methods of the famous Chipko movement to save trees from the vagaries of an allegedly ill planned alcohol plant and bureaucratic insensitivities towards the green.

Led by the women folks of the village, it brought wisdom and forced the Odisha government to order for relocation of the project respecting the voice of people, making the case first of its kind in Odisha during the Naveen Patnaik regime.

Make in Odisha 2018 ignored farmers and the brands of Odisha

Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha,
addresses investors at Make in Odisha Conclave 2018.
Picture courtesy: Odisha Government

Though the Make in Odisha Conclave 2018 is being termed by the state government as a successful event mainly by virtue of the promises it has drawn, to a lot of Odisha's ordinary population, it failed in many aspects.

Started in Bhubaneswar on November 12, 2018, the event was participated by India’s top industrialists like Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, Kumarmangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group, Naveen Jindal of Jindal Steel, Anil Agrawal of Vedanta Resources among many others who for a day made the state capital city the point of highest attention.

Cyclones buffet Odisha as temperatures rise

The rise in temperatures due to climate change has increased the vulnerability of Odisha on the east coast of India to intense cyclonic storms

Cyclone Titli made landfall on October 11, 2018,
and caused extensive damage in coastal areas of
Odisha and Andhra Pradesh

The southern coast of Odisha, with the small port town of Gopalpur at its centre, seems to have become a favoured destination for tropical cyclones occurring in the months of October-November in the Bay of Bengal. This year, coastal districts of Odisha and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on the east coast around Gopalpur faced two intense tropical cyclones — Daye in September and Titli in October.

Gopalpur has been facing a constant threat of post-monsoon tropical cyclones since at least 1999 when it was badly hit by a devastating tropical cyclone 10 days before the super cyclone of 1999. The later one hit near Odisha’s port town of Paradeep in the early hours of October 29 ravaged large parts of coastal areas, leading to at least 10,000 deaths.