RTI activists should mine data on MPs/MLAs performance

Dear All

Greetings.

It is almost one month that we have discussed the performance of Kalahandi MP and all the seven MLAs falling under this area. We got certain leads on the performance of the people’s representatives. But, that is not enough. Lot of data is still required.

As it is known to all that both Lok Sabha and Odisha Assembly polls are hardly Nine months away. And, it we all should know what the MPs and MLAs have done with MPLAD and MLALAd funds in the last four years.  Where have they spent money and how it has benefitted the people of the area.

JVM appeals to all the RTI activists of Odisha to actively work to dig out data regarding the performance of the MPs and MLAs  specially from the backward region. 

In this backdrop, we will continue to work on the performance of the Kalahandi and all the seven MLAs falling in this. The process will be an open ended. As we have to evaluate the performance of other MPs and MLAs also, we will move forward to the next MP constituency and all the seven MLAs falling in this area.

Our next MP Constituency will be Koraput and all the seven MLAs falling in this area. This is a Tribal dominated area. Following is the area-wise names of the  MP and MLAs :

Koraput      MP

Jayaram Pangi

MLAs:

Rayagada    -  Lal Bihari Himirika    

Gunupur     -  Ramamurty Mutika    

Bissam-Cuttack  - Dambarudhara Ulaka    

Koraput       -      Raghuram Padal    

Jeypore        -     Rabi Narayan Nanda    

Lakshmipur    -   Jhina Hikaka

Pottangi  -         Rama Chandra Kadam    

I request all to share information on the performance of the above mentioned people’s representatives. It also important to discuss how these people’s representatives have worked for the effective implementation of PESA.

Please offer your feed back and suggestions.

Looking forward,

Thanks & Regards,

Sai Prasan
JVM
E-mail: janatavikasmanch@gmail.com
Blog: www.janatavikasmanch.blogspot.com

June 21, 2013

Where is your Green Kalahandi Campaign, Bhakta Charan Das ?

Dear Friends,

It is a healthy sign that the people have started expressing themselves and offering their opinion on the performance of MPs and MLAs.




Janata Vikas Manch (JVM) has started the performance evaluation exercise from Kalahandi. The MP of Kalahandi and all the seven MLAs falling in this MP constituency are under discussion.

The views of five people have been given below. Dr Subhash Mahapatra has rightly pointed out, “Odisha as a state still suffers from political poverty because politicians outside the government do not know what their role is other than asking a few questions in the assembly and amassing money for their own future when they are no longer MLAs”.

The question arises here is the role of MP and MLA is just confined to ask a couple of questions on his or her area in Parliament or Assembly. And, if the government does not listen to their voice, then what is the alternative ? We need to see what the political leaders in other states are doing. They are resorting to democratic forms of protest like hunger strike, dharna, demonstration and mobilizing public opinion in different forms to get their work done. Can the MPs and MLAs in Odisha also follow the same method to get their work done ?

JVM thinks that the present debate on Kalahandi MP and all the seven MLAs falling in this area is not adequate. We need to further scrutinize the role of these public representatives in the last four years. What have they done in the field education, health, financial inclusion, environment, social justice and other areas. Hence, the debate on the subject will further continue for another ten days.

We request all to read the below observations and provide more information on the performance of Kalahandi MP and all the seven MLAs falling in this area.

Looking forward,

Thanks & Regards,

Sai Prasan
JVM
May 10, 2013

Note: To know the background and details of the subject, please visit www.janatavikasmanch.blogspot.com. The discussion on the subject is going on since May 22, 2013.
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Baidyanath Mishra

But for his one-upmanship MP Bhakta Das could have gone high up in the ladder of politics. He could not maintain his probity in public life.

Now he is wearing the tag of a congress politician from whom you cannot expect any morale . He has misled directly and indirectly the tribals of Lanjigarh- the Kutia Kandhas and the Dangaria Kandhas. Sons of politicians can read in Doon Public School, but the Kutias should continues to live a life of illiterates and depend on jungles, Niyamgiri or otherwise for two square meals for self and their families. He has even misled Rahul Gandhi who espoused the cause of Lanjigarh tribals by declaring himself as their ‘Sipahi’ in Delhi by taking an anti development stand. What a contradiction ! Four years after Vedanta started its construction of the refinery, MP Bhakta Das opposed the project . What was he doing till then ? Why was he silent ? When encountered by this journalist on the issue of Vedanta he said “ no to refinery but welcomed a Smelter in its place. If he is for a bigger part of the cake, why did he compromise for a wagon repair shop in place of a wagon building plant at Narla, Kalahandi ? This proves his double standard and ‘Politics of convenience’. What he could have claimed as meritorious politician albeit the shortcomings, it comes to him as doles from Rahul Gandhi – a spokesman today, a Minister tomorrow may be! people of Kalahandi, in the long run, will never forgive him. They did once when he fell flat on their feet and begged apology for the mistakes he committed.

Views of a person who does not want to identify

The MP from Kalahandi was shouting for the protection of Niyamgiri under the banner of Green Kalahandi before 2009 election and for some days after the election. But, now there is nothing and people of Kalahandi have forgotten the name of Green Kalahandi. On the other hand the MP, is now batting for the company, it seems as he kept himself silent and advocating for other mines may be given to VAL.
Regarding the MLAs, I am not aware about the two MLAs of Nuapada district which come under Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency, On the MLAs of Kalahandi I would like to say they are all sleeping. Sivaji Majhi gone with the Horse trading episode of Rajya Sabha MP election. Gobardhan Dash is nowhere in the mind of the people of his own constituency.
Nobody knows what the Narla MLA and the Leader of the Opposition does and also what he speaks. Bhawanipatna MLA is only busy with collecting the PC /share from the contractors for the money what is given out of his LAD fund Puspendra Sing Deo is acting as per the advice of one NGO leader of Dharmagarh who extracts benefits from the MLA.

Dr Digambara Patra

If I understand well from the recent news report, the state Govt. had asked law Department on this issue, based on the recommendation of law Department state Govt. selected 12 villages, these villages were cited in SC by state Govt as affected area and there was no objection from any site then as per Chief Secretary's recent clarification. The notice also ask any group to claim any religious right.
However, on other important issue related to Kalahandi, blaming MLAs and MP are small part when big boss have ill motivation, which was well revealed while shifting Wagon factory by state Govt. from Kalahandi to Ganjam despite all these MLAs and MP fought both in Assembly and Parliament.
 Sardar Raja Medical college (since 2004), bridge over Hati river near Junagarh (since 2005), over Tel near Sandhikuler (since 2000) etc show failure in implementation stage by the state Govt. rather than any major hindrance caused by any particular MLA/MP from Kalahandi. These issues were raised by all these MLAs (except one BJD) in the state assembly, even state congress brought a motion to convert pvt medical college to a Govt. medical college but the majority BJD completely rejected it.
IGNTU campus is another issue: when central Govt. has directly asked to send land details (the decision was made in 2004 as per RTI collected from MHRD, Central Govt.), since 3 years state Govt. has not replied MHRD alloting land in Kalahandi (Kalahandi administration has already sent the details two years ago) despite so many request from the local level, even meeting the CM by many BJD leader, MLAs and MP.
Neither MLAs/MP have any big role in poverty, PMGSY, 1 rupeers per kg rice, etc. Kalahandi MLAs and MP have got little role for poor implementation of some of the major projects, why to blame these guys when they have fought this issue in the parliament/assembly? Kalahandi is suffering more due to central and state Govt.'s negligence rather than any local leaders of any political party.

Dr Subhas Mohapatra

Kalahandi is no longer in poverty it was under several years ago. Pockets of poverty still exists in Kalahandi as it exists throughout the world including the USA. But the systemic poverty (of KBK fame) I saw when I was a student in Bhawanipatna high school in the mid 50s has dIsappeared and agriculture has improved considerably with the introduction of cotton in place of "Kandula", "millet" etc.
I will start some development projects in Kalahandi this year in Oct-Nov. I will know more then and report.
However, Odisha as a state still suffers from political poverty because politicians outside the government do not know what their role is other than asking a few questions in the assembly and amassing money for their own future when they are no longer MLAs.
When I was working with TWS and Mr. Pravin Patel, there was a MLA (Mr. Mundai?) who was appearing at every meeting and was loaning his car for us to travel. I wanted to meet with him in 2012 when I was in Rourkela to learn about his current involvements. I was told he is not available because he is no  longer involved in tribal development because he has built several apartments while he was MLA and is living comfortably.

Bishnu Mishra

During Rajiv Gandhi's tenure Kalahandi was in lime light for a wrong reason in national headlines....Over the years many thing has changed After completion of Indravati Project Now, Kalahandi is A Beauty of Nature with Lash Green, Lands are fully irrigated But Our Politicians have not changed their mind set to use the name of Kalahandi As A Political Gimmick..........!!!

Can Elections be a Festival once in five years in Odisha ?

Friends,

JVM has received several messages appreciating our decision to hold a debate on the performance of MLAs and MPs. But, it is a matter of concern that inspite of ten days of our initiating the debate on May 22, 2013, we are yet to get any comments on subject.

"We have asked all to express their views on the performance of the Kalahandi MP and all the seven MLAs constituencies falling under this constituency.  Our idea was to take up the issues of Kalahandi at national. It is a place which is identified with the poverty and hunger of Odisha outside the state. In fact, it is Blot on the face of all Odias. And, it is high time for the Odias to focus on the development of this area.
One of the reasons for the backwardness of Odisha is that the political process is very week in the state. Elections  seems to be a festival held once in five years. Out of 21 MPs and 147 MLAs, most of them prefer to live in Delhi and Bhubaneswar and do not interact with the people of their constituency. They again return to their respective constituencies just six months before the next poll.  Nobody bothers them to ask why they are neglecting their area.

It is high that the people make these MPs and MLAs accountable and evaluate their performance much in advance to their next poll. In line with this, JVM has decided to extend the deadline by another ten days to evaluate the performance of Kalahandhi MP and all the seven MLAs falling in this constituency.
All need to question them what are they doing on Niyamgiri issue which incidently falls in the Kalahandi MP constituency.  In this context, the note of Mr John Dayal on Face Book is important:

The notification for filling of FRA claims has been issued by the Orissa Government yesterday. Not surprisingly, the notification is a complete farce and a contempt of the Supreme Court Order:
The notification has selected ONLY 12 villages for the holding of gram sabhas, which is ridiculous, since there are atleast 112 tribal villages which are directly dependent on the mountain. The villages selected are all largely at the foothills and are not the interior villages. Our research shows the total number of voters in these 12 villages to be 186, one of the villages, Ejurupa has only one voter! The government is trying to have as few tribals as possible in the consultation process, so that they have a better chance of manipulation and coercion. These villages must have been very strategically selected by the government in collusion with

Vedanta, keeping in mind where they can have the maximum chances of influencing people.
The notification calls for the filling of Forest Rights Claims over the next 6 weeks from the 12 villages, starting from the 1st of June. After this 6 week period which ends on 13th July, the state will issue notifications for holding of gram sabhas over the next 3 months, which means it would extend upto October. There has been a month and a half delay with respect to the timeline given by the Supreme Court. It also means that the gram sabhas are likely to be held in the peak monsoon months, making it difficult for people to attend.
The notification assumes a particular location in the mountain to be the abode of Niyamraja and the place of worship of the Dongria Kond. The whole mountain is sacred for the Dongrias. The wording of the notification is a clear insight into the trick that the government is trying to play.

A delegation of the Dongria Kond would be submitting a memorandum to the Governor of Orissa on 7th June objecting against the selection of just 12 villages. They will be demanding the holding of gram sabhas in all the villages that directly depend on the mountain. There are also on-going discussions about filing of a contempt of court petition."
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JVM request all to join in this debate and intensify the political process in the state.
For more information on the subject and to read earlier message, please visit the following blog:
www.janatavikasmanch.blogspot.com

Looking forward,

Thanks & Regards,
Sai Prasan
JVM