District Magistrate & Collector Koraput

New PDS Cards to be distributed from First April

2011-03-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

Finally, Govt has agreed to replace the mutilated old PDS cards distributed to BPL, APL and AAY families. It is an opportunity to address all issues arising related to PDS cards like improper distribution, lost cards and left out beneficiaries. It has also been decided that the Rs 2 rice will not be distributed in KBK areas to privileged APL class who are filling income tax return or are working with state govt.,central Govt ,Bank,PSU or Cooperative sector. Persons who own four wheelers or have been retired from govt job and are drawing pension above Rs 5000 will also be excluded from the famous Rs 2 rice benefit. This gives leverage to include all left out families from this scheme. Elaborate arrangements are being made to distribute the PDS cards in most efficient manner involving PRIs and NGOs from First April. The new cards will be water proof and the beneficiaries have to pay nominal cost for getting the cards. All details pertaining to distributed cards retailer wise would be made available in each Panchyat office and on the website as well.

Job fair in Koraput

2011-03-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

In order to address the problem of unemployment particularly among low educated youth a two Day Job fair was organized in Koraput at Jeypore in collaboration with Employment Mission, Govt of Orissa. It was meant for unemployed youth of Koraput , Malkangiri and Nabrangpur. 12th March was reserved for Malkangiri-Nabrangpur and 13th for Koraput. Massive turn out was observed on both days. District Administrations had made arrangements for the transport of candidates from each block. All arrangement including the lunch was made to encourage the smooth participation. Nearly 22000 candidates took advantage of the fair and registered themselves for the Job Fair. 35 Companies participated in the job fair from various parts of the country. They were from BPO, Manufacturing , Pharmaceuticals, Textile, Construction and Security Guard. Administration facilitated between the job seekers and the job givers. The idea was to expose the candidates to the changing needs of the job market and improve their knowledge about all aspects of job market. Totally 8092 candidates were offered jobs by the visiting 35 companies spreading over two days. The highlight being WIPRO and GENPACT selecting few candidates.

In addition to this efforts are also being made to send tribal youth in Army and other paramilitary forces. Recently 100 candidates were given orientation for seven days about the selection procedure in Army. Twenty-five of them got selected subsequently in Army recruitment rally. Now also around 305 candidates will be trained from 21st March so that they can face recruitment drives for CRPF, BSF, ITBP confidently in near future

PARAB @ Narayanpatna

2011-01-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

                It is for the first time since last one and half year that the small dingy village called Narayanpatna was breathing freely. Starting from small children to old person was on the street celebrating their own PARAB. It was the occasion they were probably waiting to come out of the unnatural atmosphere of fear and depression.

              It all started with the celebration of GP level PARAB in all but two Panchayats on 1st and 2nd January. The attendance and participation of people was huge and unexpected. This encouraged the organizers to organize the Block level PARAB with more involvement. Hon. MP koraput and MLA Laxmipur attended the second day celebration. All school and college going students actively participated in quizzes, debates, song and dance competitions. Over 10 departments participated in erecting their stall highlighting all their activities and programes. Health camp was also organized for two days. Forest right, GKP and other pattas were also distributed on the occasion.

               Finally, the icing on the cake was the performance of dance troupes who came all the way from various panchayats. Their performances were breathtaking and very exciting. All of them were looking as original and natural as if they were performing in their own village. The crowd of 5000 enjoyed the DEMASA and forgot themselves in the PARAB fervor.

               In order to address all issues pertaining to land in the area a new initiative was proposed whereby on the 5th of every month Collector, Sub-Collector and Tahsildar along with a legal team would hold a “Land Adalat (Jami Adalat)” whereby all land related issues will get registered and necessary action would be initiated by appropriate authority. The preceding month’s cases would be followed in next months seating.

Thus, the PARAB raised new hopes, gave people an opportunity to come out from their shell and gave new ray of hope for better tomorrow.

Samarthya Sibirs : a successful attempt to take different entitlements for differently abled citizens to their doorsteps

2011-01-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

As all know Differently Abled people constitute around 2% of our population. They face herculean task to get themselves educated and many times being treated as burden on the family. Poverty along with disability is more difficult and painful. In order to provide all services to this section of society Govt Of Orissa has devised a concept called Samarthya Sibir wherein all the services are provided in the single window manner at their door step. Generally, camps are organized at block level at Block point and a team of doctors visit the spot constituting panel for issuing disability certificate.

This year in koraput we made an attempt to make these camps special. We made elaborate planning by forming a Samarthya Sibir organization team headed by each BDO, MO (I/C). Sub-Collectors were assigned the tasks of overall supervision. Mapping of differently able persons was done in advance with the help of AWWs. This gave an idea about the number of DA persons with their location. Subsequently, picking points were selected from where vehicles were supposed to pick up the DA persons. So that they may not have to walk or travel at their own. Adequate volunteers were arranged for smooth management of the camps. As done in Ganjam it was decided to give unique identification number to all DA persons so that proper database can be maintained for future reference. For the first time services like SGSY and IAY were offered. Even though 3% of it is reserved for DA but they hardly get their due share unless special efforts are being taken. Proper planning was made to provide following services to the eligible beneficiaries.

• Disability certificate

• Bus concession and Rail concession
• Disability Pension under MBPY
• SGSY Individual loan to all the willing candidates who are wanting to start small enterprises for their livelihood security
• IAY house to all the eligible candidates
• DRI loans from Banks
• SHG groups to be formed of more than five DA persons from one village/GP
• Enlisting for vocational Training by VRC and Aide et Action

Finally the camp was being organized successfully in 13 of the 14 blocks till date attended by thousands of DA persons giving the administration opportunity to provide them services at their doorsteps. The whole exercise was very satisfying.

Report of Samarthya Sibir

Registration : 7954
Disability Certificates issued : 2526
Bus concession issued : 2578
Rail concession issued : 1545
DRI loans : 131
SGSY (Individual) : 335
IAY : 506
MBPY (Disability Pensions) : 2100
Vocational Training (VRC) : 1016
Vocational Training (Aide et Action) : 381
SHG groups of DA formed : 242

Samarthya Sibir at Lamataput

Tele-Monitoring of Schools started in Koraput

2010-12-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

After the enactment of Right to Education it has become the obligation of all stake holders to see that all school going aged children attend the schools and all concern become sensitive enough to respond to this imminent need. In order to prepare itself the administration has taken few steps to have effective monitoring and supervision of all schools in the district. Apart form the Rapid Monitoring System, each CRCC and BRCC is suppose to visit minimum 10 schools each every month. Following new initiaves are added to the already focused monitoring.

Tele-monitoring of schools is started whereby a database of mobile numbers of all the teachers is prepared and teachers in around 20 schools are being called everyday in order to assess his/her whereabouts. Questions are being asked about number of teachers present in the school, class wise students attendance, MDM etc. After the conversation with the teachers the mobile is asked to hand over to a student and the facts narrated by teacher are being verified from the student. Other questions pertaining to use to toilet, drinking water facility and hand washing are also being asked to the students.

With all its drawback this monitoring is likely to have some impact. The calls are generally made around 10:30 am , around 1:30 pm and 4 pm.

one small step in the direction to create awareness about the responsibility of parents towards education of their children on pilot basis a decision is being taken that BPL rice of the family will be withheld if they do not send their children to the school. This pilot initiative is being started from today i.e. 9^th December taking all PRI members into confidence and with adequate awareness in Suku GP of Koraput Block.

Social Audit for ICDS services in Koraput

2010-12-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

There is no second opinion that ICDS services assumes very important role in the welfare of women and children with respect to reducing malnourishment and overall improvement in the health related indicators. In order to strengthen these services the Koraput district administration has started Social Audit in ICDS on pilot basis in 14 Panchayats of the District.

Methodology adopted for Social Audit

One Panchayat is selected randomly for the social audit covering all AWCs in the selected GP.
The initiative is being implemented through SHGs and their federations.
In every block two vocal, educated federation members are selected who can communicate to the rural womenfolk in their own language. A team is thus formed at Block level comprising two Federation members, one Community organizer and a Supervisor.
Apart from this team a nodal SHG is identified in the village where AWC is located.
All the Block level teams are being trained at District level and all nodal SHGs are being given orientation at block level.
The methodology used was very simple and assessment of the function of the ICDS center was done using pictorial method to make it more interesting and reduce all type of biases. Each service delivery was divided into three part i.e. good , average and poor. Accordingly every women present was suppose to stick a bindi in front of the services in the color box which represented good , average and poor performance.
In the beginning of every Social Audit all the womenfolk were briefed about the ICDS services which are being given through AWC in their locality . simultaneously, all their doubts and questions were answered by the team. After this exercise they were asked to access the performance of their center and stick a bindi as per their assessment of the service.

The whole process generated lot of enthusiasm. The audit is complete for all the 14 GPs and the data is being analyzed. After accessing the performance the same will be replicated with some modifications notices during the process.

Visit of Prof Abhjit Sen, Hon Member Planning Commission to Koraput

2010-10-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

             Three member Planning Commission team lead by Prof Abhjit Sen with Dr L.P. Sanker , Senior Advisor and Dr Indu Patnaik Deputy Advisor as member visited Koraput on 19th oct. The visit of the team was on the background of Collera outbreak in Rayagada. The focus of the visit was accessing the preparedness and handling of epidemic situation, water and sanitation scenario and also to access the implementation of flagship programes like MGNREGA.
              On way to Pottangi the Team first visited EMRS (Ekalavya Model Residential School), Punger .The Team visited to CHC, Pottangi observed the health infrastructure interacted with Dr. Kar, Medical Officer In charge and other staff. They also wanted to know about the mode of referral service of worst cases from CHC to other referral centers. The MO explained the team about the functioning of MHU, preparedness done in advance to tackle the outbreak of malaria, anthrax and diarrhoea in the CHC area along with the response of the health administration and periodical reviews. The team advised the MO to display the list of the medicine available on the given day for the information of the general public.
              Subsequently the team left for Maliput GP and visited a PDS shop run by a SHG. They interacted with SHG members, PEO and general public about the PDS distribution. They also visited the Sub Centre in the village and interacted with the ANM and villagers on all aspects of health services. Then the team happen to visit the village Podapadar under Pottangi block interacted with the labourers working on Podapadar to Bariameta road work under MGNREGA. They made enquiries about the wage payment and other issues pertaining to MGNREGA. They also visited the working watershed in Podapadar and interacted with Watershed Committee. They found to be satisfied with the awareness level of the villagers and the work done by PD, Watershed.
                   In the evening a brief presentation was made before the team giving greater scope for interaction. The preparedness of the district for epidemics was explained giving detail about the initiatives taken in the field of health at District level. Following main interventions were highlighted before the team for action at the PC level.
1.   The District should be included in the Left Wing Extremist affected districts.
2. Being a nerve center of South Orissa a Medical College shall be established at Koraput
3. Special focus for recruiting the Tribals in Army , Navy, IAF and Para military forces shall be given
4. The vacant posts of Doctors and Para medics shall be filled up without further delay
5. Residential Education complexes on the Model of EMRS in each block of the district shall be established for imparting quality education to the tribals
6. Special emphasis on the cultivation of Coffee and spices shall be given in Koraput with processing facility and independent office of Spices Board to start in Koraput, a Cashew Research Center shall also be established in Koraput for supporting the potential in the District
7. Special emphasis on connectivity and maintenance of roads in the vast district shall be given.

The appreciated these genuine demands and promised to take them up to the logical conclusions. Next day i.e. on 20th the team left for Rayagada.

Epidemic management in Koraput- A successful approach

2010-09-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

Koraput along with other KBK districts is highly prone to diseases like diarrhea, Malaria and Anthrax. Every year many people die due to these diseases and sometimes it takes the form of epidemic. Main reasons for the spreading of these diseases is use of contaminated water for consumption, faulty food habits due to lack of food security, unhygienic and uncleanly environment along with marshy and muddy villages and lack of awareness about the diseases. Small outbreak sometimes takes the shape of epidemic due to lack of proper medical care and inaccessibility of the locations.

Keeping these facts into mind a timely preparation was done in the district to create awareness from the month of May. Meetings of Asha and Anganwadi workers along with PRI members was organized in all the blocks with district level officers attending the meetings to encourage and access the preparedness of the block for the monsoon period. I have myself attended the meetings in Laxmipur, Dasmantpur and Narayanpatna Block which are infamous for Anthrax and diarrhea. Role of Asha , AWW and ANM along with the responsibility of GKS was clearly highlighted and the tasks were divided. The availability of drugs was reviewed since beginning for all sub centers and PHC/CHCs. Second focus was given on IRS campaign i.e. Individual Residual Spraying of DDT in the first round. It was done in a campaign mode involving NGOs, Watershed committees and all PRI members. Efforts were made to make the action plan for IRS known to everybody so that anyone can check the effectiveness of the spraying. One independent monitor was engaged along with district machinery to have effective supervision. This proved to be phenomenal success and the spraying was as high as 80% for the block like Boipariguda. The field staff including the spraying supervisor, MO, MTS took lots of pain to make this endeavor success. Since IRS is the most effective tool in the prevention of malaria it made huge impact.

For taking message to every home a small film was made in Deshia bhasa on diarrhea, Maleria and Anthrax to drive the message in every tribal house in the district. This film was displayed in all tribal HATs, where almost all tribal pay visits. As a part of this drive a health coordinator and associate health coordinator was selected in every SSD school in advance before the launch of School Health Programe and they were trained in administering drugs for diarrhea and Maleria. A successful effort was made to conduct the health check of all the students in these institutions in the month of July ensuring availability of drugs in every school.

Finally, the effective response mechanism was put in place and regular review was done every fortnightly in the MIS cum Nodal meetings at GP, Block and District level making the attendance of Health officials compulsory in these meetings. This helped in getting the information about number of defunct tube wells, availability of drugs, analysis of death cases and response therein. The Citizen TOLLFREE helpline helped in getting some crucial information on time. Lastly, when the outbreak was detected at Pipalpadar in Laxmipur and Bandamaliguda in koraput block the rank and file of the administration jumped to ensure that the casualties are minimized and necessary steps are taken without delay.

It was a collective effort and the credit shall go to all the ASHAs, AWWs , PRIs and the Medical Establishment ; particularly the dynamic medical officers who took it a challenge to keep the figure all time low. I fully extend my gratitude and thanks to all off them.

TASK FORCE FORMED FOR IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION STANDARD

2010-09-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

In order to accommodate opinion and views from all quarters for the all round improvement of quality of education a Task force is being formed under the Chairmanship of Collector with D.I. of Schools, DPC, C. I. of Schools, Two no of BRCCs, Two no of CRCCs, Resource Persons from District Resource pool, representatives of teachers and teacher unions as members. Person from other quarters may also be invited as special invitee as and when need arises. Meeting of the Task Force is scheduled to be held at 3 PM on the first date of every month. Till now two meetings have already been taken place and many issues have been discussed. Basing on the suggestions of the Task Force a detail guideline is being issued to all schools for proper management of schools.Issues like absenteeism among teachers, proper supervision, utilisation of SIG have been discussed and directions have been issued based on the deliberations.

Engagement of Vehicles by SHG Federations for distribution of SNP and MDM

2010-08-20T04:44:00.000-07:00

SHGs and SHG Federations have come a long way after the initiation of Mission Shakti programme by Government of Orissa in 2004. Today they are forced to be reckoned in Koraput District. As an important step in the direction of sustainable income generation activity, adding a great value to the existing Government programmes, Four Block Federations of Koraput district will purchase vehicles and engage them in distribution of SNP and MDM programme.

Main facets of the activities are as follows:

• Two times in the recent past 3 months, stocks of India mix which is supplied for SNP in Koraput district have been seized while being diverted and black marketed in the open market, which raises serious concern about the role of private transporting agencies engaged in supplying these food stuffs at the door steps.

• 10 of the 14 Block Federations in Koraput are vibrant and have got involvement into many important income generating activities like collection of cashew nuts, Haldi (Tamarind), processing of dals etc. It was decided in the District Advisory Committee meetings of Federations to assign the responsibility of distribution of SNP / MDM food stuffs to the SHG Federations.

• Main benefit of the programme will be community involvement and collective supervision in stead of only a profit motive behind the activity.

• It will also give training to the SHGs and Federations in carrying out income generations activities, managing resources and will give confidence to venture into many new areas, which will give new dimensions to the community empowerment and eradication of poverty, especially in this backward and thickly tribal populated district.

• With these objectives, four vehicles will be purchased for Jeypore, Koraput, Borigumma and Kotpad blocks by concerned Mission Shakti Federations and will be engaged in the respective blocks for SNP and MDM programmes.

RAPID MONITORING SYSTEM IN KORAUT DISTRICT

2010-08-20T04:39:00.000-07:00

It is a innovative intervention launched by the Koraput District Administration in order to have effective supervision/monitoring and feed back pertaining to important services like Health, Education, MGNREGA, Public Distribution System & ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) activities. The main facets of the programme are as follows.

• It is launched as a Pilot initiative with the support of UNICEF.

• Two squads will be formed comprising two persons, a district level Officer and an independent Monitor provided by UNICEF. The squad will start in the morning and go to the randomly selected Gram Panchayat on a given day, visit the Gram Panchayat Office first and then visit all villages in the Gram Panchayat. They will assess and observe whether the School, Anganwadi Centre are functioning smoothly, people are getting PDS in time, ANM/ Anganwadi Workers are staying at Headquarters, whether MGNREGA work is on and the people are getting labour payments in time. They will note down these aspects for every villages in the proforma given to them. They are also supposed to discuss about the delivery of services rendered by government machinery with the villagers.

• Since the Gram Panchayats will be selected randomly, there will be a surprise element involved, it is expected that this assessment will give a real picture regarding delivery of services to common people in remote pockets.

• The findings will be acted upon immediately and will be discussed in the Nodal meetings at Block and District level. Data base will be maintained by the DPMU and a comparative and comprehensive analysis will be made and will be shared with all concerned.

• This monitoring system is based on the brief successful experiment done by the District Administration few months back.

Loan mela to be organised on 10th August at all Block points

2010-07-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Even after much emphasis on financial inclusion and spread of SHGs very small percentage of the population is able to avail the facilities of the banks. In order to take the financial services to the door steps of the people the administration has decided to organise " Loan , recovery and Saving Mela" at every block point and at more than one place in the bigger Blocks. The focus will be to target the farmers who have not yet availed crop loans even for the first time, the SHG groups who are eligible but have not been able to get the linkage from Banks and the budding entrepreneurs who would like to avail the loans. Every VAWs have been asked to identify minimum 20 farmers in their area who have not availed the crop loans, similarly all other functionaries have been involved. The SHGs will be identified by Mission Shakti Federations. Elaborate preparations are being made to make this endeavour a success.

Citizen Helpline started in Koraput

2010-07-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

In order to reach the voice of the people to Administration and to initiate immediate action in the matter of urgent pressing problem the administration has started a emergency helpline with the number 06852-1077.

It is a toll free number and any citizen of Koraput district can lodge complaint if he/she has any grievance related to MGNREGA, School, Anganwadi, PDS, Pension Scheme, Health issues between 8 am in the morning to 8 pm in the evening. The grievances are immediately passed on to the concern officials and are being reviewed regularly at the level of Collector. The helpline can also be used to call ambulance, fire services etc

career counselling of tribal candidates passed out from SSD high-school

2010-07-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

As we all know it is essential that all the students need to decide about their career well in advance to succeed in this competitive world. As a small step in this direction district administartion has started career counselling of 10th passed out tribal candidates from this year in collaboration with Aid-at-Action. the objective is to sensitise and inform them about various career option available after 10th , 12th and graduation.They were informed about the educational qualification required and collages, competitive exams, entrance examinations for various career options like Engineering, Medical, IAS, OAS, Journalism, armed forces, police forces and information technology, banks etc. This is the begining and every high school will have a couselling coordinater who will have all the information about various career options. There is a proposal for starting a Resourse Center at district level which will have reading facility, library and will also provide capsule form of coaching for IIT-JEE, JME, Civil services and OAS exam.The counselling was successfully conducted on 14th,15th and 16th july at Koraput, Jeypore and Laxmipur.

Mo jami Mo Bagicha campaign

2010-07-07T00:19:00.000-07:00

The District Administration Koraput has launched " Mo Jami Mo Bagicha" campaign under MGNREGA. Under this all the beneficiaries of Forest Right Act (2006) were given option to give consent for plantation on the land. The preparation was made well in advance at the time of collection of forms for farm pond under Mo Pokhari scheme. We have got overwhelming response and around 3500 beneficiaries have given consent for the plantation. so from 12th july the plantation will be starting and we shall be planting cashew, mango and other horticulture varieties on these lands. Along with the plantation we shall also take up the land development of these lands. The maintainance is inbuild in the scheme, BDOs will do the plantation and the same will be handed over to Soil conservation department for maintaiance for two years. This package of Distribution of Patta, land development and plantation shall ensure the secured income to tribals within the span of 3/4 years. The campaign is also open for non forest right land holder for which also we have received around 4000 applications