KIIT FEST

Hi KIIT ians, very best wishes for a grand success of KIIT FEST 2016. KIIT FEST not only should set the standards of “young organization” to show case the inherent talent of student community of India; but, it must also look at transforming the entire locality of “C.Spur” as the KIIT TOWNSHIP just like its counterparts like OXFORD in Britain and HARVARD in Boston in USA. While, I wish KIITians during the fest must enjoy to the full while displaying their Engineering, Management and Leadership Skills and other entertainment domains; they should and must also think about how to deploy their “Knowledge & Skills” for the benefit of society by solving real problems of the day. Therefore, I would urge KIITians to think about “ADOPTING” the Chandrashekharpur residential area in their out reach program so as to Transform the Area into a Global Standard “KIIT UNIVERSITY TOWNSHIP”.     

I would rather plead with the 25000 student’s community of KIIT to take leadership of their locality and identify the problems, find solution, generate resources and implement their plans to Transform the area of Chandrashekharpur as no one would have expected, ever. The Founder of KIIT and KIIS has been admired Globally and brought laurels for the country. Now, it is about time the Students of KIIT to show case if they belong to the same “enterprising” DNA as their Founder Shri Achyuta Samanta.  

What KIITians could do for the locality?

While taking the walk in the morning on the main road of KIIT, the stanching smell from thriving business would greet you at first and garbage dump littered in the area which is far cry from well architecture buildings of KIIT University. Why the young students should suffer such an environment; instead of taking the challenge and finding solution which will help them to hone their knowledge & skills and validate their readiness for taking bigger responsibility in life- at the work place and Family. The outcome of such effort of KIIT students would also project a “can do” image with the recruiters.

1. First is awareness

Can 25,000 students take an initiative to create awareness among people?—residences and business establishments to maintain cleanliness and hygiene for our own health and advancement?

         When you direct your mind to solve a big problem; then, your mind would come up with new Ideas and you will find source of new knowledge & skill and when you do this in a group, you shall create a revolution. In India we do not have a tradition or precedent among student community to “Identify Problems” and Research for Solutions in recent times. Therefore, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Face Book and Twitter are all Western Inventions and we are only consumers of Global products and services. Shall we change this? KIITians will decide. In this project of creating awareness about cleanliness, health & hygiene so many KIIT Schools competency could be tested. Like Communication, Content generations, Volunteers recruitment and training—spanning Engineering, Medical, Management, Fine Art and others.

2. Second is to maintain cleanliness in the locality

Charity begins at home and therefore students have to first maintain the cleanliness of their hostel room and wash area and also share “Gyan” to residents and business establishments. Here, students would face challenges from the Old Habit of people and Public authorities like BMC and BDA. You have to find new methods and tools to persuade the Civic Authorities to do their job 100% perfectly, Campaign to convince residents to convert their Organic Wastes into Compost for use in the garden as manure---and, that would reduce the quantum of Solid Waste by 50% and therefore less work for our Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation which has become complacent after becoming Numero Uno in the SMART City competition.

3. Water Conservation

 “Water is life and life is water” KIITians should also consider doing advocacy on water conservation in their operational area of C.S.Pur. That should include among other things, persuade people/residents/business/apartment complexes to go for Rain Water Harvesting System that would over a period of time could raise water table and support better quality green cover. KIITians with their engineering skills could design and execute Rain Water Harvesting Structure for Residents and Apartment Complexes at a reasonable cost, the surplus generated out of such activities would help the student’s body to spread their wings in its outreach program. The objective here should be to convert the entire area Rain Water harvesting Compliant.

4. Green Cover

KiiTians could also consider improving the green cover in the locality. They could raise volunteers and go for massive plantation in the locality so much so that Bird species would like to inhabit the place and create a conducive environment with their chirping sounds for education and research in the KIIT TOWNSHIP.

5. Solar Energy

Kiitians also could choose to promote Solar Energy by persuading people to use Roof Top Solar Panels for their captive energy needs. That should give an opportunity to KIIT Engineering students to go for R&D to develop world class photovoltaic cells to offer cost effective solution to people in the area and to become the role model all over the country.

Friends, if you like this proposal please share this with the KIITians in the beginning and end of your KIIT FEST to see their response. I wish to see an Arch at Kalinga Hospital Square that reads “Welcome to KIIT UNIVESITY TOWSHIP”.

Cheers.

Bikash Chudhury

Socio-Economic-Political Activist

Email: streben.market@gmail.com Mobile: 9853426657  

Real Estate Sector Need Encouragement for Faster GDP Growth in Short Run

1. I propose a scheme to develop 546 District Secretariat at Dist. HQ to accommodate all district Offices of State/Central Government to bring synergy and easier coordination.

2. District Secretariat could be planned for 1 Lakh Sq. Ft each in respective 546 Districts in the country.

3. Land could be provided by the State Government Free of Cost; and Private Real Estate Players could be selected on E-Tender on BoT basis with Lucrative EMI Options to be payed by Central & State Govt on a ratio of 75:25. Further, offer could be made attractive enough with arrangement with Banks by secularization of receivables/soft loans.

4.Government of India could make this announcement along with this years buget speech or separately for boosting the Capital Market with inflow of FII & FDI.

5. With Activity in Real Estate Sector other sectors like Manufacturing and Services could be attract Investment and Growth.

Hope Niti Aayog Consider this proposal on its Merit and advise the Goverment in a suitable manner.

Indian Growth Model

Bikash Choudhury

We have all heard the oft repeated quote ‘marriages are made in the heaven while Mullahs make money’ one more identical quote could be proffered now ‘Traders make a killing while Farmers give up their lives’. To be precise 1.2 million farmers gave up their lives in last one decade on account of repeated farm failure and growing loan burden on their shoulder. If we look back into the pages of history; India was rich and famous with its Agri, Agro and Forestry while it had gone places in Art, Architecture, Literature and culture. All our World Class monuments like Konark to Taj Mahal, Khajurao to Red Fort and Globally acclaimed Educational portal—Nalanda was created from the income of an agrarian economy for say 1500 years. If it is so then why our farmers have to kill themselves brutally for not being able to support themselves and their family from the income generated out of Agriculture? Since, the first generation of reforms of 1991; our politicians, economist and arm chair intellectuals in the living room constantly argue about a need for an appropriate Growth Model; however, we have not come to a conclusion yet. And, many commentators are looking at Infrastructure led model of USA, Technology Innovation Model of Japan and Manufacturing sponsored Growth Model of China & South Korea. Keeping in view of the fast changing climatic condition in the planet and growing human population, India should and must adopt the “Agrarian Growth Model” for faster & sustainable development of the country. Further, incase of India over 70 % population live in rural areas and since, all most all farm lands are located in rural areas; Agrarian Growth Model would be able to touch and influence the lives of maximum people in the country. With improved and growing farm income in rural areas there would be demand for good quality education and healthcare which can be provided by private sector at a price and with profit which would improve the investment climate in rural areas which would open the flood gate for innovation and entrepreneurship in the areas of post harvest care of farm produce, its storage, processing and market linkages while creating employment opportunity through creation of adequate numbers of non-farm jobs cementing an eco-system that could attract investments from cities and towns in to allied farming activities which in itself give impetus to growth across the economy. Having argued enough in favor of ‘Agrarian Growth Model’, can we leave behind other two important drivers of our economy- manufacturing and infrastructure, never. GoI and a few State governments have already taken series of initiatives in these two sectors like ‘Make in India & Digital India’ for manufacturing and concerted efforts for expansion & speed in Road and Rail sector that would soon capture the attention of domestic private sector and foreign investors. However, the Government initiatives in Farm Sectors are constrained by easy credit, farm subsidy, and support price mechanism until recently; Prime Minister has now announced an extensive “Farm Insurance” scheme that would certainly come to the rescue of our farming community; however, those could not take the place of a growing need for a Structural Change in our Agrarian Economy that deals with entire gamut of issue pertaining to our current approach to farming, its processing and distribution. Farmer suicides are just the symptom of non-remunerative farming in the country; the principal disease is much more catastrophic and dangerous--- that is falling Nutrient Content in our Farm Lands with indiscriminate use of synthetic fertilizer and pesticides which again creating a very high cost Agri-Economy that has turned toxic with increasingly unpredictable Climate Change Phenomena and paucity of Irrigation Infrastructure. We now have to examine seriously and junk the current model agriculture and return to our Natural Method of Agriculture which is low cost and sustainable; apart from that it would produce Healthy Food Products without contamination of toxic fertilizer or pesticides. It is also expected to attract optimum valuation for mass produced organic food products with growing Global Health Awareness. It is quite easier said than done. But, if we consciously choose the “Agrarian Model of Growth” for our country; then, we could walk an extra mile to make it happen. GoI and respective State Governments have to make a concerted effort on Agriculture Extension program to create awareness among our farming community on Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) that uses locally available farm inputs from seeds, manure and pest control materials which are effective and low cost. It is important now to concede that it is next to impossible for the Government to provide 100% Irrigation Infrastructure for our farms; however, it is possible to conserve maximum possible rain water through a ‘popular public movement for rain water harvesting’; with improvement in water table the productivity of our Agriculture sector would grow substantively with minimum cost. Government could also encourage Co-operatives large scale farming and corporate farming through suitable incentives; Government also needs to attract private investments in Food Storage and Food Processing Industry that should kill the Farm Wastages from food to plate. GoI has announced a Village Cluster Policy for rural areas which need to be extended to private sector with fiscal incentive or suitable prescription in the CSR policy of the Government. Private sector investments in the Farm Sector of our country would multiply the top line and bottom line of corporate sector and trade. This would be a very challenging exercise for the Union Government as Agriculture remains a State subject which would require a proactive collaboration between State & Central Govt. apart from co-operation of all Political Parties inside and outside parliament.

E-mail:streben.market@gmail.com, Mobile: 9853426657 Address: Plot # 3309 Adarsha Vihar Lane-2 Patia, Bhubaneswar Odisha, INDIA-751024 

                 

ART AND HOME INTERIOR

                                                             Bikash Choudhury

Odisha has remained the heavenly abode for Art, Craft and Architecture those are showcased abundantly in its temples and ubiquitous craft items that emanates from different corners of Odisha. In recent times interior decorations have eclipsed its presence in the contemporary fast paced life styles of metro-sexual living beings. While SMART Interiors brings convenience, utility and comfort inside our homes; the much needed embellishment of Art and Installations add the soul to a home that bring a few tired bodies and exhausted minds to live inside the confinements of four walls that is called sweet home; as art adds the fourth dimension to an environment which most of the time able to cool down the frayed nerves of a person at the fag end of a busy day just like a soul full music instantly connects with the inner being at a subconscious level. As we more often live from suitcase and hardly have time to spend with nature which is rejuvenating and meditative; alternatively, we can embellish our bed room walls with suitable art work on nature complete with sunshine, flowing water, thick foliages and people with cheerful demeanor starting their day; that would have a very soothing impact on the body and mind as we leave our bed. Because, the mind fresh from sleep would capture the positive vibrations of art work not just its colors and would create a feeling of contentment inside and that would linger through out the day. Again, while going for your morning ablution to the wash basin if eyes were treated with Small Art Work on vibrant and very colorful flowers then again your mind would be imbued with freshness, which flowers always stands for. Again, while sharing a cup of steaming tea with your spouse in your dinning area if you had a look on a Art Work depicting some ecstatic children at play; then, that would fill your heart with love for your kids who would have already left for the school. Further, while leaving for work, one glance on the art works with myriads of colors in the walls of living room would certainly uncork the stream of creativity in the start of a day full of appointments, tough negotiations and hard decisions.

                                                          But, it is very important for an individual to consult an expert while choosing art work for home or office; or else you could also rely on your instinct by examining the impact of Art work and its colors on your mind. If you carefully observe some Art Work would definitely start a conversation or you would be able to relate and feel happy spending time with it. The size of the Art Work would also matter while selecting for the different empty walls of your home. It would be ideal to go for a proportionate size of Art Work relative to the size of the wall you wish to decorate with.

                                                 The capital city of Bhubaneswar has seen a spurt of activity in the Art World as dime a dozen solo art exhibitions are screened in regular interval; prominent and much talked about art shows were conducted by Kumari Sonia titled Abyakta that dealt with  unexpressed emotions, thoughts and images of a hearing impaired girl with powerful brush strokes with equally provocative colors that would bring excitement and joy at the same time; and the other powerful art show belong to Sushmita Sahoo titled Puri: Era and Aura who has taken enormous courage to depict important images and events of Puri the seat of Jagatara Natha-Jagannath on water colors. Water color is the first love of the lady artist Ms. Sahoo and she plans to continue with this series for a few more years to cover rich repertoire of Puri and Jagannath culture. A lot of new Art Galleries have opened their doors for increasingly aesthetic conscious and upwardly mobile denizens. Biju Patnaik International Airport has now earmarked a space for an Art Gallery to show case the art works of young and enterprising artist of Odisha free of cost and Ila Panda Centre of Art (IPCA) is soon going to be launched in the city with its treasure of over 600 paintings collected over decades. However, Orissa Modern Art Gallery remains the oldest (uninterrupted display of art work for over thirteen years) with round the year display of varied and diverse genres of Artists and even Art works. Bhubaneswarites now wish to make a fashion statement about their respective lifestyles through their private Art Collections. Unfortunately, Artist community in the country are in deep fear to express themselves fully, clearly and boldly because of compelling and competing political environment prevalent in the country which at times unleashes violence at the doors of an artist for any provocative or controversial piece of Art Work. It is imperative to have creative freedom to produce World Class Art Work that would be sinecure of the Global audience to preserve and protect our rich heritage of art and our ancient civilization.     

E-MAIL:streben.market@gmail.com/ forum4politicalunity@gmail.com MOBILE: 9853426657/7504106233 address: Plot No#3309 Adarsha Vihar Lane-2 Patia Bhubaneswar-751024           

Odisha Budget 2016-17 Suggestions

Revenue Mobilization:

1. All street vendors with permanent or semi permanent structures to be covered under Self Assessment Minimum Value Added Tax to increase the tax base. This measure would add popular grocery and textile stores and street vendors who currently do not pay tax at all.
2. Green Tax on consumption of Water and Pollution of Air by Industry & Trade; keeping in view the higher incidence of Climate Change Natural Calamities.
3. Educational Cess on all levies to fund the intractable problems of Contractual Teachers Salary.
4. Non-Tax Measure for Revenue Mobilization---Govt. could explore the possibility of raising funds from the rich & powerful citizens by auctioning the City Roads/ State High Ways for Naming/Branding.
5. Consider additional VAT for Luxury Goods and Negative Goods, VAT on Residential Rental Income.
6. Higher Professional Taxes on Individuals.

7.   Exploring the possibility of bringing Rich Private Higher Education into the   

      Tax Net.

Cutting Cost:

1. Govt. could reduce its administrative cost by outsourcing the requirement of Automobiles to new Technology enabled logistic companies like Ola/Uber.
2. Substantially reduce Project cost by deploying Project Management Technology through timely completion of projects.
3. Govt. could substantially invest in Training of its personnel in modern technology and management practices at All Levels to enhance efficiency and reduce overall cost of delivery of Public Services.

  Non-Tax Revenue:

1. Govt. could consider monetizing its unused assets after taking its proper inventory.
2. Govt. could organize all its Public Sector Under Takings into a suitable Holding Company under a Competent Business Leader like Nandan Nilekeni/Suresh Senapati to unleash RoI on expensive Public Investment and Growth in GSDP.

 Proposal:

1. To address deep distress in the Agriculture Sector; Govt. could consider multi prong strategy apart from low cost credit and augmentation of Irrigation. Govt. could earmark Rs.100 Crore for cluster development in Oil Seeds & Cereals. Govt. needs to attract Modern Corporate Farming Companies to the State for speedy development of Farm sector in the State.
2. Govt. could attract Automobile & Auto Component Companies into our port cities like Paradeep, Dhamara and Gopalpur with suitable and long term incentives just like Tamil Nadu which is now considered the Detroit of India. Keeping in view of growing Traffic Congestions and Climate change compliance; Odisha could give priority to two wheeler manufacturer targeting South Asian Market. 

How the Youth can be involved in the process of Nation Building?

1. Identification of Youth Leaders in High School/College/University through Problem Solving Method: Our country has suffered in the domain of Innovation and Leadership because our Youth do not give importance to the ‘Idea’ of problem solving; neither our Institutions offer opportunity to apply Learning in solving Real Life Problems in the society and in their immediate Habitat. Govt. could design a program around the idea of problem solving and identification of young leaders.

1. Program could be designed to Identify interested students of High School/College/University with Aptitude for Leadership; in each District Head Quarter of the country.
2. Program could allow the selected students to Identify a Pressing Problem in the Society and find solution for the same and execute the project. In this method we can address the problems relating Open defecation (Swachha Bharat), Water Conservation, Atrocities on Women, Generation of Green Cover through Plantation, Female Feticide and Pollution Control and many others respective to the habitat.
3. Such projects should be continued in a sustainable manner through successive student leaders till that nails the problem in its entirety.
4. With this method we can identify most effective young leaders through the outcome of projects, incrementally solve social problems in an organic manner and top of all generate public awareness about relevant issues and finally we open the doors for Innovation and Enterprise at a very little cost to the Public Exchequer.

2. Catalyst Youth Leaders for Governance: Our bureaucratic system was designed in the laboratory of British Empire for their own benefit and we have inherited that archaic system after our Independence without much modification. Therefore, the DNA of our bureaucracy is Imperial in nature and that is generally against Innovation-Excellence-Enterprise. We now need Young Catalyst to change the Imperial nature and Feudalistic Culture of our Bureaucracy without creating upheaval or rancor.
1. Govt. could design a program to select Young Leaders in age group of 25-35 yrs with Education, Experience with interest in Governance, Public Service and Activism.
2. Govt. should deploy such leaders for 2 years in a group of 3-5 from Prime Minister’s office to the office of District Magistrate with a mandate to optimize the Bureaucratic System with their Innovative Approach, Excellence in Execution and Entrepreneurial Mindset; that would rub off on our bureaucracy over a period of time.
3. After 2 years Govt. could retain those found suitable for bureaucracy, Facilitate those who are interested in Social/Business Enterprise and encourage those who wish to join Political Leadership.
4. With this method we can enhance the bench strength of Young Leadership.   

FOR A HAPPY MARRIED LIFE—RESPONSIBLE PARENTING

Bikash Choudhury

After one and half decade of completely blissful married life; I wish to share a few secrets of this venture for the uninitiated or those young men who are having a tough time in adjusting to sharing their god gifted life for once with another young woman. The secret numbers one; never ever criticize or speak any thing negative about your in-laws in front of your better half even if you are in the side of truth & reality. The secret number two; always appreciate the parents, siblings of your wife and even their old mongrel even if there were no merit or very little substance. The secret number three; praise the beauty of your sweet heart profusely with all the adjectives available in the Chamber’s English dictionary from hair down wards and give compliments to her culinary skills even though some times you find it hard to swallow the food from your throat downwards and feign innocence about lack of appetite or hunger with equal intensity. Fourth one is for those who have natural skills with English words in conveying ‘ideas’ full time or freelance; write some thing good about your father-in-law and make an attempt to get it published in a news paper central column; in fact this author now makes an attempt in this direction to confirm the arrangement of receiving unrequited love and gastronomic delight for the rest of the life. My father-in-law is a very intelligent person who pursued his passion in sports to a career of life time and therefore kicked the engineering education in the middle and joined the prestigious Laxmibai National College for Physical Education, Gwalior. He completed his post graduation from the institute with distinction and joined Kendriya Vidyalya, GoI as a sports teacher. In between he married an ambitious and academically oriented rich girl and they had four daughters and one son; all of whom are now very successful in their respective field. One outstanding aspects of his personality was his attitude towards his four daughters in a social environment of unnecessary desire and concern for a male child. He did not give into such predominant social bias against girl child and left no stone unturned to give a good life and education to all her daughters, prodded them to excel in life and enjoy life to the full; which has eventually turned her daughters into loving and confident professionals on their own right with ability to take decisions about their family independently which is now recognized and respected by their spouses. This could be the result of years of conditioning and dispassionate grooming by the old man of his daughters not any different from a son. The moral of the story remains; that, if you groom your daughters without any gender bias; then, you are actually developing a few self confident adults; responsible & mature citizens for the country. Women constitute almost fifty percent our population and if majority of them become productive; then, our country could straight away become an economic super power. It is now all depends on responsible parenting.            

E-MAIL:streben.market@gmail.com/ forum4politicalunity@gmail.com MOBILE: 9853426657/7504106233 address: Plot No#3309 Adarsha Vihar Lane-2 Patia Bhubaneswar-751024