Floods displace thousands in Orissa

Floods triggered by a huge discharge of water from the Hirakud dam have displaced about 3,800 people and damaged at least 8,000 houses in 14 of Orissa's 30 districts, an official said today.

The state flood control room here said the villagers moved to safer places from low-lying areas of Bargarh, Boudh, Deogarh, Jajpur, Nuapada and Sambalpur districts after water entered their houses.

"They have been provided with emergency food assistance," said a control room official.

Due to heavy rains in the upper catchment areas in the past several days, including in Chhattisgarh, a huge quantity of water is entering the Hirakud reservoir on the river Mahanadi in Sambalpur district, about 350 km from Bhubaneswar.

As a result, the dam authorities had to release the excess water by opening 59 of the dam's 64 sluice gates. The inflow of water to the Hirakud Dam was 11.05 cusecs per second and outflow was 9.73 cusecs Friday evening, the official said.

While the released water have already created havoc in several places, more people are likely to face the brunt in the next two days when the water will reach more downstream areas, the official added.

"Flood water up to 13-14 lakh cusecs is apprehended at Munduli in Cuttack district by 3 pm Saturday against pick flood level of 15.82 cusecs recorded in 2008. Floods may take one more day to reach coastal districts," he said.

"So far 1,437 villages of 34 blocks and eight urban local bodies area in 14 districts have been affected by the current floods," he added.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the government was "closely monitoring" the situation.

"The district administrations are fully geared up to meet any eventualities. Food materials have been stocked in vulnerable places," he told reporters after reviewing the situation at the secretariat.

The government has asked the collectors of all the vulnerable districts located along the Mahanadi river and its tributaries to remain alert and evacuate more people from the low-lying areas if necessary, Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mohapatra said.

Chinese language to be introduced in Sindh schools

The government in Pakistan's Sindh province has decided to make the Chinese language a compulsory subject in schools from 2013, sparking a debate in the educational and political circles over the reasons behind such a move.

The decision was taken at a high level meeting yesterday presided over by Chief Minister of Sindh province Qaim Ali Shah, an official statement said.

According to the announcement, Chinese language will be a compulsory subject from class six in all educational institutions, including the Cadet college of Petaro from the 2013 session.

Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq said the decision was taken keeping in mind the close ties with China and its growing role as a economic giant in the world.

"Our trade, educational and other relations are growing with China everyday and now it is necessary for our younger generation to have command over their language,? Mazhar said.

He pointed out this move would reap benefits in the longer run for Pakistan.

But the move drew a mixed reaction in education circles although the Vice Chancellor of the Karachi University Dr Peerzada Qasim supported the decision.

"China is not only a very close friend of Pakistan but also a major player in the global economy whose role will further strengthen in the future," he said.

But many termed it as a political decision and said that educational institutions lacked qualified teachers in the Chinese language and also the resources to implement the course.

Ather Mirza, the president of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association, said it was a move by the political leadership to gain points with China and gain financial benefits from them.

He said the introduction of the Chinese language would put an additional burden on parents but also on students who were already made to learn three languages, English, Urdu and Sindhi as compulsory subjects.

Another educationist said the government decision came out of the blue as it was not discussed or debated in recent meetings of the education department with the Chief Minister or education minister.

It is reported that President Zardari's daughter Aseefa Bhutto has been planning to study Chinese in China after graduating from college.

Sources said that the provincial government also decided to award scholarships to educated people of Sindh for learning Chinese language from educational institutions in China.

Mukesh Ambani's dream house 'Antilla' in trouble

Mukesh Ambani's 27-storey skyscraper,ultra luxury home that is worth nearly $ 2 billion in Antilla, may land in fresh trouble as the Maharashtra government is thinking of handing over the building's land dispute case to the CBI.

About eight months ago, the Centre advised the state government to let the agency investigate allegations that Ambani bought Wakf land, which is not permissible under law.The original owner, Karimbhai Ibrahimbhai Khoja Orphanage, a charitable trust, sold the land to Ambani's Antilla Commercial Private Limited in July 2002 for Rs21.5 crore much less than the prevailing market rate.

This Waqf land deal has sparked rows earlier, too. In 2007, then minority affairs minister Anish Ahmed had mentioned a number of irregularities in the sale of the land and had asked the Maharashtra State Waqf Board to take back the plot. However, in a curious development, while the minister kept claiming the sale was illegal, then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said there were no irregularities in the deal.

Incidentally, Ambani has still not started living in Antillia.

Government has difficulty to provide houses to mill workers

 Providing accommodation to mill workers, the state government is now contemplating to give cash instead of houses to them.

With only 20,000 houses can be constructed on the acquired land, the government is finding it difficult to provide housing to 1.5 lakh mill workers.

After the Shiv-Sena and the MNS joined hands to corner the government on the issue, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday called a meeting to explore other options to solve the problem. Senior ministers said they should not buckle under the Shiv Sena and MNS pressure on mill workers demand for houses which was impractical and instead insist on handing over cash to justify every body.

A senior cabinet minister said.“The only option before the government is to acquire the mill land and sell it so that the money raised will be distributed among the mill workers.”

As per the policy decision taken by the successive governments for the last 15 years, one-third of the mill land was to be reserved for construction of houses for the workers. However, successive CMs amended the rules. At the end, it was decided that a mill worker has every right to demand house on the mill premises.

Resettling them in the distant suburbs would embolden other industries, which have been shut, to make similar demands from the government.

NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal said, “The government is committed to the promise made to the mill workers. But the bigger challenge is how to accommodate all 1.5 lakh workers. Some solution, which would be acceptable to the mill workers union and families, has to be worked out mutually.”

The formula, which is being worked out, is to acquire one-third land from the mill workers and sell it at the commercial rate to private sector.

The funds collected would be divided among the 1.5 lakh mill workers. According to rough estimates, each mill worker would get around Rs6 to Rs8 lakh.