Latest news with #Bhubaneswar
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Minister reviews drafting of PESA Act rules
B hubaneswar: Panchayati raj minister Rabi Narayan Naik on Wednesday reviewed the progress of drafting rules related to the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act. An extensive discussion was conducted in the meeting on various aspects of the necessary regulations for implementing the Act in the state. The minister reviewed all ancillary aspects of the regulations related to the PESA Act to be implemented in the state. Apart from the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department, there were detailed discussions on proposals from the ST and SC development department, revenue department, forest, and other departments. Reviewing the regulations currently at the draft stage, the minister instructed that the rights of the STs be kept central. He also stated that the govt is committed to ensuring their rights and dignity. Instructions were given to ensure that these regulations reflect the socio-economic development of the state's STs and their participation in the development process and democratic opinion. He expressed that the STs of the state long demanded this, and it will fulfil their hopes and aspirations.
The Guardian
06-07-2025
- The Guardian
From swim schools to eye clinics: how families of 7/7 victims used heartbreak to help others
In the city of Bhubaneswar, the capital of the north-east Indian state of Odisha, there is an eye clinic that has transformed the lives of thousands of children. Before the unit was established in 2008, according to its vice-chair, there was no dedicated children's eye care centre in the entire eastern part of India, a country home to 20% of the world's blind children. The clinic now sees about 3,000 children a month and performs 350 eye surgeries – a significant proportion of them at no cost to the often very poor families who need them. This is one of the legacies of Miriam Hyman, a 31-year-old picture researcher, amateur artist and keen dancer who was murdered in the London bombings of 7 July 2005, alongside 51 other commuters. Miriam was 'a very visual person', says her older sister Esther, and after her death, her family were determined that good would come from the terrible act of violence that claimed her life. With their compensation money and public donations, they funded the equipment needed to set up the Miriam Hyman Children's Eye Care Centre in Bhubaneswar. Thanks to its work, among other achievements, doctors have made significant steps towards eliminating one form of childhood blindness, retinopathy of prematurity, in the surrounding area. 'It makes our hearts happy to know that she's memorialised in that way,' says Esther Hyman. 'The centre is Miriam's living memorial. It's a place that benefits people, and that's very much the kind of person that Miriam was.' Twenty years after the attacks, the families of those who died are preparing to gather on Monday to mourn and remember those killed in the four suicide bombings on 7/7, three on London Underground trains and the fourth on a doubledecker bus. Alongside their profound sadness, however, many family members will also be able to point to acts of great positivity and hopefulness, large and small, that followed their loved ones' deaths. Among these little rays of light, scattered around the world, is a project in Belize that has taught thousands of children to swim. It was set up after 7/7 by the family of Fiona Stevenson, a solicitor originally from Cheshire who was killed in the explosion at Aldgate. Described by her family as a whirlwind of positivity and enthusiasm who loved to travel, Stevenson had recently returned from a working trip to the Central American country, where she had proudly gained her diving qualifications, but had also learned that many children in the country died by drowning because few had the chance to learn to swim. The charity was set up 'to try and find some positivity out of such a horrendous time for us', says her sister Andrea Watson. 'It gave us something to focus on, and we remembered how much Fiona loved Belize when she was there working. Although the break in our hearts will never be mended, it brought some comfort that those that gained a skill for life were gaining it in her name.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The scheme has also trained hundreds of young adults as lifeguards and swim instructors. By the side of a swimming pool in Belize City is a plaque and photo explaining more about the life of the woman whose quiet legacy may have been to prevent countless child deaths. On the other side of the world, meanwhile, a fund set up in memory of Michael Matsushita, who died at Russell Square, distributed funds between five children's orphanages in Cambodia and Vietnam. Matsushita, a New Yorker, was born in Vietnam and had recently moved to London to join his girlfriend, who, like him, worked as a tour guide for the firm Intrepid Travel. Other memorial projects are closer to home. On the day of the attacks, Great Ormond Street children's hospital treated adult casualties for the first time since the second world war; only later did those at the hospital learn that two of their own staff – Behnaz Mozakka, a biomedical officer, and Mala Trivadi, a radiographer – were among the dead. They are now remembered in a garden at the hospital where staff can find refuge from their busy shifts and long-term patients experience fresh air and tranquility. A substantial donation from the family and employers of Helen Jones, an accountant originally from Lockerbie, helped fund the opening of a children's unit at the Eden Valley hospice in Cumbria, which has since supported the families of many hundreds of sick babies and children. In memory of Benedetta Ciaccia, an Italian-born business analyst who worked in publishing, Birkbeck, University of London awards annual bursaries to students studying IT, the course from which Ciaccia had recently graduated. For all the manifest good these memorial projects do, they have not come without cost for family members who have been dealing with intensely personal losses. The first decade after Miriam's death was 'very effortful', says Esther Hyman, in establishing both the eye clinic and an educational resource, called Miriam's Vision, to help teachers explore issues of reconciliation. 'I now realise that in the first 10 years, I wasn't dealing with my emotions, I was suppressing my grief by channelling it into constructive efforts,' she says. After that milestone, she felt burnt out and had to step back for a while, spending several years overseas. 'I couldn't live the rest of my life in light of my sister's death. I had to find other channels, other ways of being that didn't concern Mim's death.' With the government reviewing the national curriculum, Esther and her mother, Mavis, are focused on campaigning to have the topic of social cohesion explicitly included. 'It's a pity that it falls to those who've been affected by a lack of social cohesion to speak up for social cohesion, but I think it's understandable. We don't want anybody else to go through what we've been through,' she says. Once that review ends, and with the clinic well established, they may reluctantly conclude that it is time to wind down the Miriam Hyman Memorial Trust 'with regret, and maybe with some relief', says Esther. 'We've done everything we can within our arms' reach. So there is a sense of satisfaction.' Other schemes continue, however. The family and employers of Philip Russell, 28, a financial manager who died in the bus bombing, funded a travel bursary in his memory at Kingston University, intended to enable students to make a difference in projects overseas. Gabriel Oyewole recently used a bursary to travel to Ghana where he worked as a mentor to students and developed his skills as a physiotherapist. The Russell family, he says, 'could have put the money into anything they wanted to, probably easier ventures, but they chose to help students that needed help, career-wise and personally. They probably changed, not just mine, but probably a lot of people's careers and personal life in doing that.' Philip's father, Grahame, who, with Philip's mother, Veronica, sat on the committee that awarded the grants, died recently. 'He was very proud to serve on that board for 20 years,' says Philip's sister Caroline Steadman. She will now take his place on the panel, continuing to support young people who are looking forward excitedly to their futures, just as her brother was two decades ago.
BBC News
28-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
India's cooling summer dish that costs less than a dollar
For centuries, the people of Odisha have turned to pakhala – a fermented rice dish – to beat the heat. Now it's gaining global attention. It was a scorching hot day in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha in eastern India. As the temperature soared, my university friends and I rushed to the cafeteria for the meal we looked forward to most in summer: a bowl of pakhala (water rice). Light and tangy, the dish gave us immediate relief from the oppressive heat. Two decades later, as I sit in my apartment in the dry heat of Riyadh, it remains my go-to comfort food in summer, especially after a long day in the sun. Pakhala is Odisha's unique summertime ritual. Also known as "poor man's gruel", the simple dish is made from leftover cooked rice soaked in water and fermented overnight in an earthen pot. It is usually mixed with yoghurt, tempered with mustard seeds, dried red chillies and curry leaves and served with a variety of sides such as mashed potatoes, sautéed green leafy vegetables and fried fish. Odias (people of Odisha) have consumed pakhala since ancient times since it's affordable and easy to prepare, yet nutritionally rich. "The earliest documented use of pakhala dates back to the 12th Century, when the dish was offered to Lord Jagannath (a Hindu deity worshipped in Odisha) at the Jagannath Temple in Puri," says Ritu Pattanaik, food historian and the author of the cookbook 259 Inherited Recipes of Odisha. "Even today, pakhala is one of the best foods to have when temperatures rise." Odisha has always been an agrarian society, and rice is a staple. "In the olden days, it was typical for women in the house to add water to leftover rice from lunch. There was no refrigerator at the time, so this prevented the rice from spoiling. In the morning, men ate this fermented rice and water before heading out to work in the fields. Pakhala gave them energy and helped them beat the afternoon heat." Central to pakhala's benefits is the slightly sour, probiotic-rich fermented water known as torani, which hydrates and protects the body against heat stroke. Once water and rice have undergone fermentation, torani becomes a rich source of lactic acid bacteria, which protect the stomach and intestines from infection and aid digestion. "However, the benefits of torani don't end there," adds Dr Balamurugan Ramadass, professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar. "In addition to probiotics, torani is a rich source of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. It also contains vitamin K, which [helps] heals wounds faster." He notes that torani delivers instant energy to an exhausted body, "which is why farmers consume one to two litres of it before going to work every day. An average person with a desk job can have two to three cups of torani daily and still benefit from this healing beverage." So trusted are torani's health benefits that India's National Disaster Management Authority advises people to drink it during heatwaves. In a country where extended summer heatwaves are becoming the norm, drinks like torani are increasingly seen as functional superfoods that both cool and nourish the body. "One of the simplest ways to increase your torani intake is to consume pakhala instead of plain rice or bread for lunch," says chef Abinas Nayak, winner of MasterChef India Season 6. He notes that pakhala is straightforward to prepare. "Take leftover cooked rice, pour water over it and leave it in an earthen pot to ferment overnight. Pakhala will be ready in the morning." Because of the humble ingredients and simple cooking method, a bowl of pakhala costs less than a dollar to buy – and significantly less to prepare at home. "In some ways, pakhala is the great equaliser in our society. It's accessible to and loved by everyone, regardless of class, income or background," says Nayak. Pakhala is deeply ingrained in Odisha's sociocultural fabric. It is common to eat a bowl before each new beginning, be it a new job, house or relationship. "At the end of every Odia wedding, the bride's mother feeds pakhala to her newlywed daughter and son-in-law to ensure that the marriage runs smoothly," says Pattanaik. Flask back to 2009 and my own wedding rituals: the fact that I had two pakhala kansas (bronze bowls) in my bridal trousseau suddenly makes sense. "Yes, your mother put those bowls to make sure your relationship with your husband was cool like pakhala," Pattanaik adds with a smile. For many Odias, pakhala is a nostalgic trip back to childhood. "In summertime, my mother would always have a bowl of pakhala and some mashed potatoes waiting for me when I got home from school," Nayak reminisces. "That was the meal I always cherished and still do now. It is the taste of home and comfort for me." Though once considered too basic or old-fashioned to feature on modern menus, pakhala is enjoying a revival. With the mercury rising year after year and Indians becoming more receptive to native foods, pakhala is becoming increasingly popular, especially during the hot spells of April and May. Every year, the pakhala craze begins in early March peaks on Pakhala Dibasa (Pakhala Day) on 20 March and continues until the last monsoon arrives in mid-June. This is when restaurants across Odisha begin serving elaborate pakhala platters with a variety of sides. The trend is spreading across India and the world, with home cooks and food bloggers regularly sharing pakhala images and videos on social media, and cooking contests featuring inventive twists on the dish. Pakhala gatherings have become commonplace across the globe, including the US, UK and the Middle East, where Odias like me congregate to savour this nostalgic meal that's inextricably linked to our identity. Nayak has helped popularise the dish on social media and by preparing sumptuous pakhala platters at national events. "By promoting Indigenous foods like pakhala, we are not only tapping into our rich culinary history but also rediscovering lost superfoods," he says. "People are now seeing value in how our forefathers ate and that makes me happy." Restaurants are capitalising on this growing trend by offering elaborate pakhala platters with side dishes such as alu bharta (spiced mashed potatoes), baigana bharta (mashed aubergine), tomato poda (smoked tomato), sukhua (dried salted fish), saga bhaja (sauteed greens) and badi chura (crushed sundried lentil dumplings served with a dash of mustard oil and garlic). More like this:• A local chef's favourite street food picks in Kolkata• Thunder tea rice: The 2,000-year-old healthy grain bowl• Everyday Healing Broth: A restorative soup made for cold season "These sides, however, are more than just add-ons; they are carefully selected for nutritional balance and texture. That's what makes them special," explains chef Alka Jena, who chronicles the history and recipes of Odia dishes on her food blog Culinary Xpress. "The fish provides protein, saga bhaja adds fibre and badi chura adds crunch and umami." "On a scorching hot day, there's nothing quite like relishing a bowl of pakhala with a variety of sides and washing it down with some sour torani," Jena adds. "It not only cools your tummy but also provides a glimpse into Odisha's rich culture and heritage." -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
United News of India
18-06-2025
- Climate
- United News of India
Southwest Monsoon further advanced over some more parts of North Arabian Sea
Pune, June 18 (UNI) Southwest Monsoon has further advanced over some more parts of North Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Gujarat, some parts of Rajasthan, some more parts of Madhya Pradesh, some parts of east Uttar Pradesh, remaining parts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, and some more parts of Bihar. Conditions are favourable for further advance of Southwest monsoon over remaining parts of North Arabian Sea, some more parts of Rajasthan, remaining parts of Madhya Pradesh, some more parts of Uttar Pradesh and remaining parts of Bihar, some parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad during next 2-3 days. Day temperatures were markedly above normal ( > 5.1°C) at few places over Arunachal Pradesh; at isolated places over Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad; appreciably above normal (3.1°C to 5.0°C) at isolated places over Assam and Meghalaya, Odisha, west Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal. The temperatures above normal (1.6°C to 3.0°C) at a few places over Bihar; at isolated places over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, west Madhya Pradesh, Konkan and Goa, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh. The temperatures near normal (-1.5°C to 1.5°C) at many places over Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam and north interior Karnataka; at most places over east Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Rayalaseema and Lakshadweep; at a few places over Andaman and Nicobar Islands, west Rajasthan, east Madhya Pradesh, coastal Karnataka and Kerala and Mahe; at isolated places over Gangetic West Bengal and south interior Karnataka. On Tuesday, the highest maximum temperature of 42.8°C was reported at Orai (Uttar pradesh). The Southwest Monsoon has been vigorous over Jharkhand, Gujarat Region, Saurashtra and Kutch and active over Gangetic West Bengal. It has been subdued over Marathwada, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Rain or thundershowers have occurred at most places in Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Gujarat Region, Konkan and Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala and at many places in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Odisha, Bihar, west Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, east Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch, south interior Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep and at a few places in east Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Maharashtra and at isolated places in Punjab, Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, west Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Marathwada, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rayalseema, Tamil Nadu and north interior Karnataka. Following observations for the past 24 hrs were recorded at 0830 hrs on Wednesday. Temperature (deg.C) Max Min ------ ------ EAST INDIA Agartala 30(-3) 25 Bhubaneswar 30(-5) 25(-1) Darjeeling 21(+1) 16(+3) Dibrugarh 35(+3) 27(+2) Gangtok 23(+1) 18(+1) Guwahati 33 27(+2) Imphal 29(-1) 23(+1) Kohima 23(-3) 19(+2) Kolkata 28(-6) 26(-1) Passighat 37(+5) 25(+1) Patna 38(+1) 29(+2) Ranchi 28(-5) 23(-1) Shillong 23(-1) 18 NORTH INDIA Allahabad 38(-1) 27(-1) Ambala 31(-6) 25 Amritsar 33(-5) 26(+1) Bareilly 35(-2) 25(-2) Chandigarh 31(-6) 26(-1) Dehra Dun 35(+1) 25(+1) Jaipur 34(-6) 25(-3) Jodhpur 37(-3) 27(-1) Lucknow 38 27 New Delhi 36(-3) 24(-3) Shimla 22(-3) 16 Srinagar 30(+2) 16(+1) Varanasi 37(-2) 26(-2) CENTRAL INDIA Bhopal 34(-2) 25 Indore 32(-3) 24 Jabalpur 34(-2) 26 Nagpur 38(+1) 28(+2) Raipur 33(-2) 27(+1) Satna 36(-2) 27(-1) PENINSULA Ahmedabad 27(-11) 26(-1) Aurangabad 32(-1) 24(+1) Bengaluru 28(-1) 20 Bhuj 34(-3) 25(-2) Chennai 38(+1) 28(+1) Gadag 30 22 Hyderabad 34 24 Kanyakumari 31 24(-1) Madurai 37 27(+1) Mahabaleshwar 21(-1) 19(+1) Mangaluru 27(-2) 23 Mumbai 32 26 Panjim 32(+2) 26(+1) Pune 30(-1) 23 Rajkot 29(-8) 23(-3) Thiruvananthapuram 31 24 Tiruchirapalli 37 27 Vishakhapatnam 33(-2) 29(+1) INDIAN ISLANDS Car Nicobar 32(+1) 25 Minicoy 33(+1) 27(+1) Port Blair 30 25 (Notes: + Indicates is above normal, - Indicates is below normal.) UNI SP UK BM
RNZ News
10-06-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
India Rugby backs sevens franchise for 10 years
Rugby India President Rahul Bose. Photo: AFP India Rugby and its partners have committed to backing the Rugby Premier League (RPL), the world's first franchise-based sevens league, for the next 10 years. President and Bollywood actor Rahul Bose told RNZ Pacific from Mumbai that all the six franchise teams plus their funders have signed on for the first event, which will kick off on 15 June, and the next nine events down the line. The tournament will take place in Mumbai at the Mumbai Football Arena and will feature 30 international players playing alongside local players. Six teams are representing the Indian cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bhubaneswar. The franchises are Bengaluru Bravehearts, Chennai Bulls, Delhi Redz, Hyderabad Heroes, Kalinga Black Tigers, and the Mumbai Dreamers. The Mumbai Dreamers team. Photo: Mumbai Dreamers Thirty international players are now with the six teams, with five players per team from the field of 30 invited to play at the event. The list includes Fijians Jerry Tuwai, who will play for Mumbai Dreamers, along with Waisea Nacuqu, plus Australian pair Harry Hutchinson and James Turner. South African playmaker Rosco Speckman and his Australian counterpart Maurice Longbottom, who have clashed over numerous times on the world sevens circuit, will team up for the Kalinga Black Tigers. New Zealand players Akuila Rokolisea, Scott Curry and Tone Ng Shiu team up with Spain's star Pol Pla and Fijian Ioane Teba for the Bengaluru Bravehearts. All six head coaches are well-known on the world sevens rugby circuit and these are Mike Friday (former USA sevens head coach), Ben Gollings (England sevens legend and former Fiji sevens head coach), DJ Forbes (New Zealand sevens icon), Tomasi Cama (New Zealand sevens coach), Paco Hernandez (Spain sevens coach) and Tim Walsh (Australia women's sevens head coach). The league will also feature 30 Indian players. Bose said the event will be a big boost for rugby in India, and one that has been in the pipeline for some time. He said sevens is one of the most attractive television sports in modern history. "This is a league that's been six years in the making, but we wanted to do everything right," he said. "The first extraordinary development came thanks to World Rugby, who gave us a 15-day window in which no international rugby sevens would be played anywhere in the world." The league will be broadcast live on Star Sports and JioHotstar. Bose said the event will be a major boost for rugby in India. "It's going to transform and create pathways for many more people to enter the rugby ecosystem, and also players, who would normally never get a chance to upskill under the Indian national team environment, will now be picked up," Rahul said. He said viewer numbers could be anything between 10 and 50 million in the first year. "And whatever it is, it's been an impressive number, and sponsors who were earlier never attracted to rugby, because rugby was never seen on television, will now have commercial interest in the sport. "So between the regeneration and the rejuvenation and new talent, both on the field and off the field, happening internally, there will also be money happening externally, and when the two meet, that will result in a massive infusion of energy into the game in the country." Bose said having international players play alongside local players in the six franchise teams is going to be massive for the players and the development of the game, especially sevens, in India. He pointed to performance and culture as two key lessons for the local players. "One is the Indians, the best of India, to understand how much further they have to go to become world class players," Bose said of the flow-on effect he and Rugby India expect from the players' interactions. "So definitely, performance on the field, nutritional conditioning, rehab, habits on and off the field. I think that will be a huge learning experience for any of these boys. Psychological preparation, temperament, readying yourself during a match for the next challenge, readying yourself between matches for the next challenge. "And the second is culture. "What is the unspoken culture that is being cultivated amongst these players that makes them who they are? What are the kind of things they do when nobody's watching? What are the kinds of things they don't do when nobody's telling them not to do something? These are the things that build culture." All the players and the six coaches plus team officials recruited for the franchise events are being paid fees in accordance to World Rugby guidelines. Bose said this is something Rugby India had worked on with the franchise owners and funders, to ensure that finance is a non-issue. "The entire league is privately funded; World Rugby has nothing to do with it," he said. "We have six franchise owners, each of them pay a franchise fee, which goes into the central pool, and the central league engages sponsor that also goes to central pool. "The player's fee is separate. The coach's fee is separate. The transportation and living experience expenses of coaches and players is separate. We have been guided by World Rugby as to what to tell the team owners, what they can spend, what they should be offering the coaches and the players." On the tournament previews, Bose said it is exciting for India. He said the league offers the opportunity for players to play alongside each other rather than against each other, over a new format that focuses on giving players a lot of time to recuperate and recover, so they can be at their best. "And the players are very excited because they are going to be playing alongside players they've never played with, and they've always played against, whether it is an Irish player playing against a Fijian and now playing with a Fijian; whether it is a South African player, playing against an Argentinian player and now playing with the Argentinian player," Bose said. "And everybody's very excited that this new format, of just one game a day per team. "People should expect world-class rugby in a way that they haven't seen before." The event kicks off on 15 June with the Bengaluru Bravehearts taking on the Delhi Redz while the Chennai Bulls face the Mumbai Dreamers. The third game of the day will be between the Hyderabad Heroes and the Kaling Black Tigers.
