Latest news with #RSP
New Indian Express
3 days ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Pradhan, Oram discuss RSP expansion with Kumaraswamy
BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to expedite the pending proposal of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) for capacity enhancement, two Union ministers from the state held discussions with their counterpart in Heavy Industries and Steel HD Kumaraswamy in New Delhi on Wednesday. Union minister of Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram and Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Kumaraswamy and suggested to form a high-powered committee to remove the obstacles in the plant's expansion. Pradhan said the proposed expansion will boost steel production capacity, reduce imports and generate employment, aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Purvodaya' vision for eastern India's development. Pradhan and Oram praised the Union Steel minister's commitment to the steel sector in Odisha, and thanked him for his support in resolving the issues hindering the plant's expansion. With an existing hot metal production capacity of 4.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA), RSP, an unit of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) had submitted a proposal to the Steel ministry for capacity expansion to 9.3 MTPA in 2021. However, the expansion plan is hanging fire due to land-related issues. A portion of the land of RSP is now under unauthorised occupation of people who have developed slums in the area. In August last year, the issue of capacity expansion of RSP was discussed when Union Steel secretary Sandeep Pondrik met Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in Lok Seva Bhawan. Though Pondrik said SAIL is fully committed for the expansion plan, there has been no progress so far.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Pradhan proposes panel formation to resolve RSP expansion
Bhubaneswar: Union education minister on Wednesday proposed the formation of a high-level committee for resolving issues related to the expansion of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) in Sundargarh district. The proposal was accepted by Union steel minister during a high-level meeting held in New Delhi. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Pradhan thanked Kumaraswamy for agreeing to his suggestion. He said the expansion of RSP is crucial for India's steel sector and the industrial, social and economic development of Odisha and the rest of eastern India. "Expansion will boost our steel production capacity, strengthen India's position in the global steel market, reduce imports, cater to the needs of key industrial sectors, catalyse Odisha's economy, drive growth and create large-scale jobs in steel and allied sectors in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Purvodaya vision," said Pradhan. Union tribal affairs minister and Sundargarh MP Jual Oram also attended the meeting.
The Wire
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri, a Freedom-Fighter-Turned-MP Par Excellence
Chaudhuri was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Berhampore constituency in West Bengal for seven consecutive terms and was a member of the Lower House from 1952 to 1984. Later, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha in July 1987 and again in August 1993. Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri. Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri was a freedom fighter, parliamentarian par excellence and legendary revolutionary socialist leader. He spent about 12 years in British jails and 19 months in Portuguese jails during the liberation struggles. As an member of parliament for more than four decades, he symbolised the golden era of Indian parliamentary politics. He was also a gifted orator and a prolific writer. He distinguished himself in the nation's life with his single-minded devotion to the service of the country. Chaudhuri was born on December 13, 1911 in Dacca (now in Bangladesh). He studied in Murshidabad and Berhampore. His adolescent years and early youth coincided with the outburst of the anti-imperialist, nationalist mass movement in India of the 1920s and 1930s in the shape of the non-cooperation and civil disobedience movements. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty. He was arrested in 1931 and kept in detention in the Hijli Detention Camp in the Midnapur district of Bengal near Kharagpur and then in the Deoli Detention Camp in Rajasthan up to 1937. Soon after this, in 1940, Chaudhuri and several other leaders of the newly-formed Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Anushilan Marxists were arrested. He was detained under the Defence of India Rules by the British government, with Subhas Chandra Bose. The main charge against them was that they supported Bose's anti-war and immediate-action line against the British government. Chaudhuri was kept in detention as a security prisoner in the Hijli Special Jail and in the Dacca and Dum Dum Central Jails for six years during War time from 1940 to 1946. The years of detention in the late 1930s were a period of re-education and ideological transformation for revolutionaries. Most of them, including Chaudhuri, came back after years of study and prolonged political discussion as convinced socialists and Marxist-Leninists believing in class struggle and mass action. Chaudhuri played a prominent role in the formation of the RSP. After Independence, he built up the RSP, as the party's general secretary. According toChaudhuri, Lenin's well-known dictum, "Without a revolutionary theory there cannot be a revolutionary party", also implies logically that "Without a revolutionary party there can be no revolutionary theory." He was of the opinion that in the India of the day, the correct revolutionary theory can only be a theory of proletarian socialist revolution as a prelude to the socialist transformation of India's socio-economic structure that had become historically urgent and unavoidable for socio-economic reasons. A distinguished parliamentarian Chaudhuri was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Berhampore constituency in West Bengal for seven consecutive terms and was a member of the Lower House from 1952 to 1984. Later, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha in July 1987 and again in August 1993 till his death on December 21, 1997. He was the leader of the RSP in parliament. During his tenure as a member of the first Lok Sabha, Chaudhuri participated in the Liberation Satyagraha Movement against Portuguese colonialism in Goa. He entered Goa in July 1955 with a batch of volunteers and was arrested and sentenced by the Portuguese authorities for 12 years. He was, however, released after 19 months of imprisonment, just on the eve of the second election to the Lok Sabha in 1957. Then prime minister and Congress president Jawaharlal Nehru, describing Chaudhuri as a 'National Hero', decided not to put up any Congress candidate against him in his constituency. In 1974, during his fifth term in parliament, Chaudhuri was unitedly put up as a candidate for the office of the president of India against Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed by a majority of the opposition parties. Though he lost the election, the contest attracted a good deal of admiration from the political public on account of the dignified way in which it was conducted. During the Emergency, he acted as a spokesman of parties opposed to the Emergency. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty Chaudhuri's speeches in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on a large number of national and international issues throw light on his thorough grasp of a range of subjects, his analytical power, his grassroots understanding and his extraordinary high oratorical skill. He was a champion of the toiling millions and an ardent defender of the downtrodden and the oppressed. In fact, he fought for broadening the democratic rights and liberties of the people and all along he challenged and fought against any encroachment on them. He was also very active during the Question Hour in Parliament. He raised questions on subjects like unemployment, shortage of food, issues relating to employees of the tea industry, jute mills, workers' rights, foreign policy, agriculture policy, etc. Chaudhuri was also a master of all parliamentary techniques and forms, and he used all the possible openings – special mentions, calling attentions, half-an-hour discussions, adjournment motions, etc. – to put across his points of view on varied issues. He also spoke time and again about the plight of the people in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and stressed their democratic and human rights and the need for India to mobilise world public opinion about it. An eminent trade union leader A close friend and champion of workers, labourers, peasantry, youth and students, Chaudhuri was associated with various trade unions and their welfare organisations. He held senior positions in the United Trade Union Congress (UTUC), which was the trade union wing of the RSP. Chaudhuri made his mark as a prolific writer as well. He was the editor of the RSP's theoretical publication, Call. His memoirs on the Goa Satyagraha in Bengali, Nineteen Months in Salazar's Prison, evoked a good deal of popular interest in the late 1950s when it was first published. Along with Nihar Ranjan Roy, he was the joint editor of the well-known Bengali literary-cultural monthly Kranti for several years. He also penned several political and polemical tracts expounding the RSP's points of view on the issues of the times. As general secretary of the RSP for more than three decades, he wrote two brochures: 'Why RSP?' (Historic Need for a Party of Socialist Revolution in India Today) in 1970 and 'Four and Half Decades of the RSP' in 1985. Chaudhuri died on December 21, 1997 at the age of 86 when he was a member of Rajya Sabha and the leader of the RSP in the parliament. Qurban Ali is a trilingual journalist who has covered some of modern India's major political, social and economic developments. He has a keen interest in India's freedom struggle and is now documenting the history of the socialist movement in the country. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
The South African
5 days ago
- Business
- The South African
Ambitious Home Affairs envisages digital IDs by THIS date
Digital IDs, wallets and e-passports are the next piece of the puzzle for Home Affairs Minister Dr. Leon Schreiber. Presented to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs last week, the department is calling it the Revised Strategic Plan (RSP). At its core, RSP is all about digitising the Home Affairs experience. It will go paperless and replace all transactions with digital IDs to digital wallets (money) and electronic passports. Better still, the department has ambitious plans to roll all this out within the next five years, by 2030. Former ministers could never have envisioned such a quick turnaround at the department. Image: File The Minister of Home Affairs has already announced several big wins since he took office just over a year ago. Naturalised citizens, for example, are now able to access smart ID cards for the first time ever. Likewise, big strides have been made at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) in stamping out bribery and corruption. Now, Minister Schreiber is moving ahead swiftly with RSP and digital IDs, reports Daily Investor . Dr. Schreiber wants the DHA to operate much like SARS does, with fully end-to-end digital processes in place. Image: File As such, Minister Schreiber told Parliament the DHA remains committed to becoming a 'digital-first organisation.' 'Home Affairs @ home, informs all of our projects, initiatives and targets for the next five years (till 2030). Our desired end-state is to deliver a digitally transformed organisation. All civic, immigration and refugee services will be delivered in a decentralised manner. Electronic channels will dramatically expand inclusion and deliver dignity for all,' explained the minister. Furthermore, the department says it will expand its successful digital IDs pilot project. Central to this is the act of going paperless and introducing fully digital channels. As such, DHA eHome will enable complete end-to-end online transactions, much like SARS does now for tax. E-passports and ETA visas will make the department's work more efficient, too. Image: canva Along with these digital IDs, the creation of Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) will automate the visa process, too. Dr. Schreiber says this will dramatically increase the efficiency of the visa process in and out of the country. In turn, this will boost tourism and attract critical skills into the economy to create jobs. Moreover, the ETA system is expected to go live as soon as September 2025. And the DHA confirmed its ambitious timeline for rolling out these digital initiatives runs to 2030. This initiative will be aided by rolling out live capture functionality to more than 1 000 bank branches nationwide in the mean time. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
New Indian Express
21-06-2025
- New Indian Express
Protest over contractual worker's death in Rourkela Steel Plant
ROURKELA: A 29-year contractual worker died under mysterious circumstances near the coke oven battery-3 of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) here on Friday morning. The deceased was identified as Gopi Hembram (29) of Lal Tanki area in Rourkela. He was working for RSP's contract firm Utkal Projects Pvt Ltd. Vice-president of INTUC-affiliated Rourkela Shramik Sangh (RSS) Nihar Das said at around 8.30 am, Gopi was working at the coke oven battery-3 when he suddenly collapsed. The worker was taken to the RSP-run Ispat General Hospital (IGH) where the doctors declared him brought dead. Following the incident, various trade unions including INTUC, CITU and others demanded compensation and job assistance for the bereaved family. They said the contract worker has left behind his widow and two-year-old son who have none to look after them. Sources said Gopi's relatives and other contractual workers also staged protest at IGH, refusing to take possession of his body till fulfilment of the demands. The protest was continuing till the report was filed.
