Odisha for creating awareness on health, hygiene & cleanliness : Hon’ble Minister, School & Mass Education.

“Ame Gadhiba, Ama Gaon” – Awareness Campaign should be organized by JRC, Odisha for creating awareness on health, hygiene & cleanliness : Hon’ble Minister, School & Mass Education.

Bhubaneswar, September 6th, 2013: The Working Committee Meeting of Junior Red Cross (JRC), Indian Red Cross Society, Odisha State Branch was hosted at Red Cross Bhavan. Shri Rabinarayan Nanda, Hon’ble Minister, School & Mass Education & Chairman, JRC Working Committee graced the occasion and presided over the meeting. Smt. Usha Padhee, IAS, Commissioner-cum- Secretary School & Mass Education Dept., Shri Benudhar Dash, IAS Director Secondary Education, Odisha, Shri Shibabrata Dash, IAS Director Elementary Education, Odisha and other members were also present. At the outset Dr. M.P. Mohanty, Secretary JRC extended a warm welcome to the members present on the occasion and subsequently placed the budget and Annual Action Report Plan before the committee. Dr. Sarita Supakar, JRCO (I/C) made a power point presentation on JRC Annual activities for the year 2012-2013.
Hon’ble Minister commended the sanitation drive propagated by JRC in schools of Odisha. He said that 98 per cent schools in Odisha observe Global hand Washing Day every year and owing to this, Odisha records a 61 percent availability of soaps in the school toilets, which is the highest and way ahead of other developed states. He proposed that JRC Counsellors of each school can ensure proper handwash before mid day meal in the schools. Hon’ble Minister propose a new programme known as “Ame Gadhiba, Ama Gaon” which will be started in the tribal belt of the state to create awareness on health, hygiene & cleanliness. As a part of the “Clean City, Green City” drive, it was discussed that this year the programme of Urban Slum cleanliness drive will be organized in two more districts i.e. Jajpur & Puri.
In addition, Hon’ble Minister, School & Mass Education & Chairman, JRC Working Committee suggested that the School Health Programme should be integrated with Red Cross for conducting blood grouping at school level. He proposed that study cum training camps for JRC volunteers should be organised at all the Districts & all Districts Volunteers from each Block should participate in the camp. The Districts need to remit their state share dues in time along with reports and updated list of schools.
As a part of the Clean & Green School Campaign, it was decided that priority will be given on Herbal & medicinal plantation within school premises along with fruit, vegetable bearing trees. For Schools with mid-day meal programme, maintaining a Kitchen Garden by JRC is preferable. The meeting ended with a formal vote of thanks.

Catholics in Goa are culturally Hindu

Catholics in Goa are culturally Hindu and India is a Hindu nation in the cultural sense, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said.

“India is a Hindu nation in the cultural sense. A Catholic in Goa is also Hindu culturally because his practices don’t match with Catholics in Brazil except in the religious aspect, a Goan Catholic’s way of thinking and practice matches a Hindu’s,” Parrikar said in an interview to New York Times’ India blog published Wednesday.

Parrikar heads a state where the Catholic population is just under 30 percent of its 1.5 million population. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded an unprecedented eight Catholic candidates out of the 24 assembly seats the party contested.

The 57-year-old chief minister said he was a “perfect Hindu” but added that it was his personal faith and that “it has nothing to do with government”.

Parrikar took pains to distinguish Hindu as a cultural rather than a religious term.

“I am not the Hindu nationalist as understood by some TV media – not one who will take out a sword and kill a Muslim.

“According to me, that is not Hindu behaviour at all. Hindus don’t attack anyone, they only do so for self-defence – that is our history,” said Parrikar, seen as a critical quantum in BJP’s prime minister-in-waiting candidate Narendra Modi’s think tank.

He was also one of the leading candidates for the post of party president some years back and headed the BJP’s innovation cell.

The chief minister is a former Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumnus and is known for his hands-on style of governance. This is his third stint as chief minister of the state.

Source : The Pioneer