The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : Naxal menace

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Monday, Feb 25, 2008
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Naxal menace

During the anti-naxalite operation in Nayagarh, Ganjam and Kandhamal districts, Orissa police recently sought help of Forest Department officials to lead them in jungles. This shows how nonchalantly the State police was taking jungle warfare to combat naxalism.

Naxal threat is not a one-year-old problem rather it cropped up about two decades ago. It has also been established that the left wing extremists have been using forests and tribals as their shield. It is pathetic to learn that the Police Department is yet to have a full map of all jungles and their thoroughfares.

The exercise could have been done a decade ago keeping the sensitivity of the naxalism problem in mind. In the era of satellites and India being a lead player in space science, police should have been well equipped with all information about each corner of the forests. Police Department exhibits how negligent it is when it comes to fight with radicals. There are several other issues such as coordination with other naxal-infested states and procurement of modern equipment such as radar and helicopter to reduce naxalite threat in the State.

Rakesh Behera

Bhubaneswar

Lone Oriya player

Wicket keeper Haladhar Das is the lone Oriya player who returned after signing the IPL contracts recently. The other two players who had hit international circuit such as Sib Sundar Das and Debasish Mohanty could not draw attention of bidders.

There are no hopes left for the two players to return to the national side. They have been putting lacklustre performance in domestic leagues. Why did it happen? Did the Orissa Cricket Association fail to take care of its two players who had showed much promises during the beginning of their career? Or is there excess politics in cricket circuit in the State that spoilt the players?

There are several uncomfortable questions that will continue to haunt cricket administrators in the State. Since Mohanty and Das were dropped , the State has not been able to produce a single player, except Haladhar, who could attract attentions of selectors.

Manoj Sahoo

Cuttack

Examination fever

The time has come for the tiny tots to get mentally tortured for the ego of their parents. Obviously the final examination fever has started. The small children studying in pre-school classes will also feel the fangs of examination fear although they are yet to realise what examination is. They would be made to learn by heart nursery rhymes, which they do not understand. They would get good beatings at home for using ‘o’ in place of ‘a’ while writing ‘rat’. For these children who do not know numbers beyond 100 marks have no meaning. But the marks they secure are the ego boosters for their parents who are usually seen discussing about the fact that their child has secured 100 per cent in English, which means he remembered 10 words and wrote them correctly. It seems the parents try to forget their failures in different fields of life through the small victories of their children, who are yet to understand what competition, examination or education means. At least for me the mental atrocities on these children because of aspirations of their parents can be compared with the gruesome cockfights. The winning cock usually never lives long.

Srabani Satpathy

Gunupur

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