Performance of Dr. Sam Pitroda as Technology Advisor of Odisha Govt.

Amidst huge propaganda and media hype, Dr. Sam Pitroda  with Cabinet Minister status was appointed as Technology Advisor in January 2016. The State Government left no stone unturned taking credit  by appointing Dr. Pitroda, a man of international repute  as Technology Advisor. As I recall, it  generated much enthusiasm  and expectation among  different  section of the people believing  that his expertise and long  experience  in the field of communication and IT  will give a lot of benefit to the state. Out of curiosity  to know  about  his performance  and  contribution  in the field of IT  for the state  since last eight months, I had filed  two RTI Application to the Department of  Electronics and Information Technology seeking information about   details of appointment, Terms of Reference with Dr. Pitroda  and any report/ advice  given by him to State Govt. etc. . The details of information provided by the PIO on  19.8.16 and  26.9.16  is as follows.     

1.  The Justification  given by the State Govt.  in respect  of   Dr. Pitroda’s appointment  as  Technology  Advisor is that In view of  his domain expertise and long association  in the field  of communication and IT, the State Govt.  took  this decision  as it  will be beneficial  for the state  (  reference-  copy of file noting).

2.  TOR  signed  with Dr. Pitroda  is as follows.

i.   He was appointed  for three years and will be extended  subsequently.

ii.  He will advise the Government for formulation of  the strategies and policies  to be adopted for development of IT/IES/ESDM sector in the state.

iii.  He  will  review  the progress achieved  in development of IT  sector  in the state.

iv.  Resource on advocacy  to attract  national  and foreign investment  shall be considered  by Govt. of Odisha.

v.  No salary, insurance and remuneration  shall be paid  to Sri Pitroda  during his period of  service

vi. The expenses  towards  travel and  accommodation  for his visit  to Odisha  from New Delhi  shall be borne  by Government of Odisha

3.  On query  about  any  report  or document produced  by Dr. Pitroda,  the PIO  has  provided  just a copy of power point presentation ( 15 slide) about  his proposed programme  which was  made  in January  at the time of his appointment.  Within last 8 months, Dr. Pitroda has  not provided  any report  to the State Govt. about  his intervention or  work assigned  as per TOR. 

4.  Dr. Pitroda  has not  visited Odisha  since his joining as Technology Advisor.  That’s why he has not produced his travel Bill for reimbursement.

Comments

1.  Dr. Pitroda  might be satisfied  with  cabinet minister status  and getting benefit  using   this status  without  contributing anything  for our beloved state  within 8 months.

2.  It  will be advisable   on part of State Govt. to  fix remuneration and price  for him   against the work  assigned to him as per TOR. So that accountability will be fixed  and the State Govt.  can monitor  his performance.

3.  If this practice continues, it  will no way  give any benefit to the IT sector of the state.

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date- 26.9.16 

BRING VIGILANCE UNDER RTI PURVIEW: ACTIVISTS

Civil society and RTI activists on Friday held a rally here demanding withdrawal of the notification issued by the State Government keeping Vigilance department out of the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The State Information and Public Relations Department had issued a notification on August 11saying, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section 4 of section 24 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the State Government do hereby specify that nothing, contained in the said Act, shall apply to the general administration (Vigilance) department and its organisation.”

A large number of activists first organised a rally near Ram Mandir Square and later held a meeting in front of the State Assembly demanding immediate revocation of the “arbitrary” notification.

“The notification is against the spirit of the RTI Act. Despite our appeals to the Chief Minister and the Governor to intervene in the matter, nothing has happened as yet. Our agitation will be intensified if the Government fails to withdraw the notification,” said Odisha Soochana Abhiyan convenor Pradip Pradhan, who organised the rally.

The State Government’s arbitrary decision has also been challenged in the Orissa High Court. Civil society Global Human Rights Communication’s executive director Subash Mohapatra has filed the petition in the High Court seeking quashing of the notification.

According to Section 24 (4) of the RTI Act, only intelligence and security organisations will be outside the Act’s ambit.

The activists later submitted a memorandum in this regard to the Chief Minister.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/bring-vigilance-under-rti-purview-activists.html

Pradip Pradhan 

M-9937843482 

Names recommended for Padma Awards 2016 by Govt. of Odisha

RTI Application was submitted to the CPIO, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India seeking information about details of procedure followed for selecting names for Padma Awards and names recommended by the Odisha Govt for Awards for 2015-16, reason for rejection of the names by selection Committee for the Awards.  On 1.9.2016, the CPIO provided  the  following  information.

1. The details of names received from State of Odisha  for Padma Awards  is as follows.

Sl. No.	Name of Person	Award Recommended
1	Smt. Madhavi Mudgal	Padma Bhusan
2	Sri Haldar Nag	Padma Shri
3	Sri Jagannath Behera	Padma Shri
4	Shri Durga Prasad Das	Padma Shri
5	Shri Maguni Ch. Kuanr	Padma Shri
6	Shri Manmohan Mohapatra	Padma Bhusan
7	Guru Ananta Moharana	Padma Shri
8	Shri Banamali Moharana	Padma Shri
9	Shri Surendra Meher	Padma Shri
10	Shri Padmanava Mishra	Padma Shri
11	Dr. Sujata Mishra	Padma Shri
12	Sri Padmanava Mishra	Padma Shri
13	Smt. Aruna Mohanty	Padma Shri
14	Shri Prashanta Nanda	Padma Shri
15	Shri Paresh  Nath	Padma  Bhusan
16	Sri Pranab Kishor Patnaik	Padma Shri
17	Sri Birabara Sahu	Padma Shri
18	Sri Durga Charan Ranbir	Padma Shri
19	Dr. Ratan Das	Padma Shri
20	Sri Yaryunsahu Gomago	Padma Shri
21	Sri Ram Lal Jain	Padma Shri
22	Smt. Laxmi Mohapatra	Padma Shri
23	Ms. Krishna Mohanty	Padma Shri
24	Smt. Tulasi Munda	Padma Bhusan
25	Sri Kangres Nayak	Padma Shri
26	Dr. Bana Bihari Shukla	Padma Shri
27	Dr. Aditya Prasad Dash	Padma Bhusan
28	Prod. Dr. Sanghamitra Mohanty	Padma Shri
29	Prof. Pravat Kumar Mohapatra	Padma Shri
30	Dr. Abinash Panda	Padma Bhusan
31	Dr. (Er.) Niranjana Panda	Padma Shri
32	Sri Surya Narayana Rao Pochiraju	Padma Shri
33	Dr. Jadunath Prasad Das	Padma Shri
34	Prof. Ashok Mohapatra	Padma Shri
35	Smt. Padmabati Meher	Padma Shri
36	Prof. Krishna Mohan Pathi	Padma Shri
37	Prof. (Dr.) Sanatan Rath	Padma Shri
38	Dr. Manas Ranjan Sahu	Padma Shri
39	Shri Santanu Kumar Acharya	Padma Shri
40	Dr. Satakadi Hota	Padma Shri
41	Sri Tulasi Ram Jain	Padma Bhusan
42	Sri Radha Shyam Panda	Padma Shri
43	Prof. Biswajeet Pattanayak	Padma Shri
44	Prof. Swadhin Patnaik	Padma Shri
45	Dr. Khageswar Pradhan	Padma Shri
46	Sri Chandra Sekhar Rath	Padma Shri
47	Dr. Dillip Kumar Tirkey	Padma Bhusan
48	Sri Om Prakash Agrawal	Padma Bhusan
49	Dr. Jitamitra Prasad Singhdeo	Padma Shri
50	Sri Pravakar Swain	Padma Shri

2. The Details of names recommended by  Govt. of Odisha for Padma Awards-2016 within cut-off date.

Sl.No	Name	Recommending Authority
1	Shri Santanu Kumar Acharya	Government of Odisha
2	Sri Subrat Bagchi	Government of Odisha
3	Dr. Manoj Das	Government of Odisha
4	Shri Durga Prasad Das	Government of Odisha
5	Dr. Jadunath Prasad Das	Government of Odisha
6	Dr. Jagannath Prasad Das	Government of Odisha
7	Dr. Ratan Das	Government of Odisha
8	Dr. Satakadi Hota	Government of Odisha
9	Shri Ramani Rajan Jena	Government of Odisha
10	Ms. Aloka Kanungo	Government of Odisha
11	Shri Muguni Charan Kuanr	Government of Odisha
12	Guru Ananta Maharana	Government of Odisha
13	Shri Banamali Maharana	Government of Odisha
14	Shri Padmanava Mishra	Government of Odisha
15	Sri Prafulla Mohanti	Government of Odisha
16	Ms. Krishna Mohanty	Government of Odisha
17	Smt. Aruna Mohanty	Government of Odisha
18	Shri Sabyasachi Mohapatra	Government of Odisha
19	Sri Prashanta Nanda	Government of Odisha
20	Dr. Subrat Kumar Panda	Government of Odisha
21	Sri Nila Madhab Panda	Government of Odisha
22	Prof. Lalit Mohan Patnaik	Government of Odisha
23	Sri Pranab Kishor Patnaik	Government of Odisha
24	Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik	Government of Odisha
25	Prof. Swadhin Patnaik	Government of Odisha
26	Shri Durga Ch. Ranbir	Government of Odisha
27	Sri Chandra Sekhar Rath	Government of Odisha
28	Shri Birabara Sahu	Government of Odisha
29	Dr. Chandra Bhanu Satapathy	Government of Odisha
30	Dr. Dillip Kumar Tirkey	Government of Odisha

3. The Ist Award ceremony was held on 28.3.16 to confer the Padma Awards.  Total no. of 5 persons was awarded Padma Vibhusan, 8 people awarded Padma Bhusan and 43 awarded Padma Shri.

4. The 2^nd Award Ceremony was on 12^th April 2016. Total no. of 5 persons were awarded Padma Vibhusan, 11 people awarded Padma Bhusan and 40 awarded Padma Shri.

5. List of Members of Padma Award Committee who have recommended the names for Padma Awards to Prime Minister is as follows.

·         Cabinet Secretary

·         Home Secretary

·         Secretary to the President

·         Shri S. Gurumurthy

·         Dr. A. Surya Prakash

·         Prof. P.N.Tandon

·         Dr. Sonal Mansingh

·         Dr. Manju Sharma

·         Prof. Syed A. Bari

6.      The details of procedure followed  for selection of names for Padma Award is as follows.

·   Padma Awards were instituted  in the year 1954. Except for brief interruptions during the year 1978 and 1979 and 1993 to 1997, these awards have been announced every year on Republic Day.

·   The award is given in three categories namely, Padma Vibhusan, Padma Bhusan and Padma Shri.

·   The Award seeks to recognise work of any distinction and is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements / service in all fields of activities / disciplines. Such as Art, Literature and Education, sports, Medicine, social work, Science  and Engineering, Public Affairs, Civil Service, Trade and Industry.

·   All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex are eligible  for these awards.  Government servants including those working with PHUs, except doctor and scientists are not eligible for these awards.

·  It is usually practice to invite recommendations every year from all state/ UTs, Ministries, Departments of Govt.  of India,  Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhusan awardees  and institute of Excellence. Recommendations received  from them  and also from other soures  like Ministers/Governor of States, Members of Parliament as also private Individuals , bodies etc. are placed  before           Padma Award Committee. The Padma Awards Committee is constituted by Prime Minister every year.

· Date for calling nominations and the cutoff date  for receipt of nomination/recommendation is 1^st May and 15^th Sept. respectively. Only the nominations received  during this period will be considered.

·   The recommendations made by the Awards committee are submitted  to the Prime Minister and the President for approval.

·   The total number of awards  to be given  in a year ( excluding posthumously awards and to foreigners)  should not be more than 120.

·   The  award does not amount to a title and an not be used  as a suffix or prefix to the awardee’s name on letterheads, invitation cards, posters, books etc.  In the case of any misuse, the awardee will forfeit the award.

·   No cash allowance or any facility / benefit in terms of  conession etc. in rail/ air travel is attached to these awards.

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date- 25.9.16