Odisha News, Odisha Latest news, Odisha Daily - OrissaPOST
  • Home
  • State
  • Metro
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Feature
  • Timeout
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Sci-Tech
  • Others
    • COVID-19
    • IPL 2020
    • Today’s Pic
  • GamesNew
  • Home
  • State
  • Metro
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Feature
  • Timeout
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Sci-Tech
  • Others
    • COVID-19
    • IPL 2020
    • Today’s Pic
  • GamesNew
No Result
View All Result
OrissaPOST - Odisha Latest news, English Daily -
Home Feature

Struggle not over yet

Rashmi Rekha Das
Updated: February 9th, 2021, 09:51 IST
in Feature
0 0
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare on Linkedin

Every year, ahead of the Republic Day or Independence Day, the nation pays tributes to those brave men and women who had made the supreme sacrifices for a free India. It is a matter of pride that we are now an independent, strong and self-sufficient nation that our predecessors dreamt of.

But are we really a free nation?  Have we got freedom from issues such as superstitions, drug abuse, atrocities against women and many others? The list is endless.

The British have certainly gone, but today’s ‘freedom fighters’ still wage a war, which is tougher than the one that was fought decades back. They fight the enemies within.

Ahead of the Republic Day, Sunday POST lists a few warriors who, away from the media glare, are trying to bring independence in true sense.

Prabhu Dutt Patel

From someone who couldn’t do without 36 cans of beer a day to working actively with addicts to ameliorate the scourge of intoxication, Bhubaneswar-based Prabhu Dutt Patel’s story is unbelievable and uplifting at the same time. Those who had come back from the brink of destitution and death due to their fatal habit have found succour and sustenance at Samarpan, his rehab centre. Prabhu’s efforts to help recover drug addicts and drug dependence are exemplary in a society permeated by selfishness and ego. Without exaggeration it can be said that the 52-year-old has emerged as a messiah for drug addicts and alcoholics.

Like other addicts, Patel, an alcoholic, could not control himself despite some effort. By the time he completed his graduation from Hindu College of Delhi University, drinking had become a way of life for him. Following his graduation in 1989, he joined the University Law Center (Law Faculty) and completed LLB in 1992. Alcohol intake just kept increasing. He has spent around 22 years of his life in Delhi, practiced law for around three years in Delhi.

In July 1995 he left for the USA for his LLM degree. His habit had already taken an extreme turn and he could barely function without alcohol. As a result he stopped going to law school and stopped appearing in exams. He was financially and morally bankrupt, a long-standing relationship had come to an end and his health, both physical and mental, was deteriorating. He was consuming 32 to 36 cans of beer every day. He was sick of drinking but couldn’t stop.

However, one of his old friends got him connected with the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. “I called them and after a series of telephonic interviews they agreed to induct me for free treatment there.  After that there was no looking back. Since then, I haven’t had a drink,” says Patel.

Asked about the de-addiction activities, he continues: “We have a number of successes to our credit and it’s extremely heartwarming to see an alcoholic or addicts get back to normal family life once again. I feel proud to see people who used to be alcoholics once and now have run rehab centres after being counseled by me. My work with alcoholism and addiction also led to my working on issues related to HIV and AIDS.”

Today Patel is a national level resource person / facilitator / trainer on HIV and AIDS issues including counseling.

Nargish Bahaar

For more than two decades, Kakatpur-based Nargis Bahaar has been waging a battle to stop atrocities against women. She has rescued many victims of domestic violence and girls ensnared by traffickers.

“You don’t need to be physically strong to fight for the cause of women. All you need is to raise your voice to stop atrocities against women,” says Nargis who has been fighting for the rights of women since 1998. She has resolved more than 3,000 domestic violence cases apart from rescuing girls from being trafficked.

Nargis believes that the mindset of the people towards the girl child is yet to change even as the world has seen a lot of changes in terms of scientific inventions and technological advancement. Issues like rape, domestic violence, killing of female foetus and bride burning are what made her take up the cause of women, she adds.

Born in a Muslim household, it was not easy for Nargish to fight for the rights of women. Recalling the initial days of her journey, she says, “It was extremely difficult for me to fight for women who were tortured by their in-laws and husbands. However, an incident in 1998 forced me to raise my voice. A woman named Malati (name changed), a neighbour, had been tortured by her in-laws for no reason. On the fateful day in 1998, she was found dead. Shocked at her death, I reached her place instantly. I was even more shocked to see her in-laws trying to bury the body. I called a few other women of our locality and informed the police about the incident. When Malati’s in-laws said she died due to snakebite, I told the police the truth. I also staged a sit-in in front of the police station as I sensed that the matter was being covered up. I demanded that the police search for injury marks on Malati’s body. Left with no option, the police investigated the matter and confirmed that she was beaten to death by her in-laws. Since that day, I have been doing my bit for women facing abuse besides taking up other causes.”

She has also been instrumental in forming 50 self-help groups (SHG) to empower women.

Soumya Ranjan Biswal

Soumya Ranjan Biswal spends most of his time creating awareness about Olive Ridley turtles and the marine ecosystem. The green crusader has been into many activities for the last eight years. He with the help of his team cleans beaches, cycles to coastal villages to sensitise people of the fishery community and their children about the significance of Olive Ridley turtles for ecology, conducts workshops aimed at sea turtle conservation with sea turtle volunteers of 25 off-shore camps in different coastal divisions of Odisha.  Besides, he interacts and trains the turtle activists how to collect eggs for artificial conservation, how to relocate eggs safely, how to prepare artificial nests and how to realise the baby turtles in the ocean.

Hailing from Jahania, Soumya and his friend Dillip got themselves dressed in Olly mascot and cycled 800 km to reach Gahiramatha, the major nesting site of the turtles in Kendrapada district, while covering the coastal areas of Puri, Chilika, Gopalpur, Rushikulya river mouth, Satakosia, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Siali and Paradip. For this journey, both Soumya and Dilip entered the Limca Book of Records for carrying out the ‘Longest Cycle Ride for Turtles’.

“The next generation needs to take responsibility and promote conservation,” says Soumya who along with his fellow environmentalists cleared 15 tonnes of plastic wastes from various beaches of Odisha.

About half the world’s population of Olive Ridleys comes to the Odisha coast for nesting, and to ensure the hatchlings make it back to the sea safely, Soumya with his team has organised 288 beach clean-up events.

“My village is near the sea where Olive Ridleys used to come ashore to nest. Fed up with the sights of dead turtles washed ashore, I decided to do my bit for their conservation. There is a lot of focus on the tiger but no one was paying attention to the marine ecosystem,” says Soumya, who discontinued his B. Tech course to be closer to the nesting zone.

Apart from working on turtle conservation, he is into reviving mangrove vegetation and bird conservation for the last eight years and has made an amazing impact at the grassroots level.

Ghasiram Panda

Although India has laws to prevent child marriage, it is still rampant in many parts of Odisha especially in tribal and backward communities owing to lack of awareness and a host of socio-economic problems including abject poverty and a poor female literacy rate. And Ghasiram Panda, communication in-charge at ActionAid, Odisha and an advisor to Odisha Child Right Commission, was instrumental in popularising the concept of child marriage free village and also instrumental in bringing the Odisha Child Marriage Prohibition Rules 2016 and the state strategy action plan to end child marriage by 2030.

Panda with the support of the local Anganwadi workers made Rugudipali village in Subarnapur as the first child marriage free village in January 2020. Thanks to his efforts, now more than 1500 villages have been declared child marriage free.

Panda filed a PIL in High Court seeking effective implementation of Child Marriage Prohibition Act responding to which a committee has been formed to prevent the practice. With the Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Panda ensures no child should sleep under the open sky. As many as 500 children and their parents have been benefited by the project so far. He is managing a FB page ‘Say No to Child Marriage’ having more than 3.5k members across the globe. That apart, he has authored two books – Manaba Adkikarara Swara and Asumari Swapna. These books are on issues related human rights, right to education and ending child marriages.

About his work, Panda says, “I am facilitating in ending child marriage practices in 51 districts of five different states such as Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Rajasthan. In Odisha we have this programme in 15 districts.  In the last two years with the support of UNICEF and district administrations we have successfully stopped 1,051 child marriages in 15 most vulnerable districts of Odisha,” says Panda.

Tags: Independence dayRepublic DayStruggle
ShareTweetSendShare
Suggest A Correction

Enter your email to get our daily news in your inbox.

Related Posts

Indian players

Test matches that have ended within 2 days: Here’s the list

February 26, 2021
Photo Credit: Ask Astrology

People with these zodiac signs are expected to have good day today

February 26, 2021
Pic - IANS

Donkey meat consumption rises in Andhra Pradesh owing to this weird reason

February 26, 2021
Pic Credit: stories4all.com

Get rid of skin related problems by using egg white; here’s how

February 26, 2021

Beware! COVID-19 messing up with sugar levels of healthy people in India

February 26, 2021

When legendary author Arthur Conan Doyle responded to the call of an Indian Parsi lawyer

February 26, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

250+ Trending Games - Play Now
OrissaPOST epaper Sunday POST OrissaPOST epaper

Click Here: Plastic Free Odisha

Plastic Free Odisha

Hockey Player Dilip Tirkey

Hockey Player Dilip Tirkey supports a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Cuttack College NCC students

Cuttack College NCC students support a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Deepak Kumar-Actor

Deepak Kumar support a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Odisha Rajya Rogi Adhikar Mancha & Mangalabagh International Club workers

Odisha Rajya Rogi Adhikar Mancha & Mangalabagh International Club Workers support a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Utkal University Journalism Department Students

Utkal University Journalism Department students call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Korei college students

Korei college students support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

BJB Autonomous College-Bhubaneswar

BJB Autonomous college students support a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Haratiya Bidyaniketan School students

Haratiya Bidyaniketan School students of Alipur, Bari support a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Swaraj Barik, Actor

Swaraj Barik calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Elina Samantray, Actress

Elina Samantray calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Actor Sritam Das

Actor Sritam Das supports a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Hinjili Police

Hinjili Police support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your Photos/Selfie ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Miteish Khimji,Entrepreneur

Miteish Khimji supports a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

High school students of Sambalpur district

High school students of Sambalpur district support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Sundargarh Public School teachers

Sundargarh Public School teachers support a plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Cuttack New Stewart School Students & Principal

Cuttack New Stewart School students and Principal call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Debashish Mohanty-Former Indian Cricketer

Cricketer Debashish Mohanty supports  a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Tanbhi Block School students and staff

Tanbhi Block School students and staff support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Olympian Dutee Chand

Olympian Dutee Chand calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Have You Joined the movement? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

CRPF 127 Battalion, Bhanjanagar

CRPF 127 Battalion, Bhanjanagar supports a plastic free Odisha. Do you?   *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) ...

October 2, 2018
Covaxin
Christmas

Bharat Biotech rubbishes criticism, says its vaccine is safe    

New Delhi/Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech rejected Monday criticism over the grant of emergency use authorisation by India’s drug regulator to ...

January 5, 2021
Plastic Free Odisha

Gandhi Science Higher Secondary School in Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar

Gandhi Science Higher Secondary School students of Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar support a plastic free Odisha. Do you?   *Visit our website ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Srikumar Misra-Entrepreneur

Srikumar Misra supports a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post your ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Sri Aurobindo School students & teachers

Sri Aurobindo School students & teachers of Sambalpur support plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Sabyasachi Mishra, Actor

Sabyasachi Mishra calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Gandhi College Plus III science students of Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar

Gandhi Plus III science students of Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar support a plastic free Odisha. Do you?   *Visit our website orissapost.com. ...

October 2, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Bijay Mohanty, Actor

Actor Bijay Mohanty calls for a Plastic Free Odisha. Have You Joined the movement? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Arindam Roy, Actor

Arindam Roy supports call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our website www.orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook ...

August 29, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

D.A.V Public School-Kalinga Nagar

D.A.V Public School Students, support Plastic free Odisha. Do you? *Visit our website orissapost.com. Like,Share,Subscribe,Recommend our Facebook Page Orissapost(@OrissaPOST.Here.Now) *Post ...

August 30, 2018
Plastic Free Odisha

Students of Tulasipur Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir, Cuttack

Students of Tulasipur Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir, Cuttack call for a Plastic Free Odisha. Do you support the movement? *Visit our ...

August 29, 2018

Archives

Editorial

Farming needs more

February 26, 2021

The state government has set out to spend an estimated Rs 1.70 lakh crore in the 2021-22 financial year –...

Read more

No happy cows

February 25, 2021

India has the world’s largest number of cattle. They are not being worshipped in temples, they are not ambling through...

Read more

Learn To Question

February 24, 2021

The egregiously false claim made in the presence of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan by Baba Ramdev that his Patanjali...

Read more

Political Fuel

February 23, 2021

This government, claiming to be the strongest ever, now seems to be lurching from one crisis to another and it...

Read more
  • Home
  • State
  • Metro
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Feature
  • Sports
  • Sci-Tech
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Career
Developed By Ratna Technology

© 2020 All rights Reserved by OrissaPOST

  • Home
  • Metro
  • State
  • National
  • International
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Feature
  • Opinion
  • Sci-Tech
  • COVID-19
  • Games
  • IPL 2020
  • Today’s Pic
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Career
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

© 2020 All rights Reserved by OrissaPOST

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Sign Up with Facebook
OR

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In