Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on June 30 said new railway projects worth ₹1 lakh crore will be implemented in Odisha in the next five years.

Mr. Vaishnaw said this while addressing a felicitation programme organised by Odisha BJP in Bhubaneswar to felicitate the party’s 20 MPs and 78 MLAs elected in recently held Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections in Odisha.

“The Congress government and the then Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government have neglected the development of the railway sector in Odisha. So, with the formation of a double-engine government of the BJP in Odisha and Centre, now, the gap created during the past years, will be met by creating a new record in these five years,” he said.

“Though many mega railway projects have been sanctioned, those were delayed due to delay in land acquisition by the previous BJD government,” said Mr. Vaishnaw, adding, “Now double engine government is formed and the pace of the railway projects will be accelerated.”

The Union Minister said the allocation to Odisha in the Railway Budget has been enhanced from ₹800 crore during the UPA government tenure to more than ₹10,000 crore during Modi government.

“During the past three consecutive years, more than ₹10,000 crore has been allocated to the State in the railway sector,” he said.

Mr. Vaishnaw further said a new railway line of 1,826 km was constructed in Odisha during the last 10 years, which is higher than the total railway network of Sri Lanka (1,700 km). He also said that 315 special trains will run to and from Puri during the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath for smooth travel and convenience of the pilgrims. “Last year, 222 trains were run during the Rath Yatra. The special trains have been planned from 25 districts of Odisha,” he added.

Mr. Vaishnaw, who is also the IT Minister, said that an electronic manufacturing cluster and a semi-conductor training centre will be set up in Odisha.

Congratulating the newly elected MLAs and MPs, he expressed confidence that the BJP government will continue to serve the people of Odisha for the next 50 years. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and two Deputy Chief Ministers K. V. Singh Deo and Pravati Parida are like Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra who have been given a big responsibility for the development of the State.

A lot of first-time MLAs and MPs have been elected in this election and the State for the first time has CM and Deputy CMs belonging to the BJP. With this team, a new Odisha will be built which will help in building a ‘Viksit Bharat’, Mr. Pradhan said.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram advised the BJP MLAs and MPs to have a mindset of ‘nation first, party second and self last’.

Mr. Oram said the BJP has helped the BJD to form a government in the State to end the Congress government. “But, they became “arrogant and became worse” like the Congress government. So, people have elected the BJP government,” he said.

This microscope photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows crescent-shaped red blood cells from a sickle cell disease patient.
| Photo Credit: AP

India is getting closer to developing a gene therapy for sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder with a high prevalence rate among the Scheduled Tribes, officials of the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry said on June 19.

Vibhu Nayyar, Secretary, of the Tribal Affairs Ministry, said the government was expecting to hear “good news” by January 2025 on the laboratory tests that are being run. M. Srinivas, Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said researchers were working to develop a gene therapy using CRISPR-Cas9, a gene-editing tool.

“We want that in the next six months to one year, we will be able to go forward with using this method for treating SCD — making India one of the first countries to do so,” Mr. Srinivas said.

He was speaking at the National Conclave on Generating Awareness on Sickle Cell Disease, organised by the Tribal Affairs Ministry in collaboration with the Birsa Munda Centre at the AIIMS.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, addressing the opening of the conclave, lauded the efforts but said it was important to involve and coordinate with ground-level healthcare workers such as ASHAs and Anganwadi workers for these plans to be implemented properly.

“They will be the ones doing the heavy lifting on the ground,” Mr. Oram said.

Officials of the Tribal Affairs Ministry told The Hindu that the “good news” Mr. Nayyar was referring to was related to the tests that are currently being run by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB).

“Following this, the tests will proceed to the next phase and eventually move on to being tested on patients,” a senior official said.

This comes months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the CRISPR-Cas9 technology for a cell-based gene therapy to treat sickle cell disease in December 2023.

Officials of the Tribal Affairs Ministry said one of the main challenges for India was to find a way to make this therapy cost-effective.

Developing a gene therapy using CRISPR has been part of India’s mission to eradicate sickle cell disease by 2047. A government dossier on the mission, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2023, said the technology had “the potential to be a single dose cure for blood disorders like sickle cell anaemia”.

Part of this mission is to also conduct over seven crore screenings among vulnerable tribal populations across 17 States and Union Territories, of which three crore screenings have been achieved so far, Ministry officials said.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system consists of an enzyme that behaves like molecular scissors which can be directed to cut a piece of DNA at a precise location. This will then allow a guide RNA to insert a changed genetic code at the sites of the incision. While there are a few ways to effect such changes, the CRISPR system is believed to be fast and the most versatile of all.

Addressing the gathering of doctors, experts, and healthcare professionals, Mr. Oram said the Union government was committed to working on the sickle cell disease eradication mission and called for officials from across Ministries and departments to ensure that grassroots workers were roped in for the implementation process and that they should themselves engage with them.

Following the addresses by senior officials and the Minister, a series of technical panel discussions were also held on recognising and screening for sickle cell disease, managing the disease, and other issues. Officials said district centres at nearly 350 districts across the country were taking part in the conclave virtually.

Apart from the gene therapy being developed by India, the sickle cell disease eradication mission also includes developing two coded formulations — AYUSH-RP and AYUSH-SC3 — for managing the disease through a systemic drug development process, for which continued testing will be undertaken by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research.

New Delhi:

The much-anticipated pre-poll alliance and seat-sharing talks between Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have hit a roadblock, raising the prospect of both parties contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections independently. The talks, which took place in Delhi, failed to resolve differences over two key constituencies – Bhubaneswar and Puri – leading to an unexpected stand-off.

Upon their return to Bhubaneswar on Friday evening, BJP state president Manmohan Samal, along with other senior leaders, hinted at the possibility of the BJP fielding candidates in all 147 assembly and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha. Mr Samal stated that the discussions in Delhi were solely focused on preparations for the upcoming elections, with no mention of an alliance or seat-sharing arrangement.

“There was no talk on alliance and we (BJP) will go to polls alone,” Mr Samal said as quoted by news agency PTI. “We had gone to Delhi to hold discussions with the central leaders on our preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the state. No talks on alliance or seat-sharing with any party were held during the meeting. The BJP will contest the twin polls on its own strength.”

The apparent breakdown in talks has sparked speculations, especially considering the historical context of the BJD’s departure from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 15 years ago. Former BJP leader and minister Sushma Swaraj had then prophesied that Naveen Patnaik, the leader of BJD, would “regret” severing ties after an 11-year understanding.

Seat Game

According to sources, the alliance talks hit hurdles primarily over seat-sharing ratios. While both parties had initially agreed on the idea of a pre-poll alliance, disagreements emerged over the distribution of seats. The BJD sought to contest over 100 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, a proposition the BJP found unacceptable.

Conversely, the BJP sought 14 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, a demand rejected by the BJD. The stalemate over seat distribution escalated, with both parties remaining firm on their respective stances. In the 2019 general elections, the BJD had secured 12 seats, while the BJP won eight out of the total 21.

State Unit vs Central Leadership

Odisha BJP leaders, led by Mr Samal, held a series of meetings in Delhi for three days, engaging with central leaders to discuss the alliance. However, no conclusive decision was reached.

The dynamics of the alliance talks seemed to have shifted after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on March 5. While some sections of the Odisha BJP leadership are reportedly are on board with the idea of an alliance, others, including Mr Samal, have reiterated their desire to contest the polls alone. 

Mr Samal and other party officials gathered at the residence of another BJP leader in Bhubaneswar last night for further discussions. The BJD’s VK Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das, who rushed to Delhi on Thursday evening via a chartered flight for discussions with BJP central leaders, have now returned to the state capital.

Seat Ratio In The Past

Both parties had an alliance for around 11 years between 1998 and 2009, contesting three Lok Sabha and two assembly elections together.

The seat-sharing ratio in their previous alliances was 4:3. Odisha has witnessed simultaneous polls since 2004, with a consistent voting pattern until 2014, where voters typically favoured the BJD in both assembly and Lok Sabha elections. However, the 2019 elections saw a departure from this trend, with some degree of split voting observed.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the BJD secured a dominant position with 117 out of 147 seats, while the BJP won 10 and the Congress 16. The projection for Lok Sabha seats closely mirrored the outcome, with the BJD securing 20 seats and the BJP one. In 2019, a shift in voting patterns was evident, with the BJD winning 112 assembly seats, the BJP 23, and the Congress nine.

What Went Wrong

Once considered the BJP’s most reliable ally in the NDA, the alliance collapsed in 2009 following failed seat-sharing talks. The breakdown was officially attributed to the BJD’s demand for a reduction in the BJP’s share of assembly seats from 63 to around 40, and parliamentary seats from nine to six. This demand, deemed unreasonable by the BJP leaders, led to the withdrawal of support to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s government, marking the end of an 11-year political marriage. 

The withdrawal of support was termed by BJD as an “act of betrayal”.

The BJD-BJP pact was formed in 1998, orchestrated by senior leaders Bijay Mohapatra and the late Pramod Mahajan