Odisha plans roadshows abroad to attract investments
Bhubaneswar, June 30: The Odisha government has planned to organise roadshows in Italy, Germany and Saudi Arabia to attract investments ahead of the Make in Odisha Conclave, a minister said on Saturday.
A 13-member team is scheduled to visit different countries to meet and woo investors for the Make in Odisha Conclave, which is to be held in Bhubaneswar from November 11 to November 15.
Industries Minister Ananta Das said in the first phase, the team will visit three countries, Italy, Germany and Saudi Arabia.
The tour is scheduled from July 1 to July 10, he added.
The team will be led by Odisha Industries Minister Ananta Das and department secretary Sanjeev Chopra.
The team would showcase its investment potential and the slew of measures taken for ease of doing business to the foreign companies during the tour.
In the second phase, the team will be visiting China, South Korea and Japan during the first or second week of August, informed the Minister.
Notably, the state government has partnered with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for the second Make in Odisha conclave after the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) withdrawal from the conclave.
At the inaugural edition of Make in Odisha in December 2016, Odisha drew investment intents valued at Rs 2.03 trillion at the event.
Sixty per cent of those investments are now in various stages of approval or implementation, said the minister.
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Neutrality of polls can't be assured if EC dependent on contestants: Justice Nagarathna
New Delhi (PTI): Supreme Court judge Justice BV Nagarathna, while highlighting that the Election Commission is the primary institution entrusted with maintaining the integrity of polls, has said if those who conduct elections are dependent on those who contest them, the neutrality of the process cannot be assured.
The apex court judge raised a critical concern regarding the structural independence of those tasked with overseeing the ballot while delivering the Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture at the Chanakya Law University in Patna on Saturday.
Citing a 1995 verdict where the Supreme Court recognised the Election Commission as a constitutional authority of high significance, entrusted with ensuring the integrity of elections, she said, "The concern, once again, was structural: if those who conduct elections are dependent on those who contest them, the neutrality of the process cannot be assured."
Justice Nagarathna said elections are not merely periodic events but a mechanism through which political authority is constituted.
"Our constitutional democracy has amply demonstrated smooth changes in government due to elections being held on a timely basis. Control over that process is, in effect, control over the conditions of political competition itself," she said.
The Supreme Court judge said power is not exercised only through formal institutions but also through the processes that sustain them, including elections, public finance, and regulation.
"A constitutional structure that seeks to restrain power must therefore go beyond its classical forms and address these fourth-branch institutions. A set of institutions, while not always fitting within the classical tripartite scheme, is nonetheless central to the maintenance of constitutional order," she said.
Justice Nagarathna said the unmistakable lesson of history is that constitutional collapse occurs through the disabling of its structure, and the violation of rights merely follows.
"The dismantling of structure, in turn, occurs when institutions stop checking each other. At that moment, elections may continue, courts may function, laws may be enacted by Parliament, and yet, power is effectively not restrained because the structural discipline no longer exists," she said.
The apex court judge also urged the Centre to view states as "coordinates and not subordinates" and asserted that the separation of powers was a "constitutional arrangement of co-equals."
Justice Nagarathna also called for keeping aside "inter-party differences" in the matter of "Centre-state relations", underscoring that governance must not depend on "which party may be ruling the Centre and which other party may be ruling at the state level".
