Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday questioned the Orissa government’s wisdom to focus on the mining sector instead of agriculture to achieve faster economic development.

Political parties, barring the ruling BJD, on Sunday announced to boycott the coming urban local body (ULB) polls in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts of the state to protest against the delay in setting up a permanent bench of the high court in western Orissa.

Taking the political battle into the enemy’s zone, the Congress on Saturday held a massive public rally in Kendrapara town in coastal Orissa, nearly 85 km from here.

The BJP in Orissa has resorted to a novel way of protest against increase in the price of onion. The party has started selling onion at `10 per kg in some major cities.

A human rights activist has challenged the arrest and imprisonment of two persons allegedly involved in rape and murder of a minor girl at Kharinashi village in Orissa’s Kendrapara district.

Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan on Saturday predicted defeat of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and claimed an alternative front led by the Left parties would bag more number of the seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Over 7,000 sugarcane farmers in Puri, Khurda and Nayagarh districts are staring at a bleak future as some unscrupulous elements have seized Nayaagarh Sugar Complex Limited (NSCL), a private sugar mill located on the outskirts of Nayagarh town, nearly 100 km from here.

The 12-hour hartal call, given by BJP to protest the death a 14-year-old girl who was molested by two youths and later set ablaze, threw normal life out of gear in Orissa.

At least nine persons were on Saturday feared killed and few others trapped when a pile of coal collapsed at Basundhara open cast mine of Central public sector unit Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) at Kulda in Orissa’s Sundergarh district.

The Orissa government’s efforts to airlift the 14-year-old girl who was set on fire by youths at Kharanasi village on July 28 to Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi went in vain as the burn victim succumbed to her injuries on Thursday night.