Following are excerpts from the Kalinga Times report.

… The Chief Minister said his government was focussing on growth of agriculture, irrigation, infrastructure development, rural roads, drinking water, and growth in the IT sector, education and healthcare. Improvement in the people’s quality of life was the main objective of his government, Patnaik observed.He said that a special package, comprising a series of schemes, had been finalised by the State government for ensuring development of agriculture.

While a target had been fixed to bring 35 per cent of cultivable area in all the 314 blocks under irrigation cover, contract farming had been introduced in several areas for the benefit of the farmers, Patnaik said.

Stating that rural development was also a priority area for his government, Patnaik said efforts were on to improve rural road connectivity and ensure availability of safe drinking water in villages. The Jaldhara scheme was being implemented to provide piped water facility to 1000 villages in the first phase.

The government had also launched new schemes such as the Biju KBK Yojana, Gopabandhu Gramin Yojana and Biju Gramjyoti Yojana for rural development.

Mentioning about the excellent performance of tribal schools in this year’s High School Certificate examination, Patnaik said that priority was being accorded to education of tribal children. A total of 1000 hostels for tribal girls were being established in the State, he added.

As regards growth in the information technology sector, the Chief Minister said Bhubaneswar was fast growing as a major IT hub in the country. Companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Genpact and Satyam had already started their operation and very soon many companies were going to begin BPO business, he said.

The State’s software export was likely to cross Rs 700 crore during the current financial year, the Chief Minister said.

Patnaik said the government was also taking measures for proper utilisation of the rich mineral resources for the development of the State and its people. A total of 25 steel industries had already started production, he added. …

Following are excerpts from televisionpoint.com’s report.

 Mumbai based Zee Interactive Learning Systems (ZILS) is looking at its child care division, Kidzcare, as a major growth-driver in the years to come. …

Arun Khetan, CEO, ZILS said, “The franchised childcare centres, Kidzcare, are geared to meet the gap in proper existing childcare programmes. We will be setting up a total of 35 Kidzcare centres in this financial year.”

According to Khetan, the demand for these centres is mostly from the IT and BPO crowd. “Thus, the Kidzcare centres will mostly come up in places like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai.”

ZILS has plans to add another 70-75 centres in the next fiscal, while the target by 2011-12 has been set at 500 centres. The company expects Kidzcare to contribute about 25% to its turnover within the next five years. The Kidzcare concept operates on the franchisee model. The cost of setting up each centre ranges between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 45 lakh, not including the premises.