1 From the Editor’s Desk: The dreary winter days are done; the sun is shining and coaxing tulips and daffodils out of the dry dirt; you can hear squirrels chasing birds up the bare branches; an occasional shower that makes the roads look clean; all of this reminding us that ‘Time’ waits for none. March 2013 issue of Utkarsa is here. We welcome you to read your favorite articles, know about Oriyas who live abroad and join us in celebrating the season of Spring.
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1
From the Editor’s Desk:
The dreary winter days are done; the sun is shining and coaxing tulips and daffodils out of the dry dirt; you can hear squirrels chasing birds up the bare branches; an occasional shower that makes the roads look clean; all of this reminding us that ‘Time’ waits for none. March 2013 issue of Utkarsa is here. We welcome you to read your favorite articles, know about Oriyas who live abroad and join us in celebrating the season of Spring.
Happy Spring! We just celebrated the International Women’s Day on March 8. Our brothers and sisters in
Odisha celebrated this day with meetings and various events, honoring extraordinary women in the
community. I want to take this opportunity to honor women in our community. This year’s theme for United
Nation’s International Women’s Day, is: “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against
women”. I whole-heartedly echo the sentiments of UN’s resolution. As we all know on the one hand, in most
of the countries women have done remarkably well, yet, they have a long way to go to attain equality. From
my own personal experience, I have seen women’s achievement in education as well as economic
empowerment at various levels in Odisha but at the same time, everyday print as well as television media
brings to our attention the glaring violations of women’s honor and dignity. When is this gap going to bridge? I
do see some happy signs on the horizon. There are some noteworthy attempts made to improve women’s
condition and to empower them to achieve their full potential. Here I would like to single out two
commendable efforts initiated by our own OSA members. One is, Amara Biswas, started by Ranu Mahanti of
Michigan and I am in the process of documenting it. The other one is Mahila Santi Sena (MSS) spearheaded by
Prof. Sri Gopal Mahanty of Canada. I had the privilege of attending their workshop in Jagasinghpur, Odisha on
January 31, 2013. In my opinion, both the initiatives are truly empowering women economically and politically
at the grassroots levels.
Utkal Divas, April 1 2013
April 1, 2013 is going to be the 77th anniversary of the foundation of the independent state of Odisha. On this
occasion, I wish every Odia a Happy and Joyous Utkal Divas. Our founding fathers worked very hard to achieve
cultural and linguistic autonomy of our people and we should make every effort to be worthy of their hard
work and sacrifices. I take pride in what we diasporic Odias have done to keep our Odia heritage and tradition
alive in our diasporic life in North America. Our elders had the vision and foresight to form the Orissa Society of
the Americas 44 years ago, which has played a significant role in continuing our heritage and traditon in the
Diaspora.
OSA Annual Convention: July 4- 6, 2013 osa2013.0rg
Pretty soon we will come together in Chicago to participate in our 44th annual convention. As we all know, this
is the most important event of OSA to showcase and celebrate our culture community. We the OSA executives
are constantly in touch with our brothers and sisters of Chicago chapter who are hosting this year’s
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convention. I am happy to report that all preparations are in full swing for this gala occasion. Like every year,
we will have an impressive group of luminaries in art, music, literature, dance and drama to participate in the
convention. You would be happy to know Sj. Dinanath Pathy, a renowned artist, editor and writer, has agreed
to be our distinguished guest. I request every member of OSA to register right away and please visit the
website at http://osa2013.org for all the details. I assure you that it is going to be a memorable event. Please
do bring your family and friends for an unforgettable experience.
Membership Drive and OSA’s financial stability:
As our treasurer, Sushant Satpathy reports, our goal has been to overcome the financial setback after last legal
case and leave OSA in a stronger financial position. I am happy to report that when we came in office in Aug
2011, we had $105k in our account but in Dec 2012, it has grown to $136K. Since we came to office, we have
added 130+ members and now we are close to our goal of 1000 member families. We need your support to
reach our target. Safety lies in numbers. The more members we have, the stronger our clout will become in
the North America.
Transition to New Administration in July 2013
Can you believe it? Soon our term is going to end and the July convention will install new office bearers of OSA.
By now, you all have been introduced to the candidates contesting the 2013 election. Please do your civic duty
and vote in the election and do come to the convention to greet the new office bearers.
On behalf of the OSA executive committee, I take this opportunity to thank you all for your vital support and
friendship, which has sustained us through the past two years. I look forward to welcoming you all in Chicago.
Yours sincerely,
Annapurna Pandey
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MESSAGE FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT
Dear Friends,
Namaskar! Spring is already here. This is the season when the first flowers begin to bloom and the green
world begins to return after its winter slumber. Here at OSA, we take the pleasure of only one season, and that
is spring! Our pioneers are prodigious, our members are vibrant and sky is the limit for our dream. OSA, as
always is busy now with many activities. We are all excited and eagerly waiting for the upcoming election and
the convention. Currently OSA executives are getting ready to pass the baton. We are wrapping up our
unfinished jobs to make this transition smooth.
OSA Awards 2013:
As you know OSA will be honoring members for their contribution to the society in 2013. If you know
somebody and you believe that he or she has contributed significantly please nominate their names for the
awards. We want maximum participation.
The last date for nomination is 31st March, 2013.
For more information on OSA Award, please visit www.orissasociety.org If you have questions and concerns in filling the nomination forms, do not hesitate to contact the award committee by sending an email at [email protected]. They will be glad to help you. Deadline for Meghna Memorial Award for Creative Writing is 31st of March 2013. Please encourage children between ages of 7 through 18 to write and send those to [email protected]
OSA Convention 2013:
The 2013 OSA convention will be held in Westin at Lombard, IL – a western suburb of Chicago. The theme of
the convention is “Videsha Maatire Odiya Santana, Uchcha Rakha Tume Odiara Maana”.
Convention planning and preparation are already in full swing. The organizers and volunteers are working hard
to make this an enjoyable and exciting event. So, mark your calendar from now on and make it a point to
come, enjoy and have fun.
Various updates from the convener Gyana Patnaik and the 44th OSA Convention Team:
Friends,
As you all know, our Convention is fast approaching. Here are few items like to draw your attention.
1. Please visit our website osa2013.org and do convention registration and hotel booking by
availing our registration promotion now.
2. South West Airlines is currently giving fabulous nationwide deal until month of October.
Please avail the opportunity to book ticket to Chicago.
3. Encourage our 2nd and 3rd generation folks to get involved in our convention activities
by asking them to visit osa2013.org and facebook.
OSA2013 cultural team is working to put together a fun-filled cultural program with gracious participation from
all chapters.
We would like to formally invite the Young Adults (YA) from your chapter to be featured in our prime time Young Adult Cultural Show on Friday evening of the OSA 2013 Convention!
We are asking for your YA (ages 16 and beyond) to participate in our program, featuring the theme "What
does being Odia Mean to YOU?" This program will be one of the highlights of the evening, focusing on talents
from YA from all over the Americas. We would like as many or as few performers to put together a polished
performance of their choosing - Dance, Song, Skit, Comedy Sketch -- just a few examples, but the possibilities
are limitless. We only ask that they incorporate a theme, idea, song, prop - something that symbolizes their
Odia Heritage - within their performance (we have some ideas, however would love to see what our YA
creative minds can dream up!)
Each chapter's team will be featured with an introduction video presentation!
We are looking to put together an elegant and masterful production for our OSA families, to highlight how the
YA of OSA take pride in their Odia Culture.
And we need Y-O-U!
Please be on the lookout for future emails and communication with further details. We will also be adding
many details to our website and will send out the information when it is available. And if you would like to be
included on our mailing list, please send us your email!
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Any if you have any questions, please email our YA liaisons at [email protected] for a quick response!
And if you know what you might be interested in putting together, we would love to hear your thoughts, the
sooner, the better - so we can properly prepare for your performance.
OSA2013 team is organizing Visual Arts Presentations and Competitions for all age groups. We sincerely
request your active participation and input as we finalize details around these programs.
Children Art Showcase:
Chicago OSA convention is organizing Walk of Art to showcase and promote artistic abilities of Odia children.
We would like to requests Parents to submit items of Visual Arts (painting, crafts, pottery, ceramics, jewelry,
etc) that we would put up for display during the convention in a specially organized public display area.If your
child has already received awards or prizes for any of their art work from any institutions, please send us the
print/photo of the art work with description of the work and the prize received. We will put them in a special
exhibition area.Deadline for the interest to participate: please let the organizing team [email protected] if you
would be interested in participating with details around the art work by 1st May, 2013 or before. We will send
you additional information once we receive confirmation for participation.
Deadline to send the artwork to organizing team: 1st June 2013.
Adult Art Showcase:
Chicago OSA convention is organizing Wall of Art to showcase and promote artistic abilities of Adult Odia
Artists. We would like to requests artists to submit items of Visual Arts (painting, crafts, pottery, ceramics,
jewelry, etc) that we would put up for display during the convention in a specially organized public display
area.
Deadline for Interest to Participate to [email protected] : 1st May, 2013 or before. We will send you additional
information once we receive confirmation for participation.
Patta Chitra Competition:
Is “Pata Chitra” a dying art? Are you able to recreate Patta Chitra on a silk cloth? Please let us know by sending
email to [email protected] by 1st April,2013 and we will send you details around the competition.
Theme based Competition:
Theme: Journey through time – your experience/impressions from your travel to Odisha/India.
Open to children and youth under 18 years of age. Please submit original art of work based on the theme.
Winners will be decided by a panel of independent judges, Winners will get a plaque and cash prizes. We
would like you to email your Interest to Participate to [email protected] by May 1st, 2013 with the submission
date of June 1st . Competition will be cancelled if there are not enough participants.
On behalf of OSA Chicago Convention Team I am sending out this initial invitation for this year's PP Drama Competition. As all of you know the drama would be of 20 minutes duration which includes preparation time. We have tentatively scheduled the competition to be held on the evening of Saturday the 6th July, 2013. My request is to please pass on this information among drama enthusiasts and chapters and urge them to be ready for the competition. We have not assigned any particular theme for this year's competition. The standard OSA guidelines are as below- PROMODE PATNAIK INTER-CHAPTER DRAMA COMPETITION This competition is held during the convention. The guidelines are:
The duration of the drama is limited to 18 minutes only (no exception); only 2 minutes will be provided for prop setup.
Minimum 2 participants per entry.
One drama per each chapter/state/region will be eligible to compete in this category.
It must come through the president of the concerned chapter or from an OSA life member.
The entry has to have a different name & title than pre-registered dramas. Please check and confirm with the convention cultural team before you choose the drama.
Each group should arrange their own props or instruments for competition.
Any specific audio or light requirements need to inform while registering and convention cultural team will decide and let know if possible to provide such.
Since the number of entries need to be limited due to time constraints, the convention cultural team may use additional screening requirements
The deadline for entries for submission is decided by the convention team
For any questions, please contact convention cultural team Going forward we will coordinate with different Leads to have this year's competition a memorable one! Please email/call Salil Mishra at [email protected] or Manoj Mahapatra (Cultural Lead) at [email protected] for any questions or concern.
I take the pleasure of inviting all of you to join us at the convention. Hope to see you all.
There were initial discussions with Govt. of Odisha at the highest level with head of SPIC MACAY, Dr. Kiran
Seth.
Next Step?
The next step would be to do an initial feasibility study to determine viability of this initiative.
Why Vikas Educational Trust?
This is an organization with reputation and would be responsible for the funds utilization. OSA has worked with
them before. Also, this organization distributes hundreds scholarship by NFE ( Foundation for Excellence) and
NSF (North South Foundation) every year.
Month: March
Meeting Date: 03/03/2013
People Attended:
No Name Title Organization Present
1 Annapurna Pandey President OSA Yes
2 Kuku Das Vice President OSA Yes
3 Leena Mishra Secretary OSA Yes
4 Sushant Satpathy Treasurer OSA Yes
5 Pramod Mohapatra President Southern Chapter Yes
6 Sujata Nayak President OSA – MD/VA No
7 Arata Tran Rout President OSA - Ohio No
7 Bigyani Das Past President OSA Yes
8 Simant Mishra President OSA – Grand Canyon No
9 Prakash Sahu President OSA- Washington DC Yes
10 Nihar Nanda President OSA – New England No
11 Jhara Das President OSA - Chicago Yes
12 Pitabasa Panda President OSA - Michigan No
13 Prabhat Mohapatra President OSA – NYNJ Yes
14 Radhagobinda Mohanty President Ozark - Central Yes
15 Sabita Panigrahi Representative OSA - Canada No
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AGENDA
Convention Update OSA Election Update Treasurer’s Report Miscellaneous
Utkarsa March 2013 issue
OSAnet Communication Protocol
Constitution Review
CCO CD production
Election 2013 issues
MEETING DETAILS
Annapurna Pandey welcomed everyone to the meeting. Convention Update Jhara Das and Sushant Satpathy provided following updates for Convention 2013.
Requested everyone in the BOG to ask their chapter members to register for the convention for better
planning.
At the inquiry of some BOG members regarding oDia cuisine for convention they were informed that
Convention Food committee will be working on the menu and and any suggestion should be directly
sent to the committee.
The articles for Souvenir are invited in OSANet and email has been sent to individual chapter members
through chapter presidents.
BOG members were requested to provide the contact information of all the young adults from their
chapter so that the Convetion Youth committee can contact them to get involved in the youth program.
BOG members were informed that OSA officials have received a request to invite Dinanath Pathy
aguest. OSA national is interested to invite someone who has contributed in the social development in
the state. We have reached out to Tulsi Munda, Krishna Mohanty and Shruti Mohapatra to find out
about their availability. We are still trying to reach out to Tulsi Munda, Members were given brief
overview of the contribution of each individual who are currently under consideration for Lifetime
Achievement Award
Election Update Leena Mishra updated members regarding election.
Election Committee is working on preparing the Ballots.
16 Sunil Sabat President OSA – California No
17 Priyadarshan Patra President OSA – Pacific Northwest Yes
18 Sampurna Srabani Mohapatra President OSA - SouthEast No
19 Mrutyunjay Pani President OSA-Southwest No
20 Debasis Das President OSA - NW Chapter No
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Election committee has received two sets of nominations for each position and they have made the
announcement in OSANet.
It was suggested to ask them to make the candidacy for all the positions separately for Utkarsa.
President/ Vice President/
Secretary
Treasurer
Treasurer’s report
2012 Convention Account Statement and Transaction Details were sent out earlier to BOG members.
OSA Account Statement as of end of Dec 31st will be shared with members in next couple of days.
2012 Convention Statement has already been forwarded to OSANet but will be provided along with
OSA’s end of year Account Statement
Pacific Northwest chapter was congratulated for making a huge surplus in 2012 convention. The
balance amount is equally shared between the chapter and the convention. The account summary will be
published in Utkarsa March 2013 issue.
Miscellaneous Utkarsa Utkarsa March 2013 issue is due for this quarter. It is requested to send the Chapter reports to the Utkarsa Editor
soon.
Communication protocol / OSA Net Protocol There was a suggestion and discussion among the BOG members on keeping a restriction on what can be
published in OSAnet regarding the election 2013. But it was decided to ask the moderators to be vigilant in case
of any personal allegation instead of keeping any restriction.
Constitution Review Sushant Satpathy provided following updates on constitution review.
He acknowledged that it is a monumental task.
At present OSA’s general counsel is helping in review and revision of the document. The review has
taken into consideration the issues pointed out by BOG members who had reviewed the document
before.
Following are terms of reference for modification of the constitution without changing any of the
underlying principles and policy.
o Review the language and structure of the current constitution
o remove duplication in different sections
o leave procedural details out of constitution
o most of the membership requirements in terms of do’s and don’ts will be moved to membership
agreement part of membership application
o clarify membership requirement, rights etc ( currently we don’t allow people to vote if they
have address outside US and Canada)
o changes to chapter rules to allow affiliated organizations from Canada
o the changes won’t be marked sentence by sentence from the current constitution
There was a concern regarding the approval of the complete constitution. Some members
suggested the following plan in case we want to move forward with the approval of the completely
amended constitution.
Proposed Time line for Approval
Get it from the legal counselor by 1st April share it with members.
Give 30 days to members to go through the updated constitution.
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By May 1st collect the opinions of the members and go through another round of review
And make the changes accordingly and get it ready by July 4th.
2nd Champu Chhanda Odissi CD
Topic of Discussion: OSA has received a request from Lata Mishra to produce another set of CD for CCO.
The following proposals were received to sustain the award in long term.
Put the CD in Amazon so that nonmembers of OSA can get benefited from this.
Since this initiative is towards promoting Odia Culture, it was suggested to contribute $50 annually
from each chapter towards the award of Champu Chhanda.
Increase the registration fee for the convention and give a CCO CD free to each registrant.
The following decision was made from the discussion- OSA Cultural committee should contact Lata Mishra to identify her need and get a detailed proposal and get an
electronic voting from the BOG members regarding this.
Election Issue (Conflict of Interest reported by some members) Current BOG discussed the following scenarios in the current election contest that were brought to the notice of the current administration by some members. 1.Sridhar Rana (Current editor) is a candidate for election 2013.
2. Sabita Panigrahi (representing Canada chapter in BOG) is a candidate for election 2013. 3. Gagan Panigrahi, (spouse of Sabita Panigrahi, a current candidate) is in award committee. 4. Amar Pani is a candidate for election 2013 (his brother Mrutyunjaya Paniis in BOG).
These points were discussed in BOG on March 3rd. By considering all the scenarios, BOG has come up with the following decisions. If anybody has any objection to this decision, please contact BOG through OSA secretary (Leena Mishra) at [email protected] / [email protected] and they will be discussed in April BOG meeting. 1. Editors have no direct role in the election process. However, we have 2 editors. If the editor Sridhar Rana continues with his candidacy, then editor Julie Acharya Ray will be in charge to bring up the March 2013 issue of Utkarsa.
2. If Sabita Panigrahi continues her candidacy, we would restrict Sabita Panigrahi's access to any sensitive discussion on election. She would be allowed to other OSA related discussions and any announcements about election that would be available to public in OSAnet.
3. Gagan Panigrahi will act in his role as OSA award coordinator since award process is a completely independent process and has no relationship with OSA Election.
4. Mrityunjay Pani will serve in BOG as a regular BOG member. However, OSA constitution prevents 2 members from the same family to be in the BOG and this is not such a situation. (ARTICLE VI: ELECTION - Section 3) Note: [Mrutyunjaya Pani was not present in the meeting and rSabita Panigrahi had excused herself from BOG meeting in advance.]
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ARTICLE IX: AMENDMENTS AND RULES OF BUSINESS Section 4 On any question involving the constitution the By-Laws, or the Rules of Business, the decision of the
Board of Governors will be final.
Information Shared with BOG members(This information was shared with BOG in email):
OSA's executives’ decision regarding Annual Student Members from 2012 Convention who had paid partial membership Fee: During 2012 Convention 6- individuals had joined as annual student members and had paid partial membership fees (student membership fee set by Convention Committee was based on past fee structure prior to 2011 Constitution revision) were collected from these members. After membership fees were received and reviewed by OSA treasurer the issue with fees collected and fees required as per rules were discovered. OSA executives discussed and agreed to resolve it by offering 2 options to said annual student members: Option 1: The student members can pay the difference in the fees and continue to be annual student member and by extension be eligible to participate in 2013 election. Option 2: They can opt to get a refund of their membership fee and OSA fee and no longer be considered OSA annual members. They were given 2 weeks time to decide and communicate. Either because of their communication or lack thereof OSA refunded the membership fees to 5-individuals and received the balance fee from one individual. This was communicated to Election Commison by OSA Secretary at that time the decision was taken. So, 5 members who opted out were taken out of the updated voter list provided to EC on March 1st, 2013. For 2013 convention, students less than 26 years age can register with their parents and are not required to become OSA members to attend the convention. This rule is part of draft Convention Guideline that is under consideration. Action Items:
1. To have the spouses email in DOLA (added, need to request members to update).
2. Sushant Satpathy to send OSA Account Statement for review ( done)
3. More discussions to sustain CCO will follow in the next meeting.
MEETING ACTUAL END: 11:30 PM
NEXT MEETING
Next Meeting: April 7th at 8:30 pm EST / 5:30 PST Location: Conference call – phone
Election Updates (Candidates Bio – As received from the Election Committee)
Two sets of nominations are received for the 2013 OSA Election. Please see the bio below to find out
more about the candidates.
President/Vice President Amar Pani & Saswati Mishra Vs. Tapan Padhi & Sikhanda Satapathy
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Secretary
Debashish Panda vs. Sabita Panigrahi
Treasurer
Sridhar Rana Vs. Prashant Ranabijuli
Amar Pani
Dear members of Odisha Society of Americas (OSA): I take this opportunity to announce my intention to run for President of OSA in the forthcoming election. I am a proud Odia graduated from Khallikote College, Berhampur. I fought for women’s rights while attending Berhampur University. Later, I earned a M.Sc. in Toxicology from Laurentian University, Ontario and a Ph.D. in Neurochemistry from the University of Montreal/McGill, Canada. I pursued my Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Visiting Fellowship at the NIH, and Research associate-ship at TTUHSC, Texas. Currently, I am a Scientist in Neurobiology at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. I am involved with two research projects: Parkinson’s disease and Drugs of abuse. I am fluent in English, French, Hindi, and Odia languages. I am married to Dr. Jayasri Shiva Pani from Bhubaneswar, with whom I have two boys, Alex Amar Pani and Adam Amar Pani. I am a good standing Patron of OSA for the last 23 years. I attended three of the last four conventions. At the Seattle convention, I hosted the “Healthy Body and Mind” seminar. From 2009-2011, I served as the president of OSA-Southern Chapter. Over those years, I recruited 13 families as life members of OSA. I also served in the OSA Board of Governors and various critical OSA committees. If elected, my targets for OSA will include designing, and implementing a strategic plan of clarity and unification. At OSA, being a non-profit and non-political corporation, I will carry out the primary mission to support innovative, merit-reviewed activities involving socio-cultural and charitable development. I will provide an effective communication to all members and pursue rigorous membership recruitment. I will ensure that the rights and views of all the members are protected. In doing these things, I hope to pave a path for future generations. I thank you in advance for your vote in making me OSA’s next President. Please visit our website @ www.amarteamelection.com to view our agenda. Truly, Amar K. Pani, Ph.D. Saswati Misra
Dearest Fellow OSA members:
My name is Saswati Misra and I would like to express my desire to run for the vice-president of OSA
in the election-2013. My parents are Bijoy and Jyoti Misra from Bhubaneswar. My father is serving as
Commissioner for Electricity Regulatory commission in Odisha. I am married to Hiranmoy Mishra of
Texas. My father-in-law, Mahendra Mishra is the retired Chief GM of Coal India Ltd. My mother-in-
law, Dr. Amiyabala Mishra is practicing as a gynecologist. Although I was away from Odisha a lot;
Odia language and culture has been a huge part of my life. I have always maintained my fluency in
Odia and kept in much closer contact with Odia families. I graduated from Delhi College of
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Engineering, with a Bachelor Degree and earned a MBA degree from the Xavier’s Institute. I was a
member of XSYS student body council that required interfacing with other students and facilitating
discovery of gaps and strengths. I was the treasurer of XIMB and arranged alumni meet at XIMB. I am
currently working for Citigroup, TX. My family and I attended the Dallas convention in 2011 and truly
enjoyed that experience. Now my desire to go back to my roots has intensified immensely. I travel to
Odisha about every year to visit and volunteer. Now that the opportunity has arisen, I am especially
excited about serving an organization so dear to my heart. I feel that over the years, OSA is losing its
younger members. My intentions, in short, are to help bridge the gap between my parent’s
generation and the new youth generation to help OSA’s future viability. If elected as VP, I will work
closely with Dr. Pani to fulfill his vision and mission for OSA. I hope that you will give me a chance.
Sincerely,
Saswati Misra
Tapan Padhi
Dear friends: I seek your vote and support to make OSA a vibrant and dynamic organization with clear value addition for its members. My past service to the OSA as convener of the 2011 convention, co-convener of the 2004 convention, and President of OSA-Southwest Chapter from 2005-2009 has enriched my vision for a stronger and more effective OSA. This vision includes expanding OSA’s role in specific areas such as youth activities, senior citizen service, educational and cultural linkages with Orissa and establishing a student exchange program. My discussion with leaders of other Indian Organizations in USA, such as Telugu Association of North America has reinforced my view that not only these goals are achievable, but also they would go a long way in strengthening our community and drawing more members to make our community life vibrant and productive. In addition to my OSA experience, I have gained valuable insights into the needs of immigrant Indian diaspora as well as the second generation Indians through my association with the Indian Association of North Texas as its General Secretary and Director. I have used these opportunities to strengthen the community through socio-cultural programs, consensus building and targeted fund raising (such as $81,000 for Orissa Super Cyclone.) My interest in community service started at a very young age when I was elected as Secretary of Science Society in F.M. College, Balasore. Subsequently, I represented REC Rourkela student body in University level activities and organized cultural activities. I had a bright academic career in high school as a valedictorian and state-level debate representative. After completing electrical engineering from REC, Rourkela, I came to the US in 1988. After MS in Computer Science in 1993 from NDSU, I have been working in various managerial and technical advisory responsibilities in large corporations such as Price Water House and CVSCaremark. With your support, I aspire to lead OSA to the next level in service and activity. Tapan Padhi (OSA Benefactor and Candidate for OSA President) Sikhanda Satapathy: Dear friends: The OSA thus far has provided a platform for immigrant Odias to celebrate our culture, a forum to maintain our friendship and share our experience, and has continuously strived to connect the spread-out Odia diaspora in North America. It is time that such activities are strengthened and initiatives are taken to
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address new challenges. I join Tapan Padhi in soliciting your support for our team to work with you to implement specific ideas for our senior citizens, second generation youth and aspiring immigrants from Orissa. My association with OSA started at the 1993 convention in Michigan, where two of us from Columbia, Missouri presented a dance performance. That convention also sowed the seed for the future community organization, SEEDS that was later registered as a student organization at the University of Texas at Austin by three graduate students including me. Later, I served as OSA souvenir editor for 2004 and 2011 conventions and as OSA editor from 2005-2009. I was part of the winning drama team in 2005 OSA convention Promod Patnaik drama competition. I have supported local OSA chapter activities by serving in several OSA-SW chapter election committees, co-organizing and participating in various chapter events. I have been active in professional societies as committee chairs, symposia organizer and guest editor. My professional work was recognized with the Peter Mark Medal by the IEEE Electromagnetic Launch Society in 2012. My educational qualifications include a PhD from University of Texas-Austin, MS from University of Missouri and BE from BITS, Pilani. My professional experience includes five years in industry, nearly two decades in academia and about two years in the federal government. A vote for my team would be a vote for new ideas, more value for your membership and selfless service. Sikhanda Satapathy (OSA Life-Member and Candidate for OSA Vice-President)
Debashish Panda
My Dear OSA members: My name is Debashis Panda, a Life Member of OSA, and I would like to contest for OSA secretary in the coming election. I am an engineer by profession, currently working for Intel Corporation as the Director of Technology Development. I reside in Gilbert, Arizona with my wife Rajashree and two sons Pratik and Pinak. We share a common goal to enhance the experience of the small Odia community around us. Since our arrival in US some two decades ago, we realized that the only way we grow and live in this newly adopted country are to enrich and uplift our culture, among our kids and friends here. To that end I have led and participated in many activities here in Arizona, such as establishing Lord Jaggannath culture in our Hindu festivals and organizing cultural events by established Odia artists. I worked with several local OSA members and Odia community leaders to establish the Grand Canyon Chapter of OSA in 2009. I served as the first President of that chapter. I also served in the OSA Board of Governor and helped in many ways to address various problems by taking simple and logical approach and being all inclusive. My passion is to enhance our community life here to a level where our future generations and the new incumbents feel proud, not only to be part of this country, but also have fun and a sense of fulfillment indulging the Odia cultural activities. I would like to learn from the other communities that have been more successful in North America and drive OSA to excel. I would like OSA members to think about how we give back to our home state of Odisha as well as establish a clear channel of growth for Odias in America. Please support me to serve you. Please visit our website @ www.amarteamelection.com to view the full agenda. Faithfully, Debashis Panda Sabita Panigrahi Dear friends: In my long association with North American Odia community since coming to Canada in 1987, I have always endeavored to bring fresh ideas and execute my tasks to the best of my abilities with utmost
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sincerity. As an editor of OSA and CANOSA journals in 1988, I worked with a team to design and print OSA Souvenir for the first time using Odia computer fonts. As the Vice President of CANOSA (1999-2001,) I carried out a fundraising campaign for the victims of Super Cyclone - approximately $100,000 was raised. I have assumed various cultural leadership roles in OSA and CANOSA events: directing dramas and opening songs, participating and supporting OSA regional drama festivals in Michigan, Toronto and Ohio, and serving as the cultural coordinator for the 2008 OSA convention. I edited the first journal of CANOSA in 2005. More recently, during my tenure as the President of CANOSA (2010-2012,) we achieved many successes through team building and individual excellence. We continuously promoted Odia culture, local talent and professional artists. A fundraising drive was held for 2011 Odisha flood victims. I coordinated a combined celebration of 40 years of Odias in Canada along with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee for the Bishuba Milana. We received a grant from the Canadian Heritage during my term. CANOSA’s contribution to Panorama India’s events was significant. The Odisha float was awarded “special float” during 2011 Panorama India’s Independence Day. I live in Toronto with my husband, Dr. Gagan Panigrahi, who has actively contributed to many Odia socio-cultural activities in CANOSA and OSA as well. With a B.Sc (Phy) from F.M. College, Balasore, MCA from NIT, Rourkela and MS (Comp. Sci.) from University of West Ontario, I work as an IT professional in a multinational company now. I seek your vote and support to strive for stronger bond among Odias through active pursuit of socio-cultural activities and my team’s new initiatives in a collaborative atmosphere.
Sridhar Rana: Dear Friends of OSA: As a Treasurer candidate, let me introduce myself. I am Sridhar Rana, living in New Jersey with my wife Bijoylaxmi Rana and our two daughters: Lipika and Deepika. I am working in IT as Product Development Manager at CRM products. In my social life, I am the Editor of OSA Newsletter–Utkarsa since 2009; an active OSA volunteer and OSA NY-NJ management team member. I am currently serving as the Secretary in Executive Board of India Cultural Society. I was also the Secretary of OSA NY–NJ Chapter; Editor of OSA Souvenir 2009 and Editor in chief of OSA Audio Souvenir 2009, first of its kind in OSA history. “Fly away as you like, don’t live in a cage. But always remember your nest & take care of it – that’s your mother state Odisha” - this is a memoir from my friend from Andhra University Engineering College. Years have passed, and miles have been crossed but my tiredness never resets to zero unless I visit my village in the remote area of Balasore. My village is as proud today as they were when I got enrolled as a science student in F.M. College. In return, I have taken pride in how many lives I have touched and changed for good, not just counting on how many checks I have written to a mission or to a charitable organization. Similarly, OSA is not a government or country with unlimited resource that can print its own money, spend it any way or write checks to anybody in need. As a sociocultural organization, it has to keep itself relevant, purposeful and vibrant by adhering to its own constitution and making its own transactions transparent. With that same sense of “Pride and Giving back to Society” that I have with my village, I am willing to take the responsibility of OSA-Treasurer, with your support. Please visit us @ www.amarteamelection.com to view the full agenda. We are also friends in facebook. Regards, Sridhar Rana
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Prashant Ranabijuli Dear friends: Simplicity, Sincerity, Honesty and Integrity – these are my guiding values in everything I do. Born to a modest family my parents taught me to aim high without compromising the core values. As a treasurer of OSA, I will work to preserve and grow OSA’s financial resources, which will be critical for a healthy OSA and to execute the new initiatives that my team is proposing. Since coming to the US in 1998, I have been active in various community activities at local and chapter levels. These include maintaining local Odia email groups, managing finances of all local activities (such as professional Odissi dances, picnics, social events,) helping with Lord Jagannath Ratha construction and maintenance, coordinating Austin’s participation in regional drama festival, etc. More recently, I served as the Vice-President of the OSA-Southwest Chapter. My professional career in IT and engineering is a product of my fascination with numbers and problem solving since my childhood. After my engineering degree from REC, Rourkela in 1991, I started my professional career at Guwahati, Assam. At Guwahati, I was involved in local Oriya community activities, get-togethers, picnics, etc. I served as the General Secretary of the Oriya association for two years. During that tenure, I did a lot of ground work such as mobilizing members, arranging meetings, fundraising activities, etc. With the blessings from Late Loknath Mishra, the then Governor of Assam, we successfully hosted Utkal Divas in a grand way. I am proud of my association with Odia and other communities, where I have supported synergistic activities that have resulted in small and large successes on many fronts. If I am elected as the Treasurer, I will strive to bring complete transparency in financial transactions and work towards a fiscally strong OSA that can confidently explore new initiatives for the members. Prashanta Ranabijuli (OSA Life-Member and candidate for OSA Treasurer)
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MESSAGE FROM THE TREASURER
Dear Friends, Namaskar!
I have provided update on following items. Please feel free to contact me with any question or suggestions.
New OSA Members
2012 Convention Account Statement
OSA Account Statement as of Dec 2012
Welcome New OSA Members and 65 more needed!! Please join me in welcoming following members to OSA. Balakrisna Dixit and Nirlipta Daschaudhury, VA, Life Members Anshuman Panigrahi and Saswati Mahapatra, NJ, Life Members Sahana Shah and Tej Shah, NJ, Life Members Rajeev Behera and Surbhi Sarna, CA, Life Members Rashmi Ranjan Sarangi and Priyanka Prakriti, DE, 5-yr members Arun and Mamata Mishra, WA, Annual to 5-yr members To get to 1000 OSA families we need 65 more new members and retain all 5-year and Annual Members. It is challenging but let’s work together and see what we can achieve. Membership Upgrade A BIG Thank You to following members for upgrading their membership. This has strengthened OSA’s financial health as well given us opportunity to introduce new life members through convention and chapters. Tapan and Sudhamayee Padhi, TX, Life Members to Benefactors Gopal and Reva Mohapatra, TX, Patrons to Benefactors Prasanta and Suparna Behera, CA, Life Members to Patrons
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Triloki and Annapurna Pandey, CA, Life Members to Benefactors Gyana Patnaik and Sujata Patnaik, IL, Life Members to Patrons Jay Narayan and Liza Bhuyan, OH, Life Members to Patrons We are requesting our long standing members to favorably consider and upgrade their membership to next level and help us bring in new members. Help Bring New Members Membership is life blood of any membership organization and we need members’ involvement to grow, to sustain and to preserve OSA. Please introduce/re-introduce OSA to a potential member in its true sense. I want to thank those of you who have been helping us on this effort and in that context want to mention two names; Jay Narayan Bhuyan and Sandip DasVerma for their continuous effort to bring new members. I wish we had 20 of them, one in each local community. Also, I thank OSA National and chapter leaders for their effort. My sincere request to all of you to encourage your family members: son, daughter, nephew, niece, brother, sister and/or friends to be part of OSA to help maintain the Grace and Glory of oDia identity in this far away land.
2012 Convention Account Summary 2012 Convention Account was submitted by Convention Committee and convention had a surplus of $38255.05 and it has been equally shared between PNW Chapter and OSA National. The positive financial status at the end was possible because of several factors:
strong corporate sponsorship
individual donation/sponsorship by our members
Microsoft’s volunteer matching program Both convention team and OSA National worked hard together to generate funds for convention. Convention team tracked their transactions in detail and an auditor audited the convention account before it was submitted to me. Convention Finance team operated in an open and transparent manner and have shared the account details with me during and after the convention. At the end the surplus was because of prudent management of convention finance at the line item level. Keeping with the promise for an open and transparent financial reporting I have shared the transaction level detail reports on OSANet.
OSA 2012 Convention Account Statement Prepared by Satyakam
Repurposed by Sushant Satpathy
Convention Income
51000 · OSA Convention Income
51100 · Registration fee 18,540.00
51200 · Food Charges 21,500.00
51300 · Sponsorship 23,260.00
51400 · Donation 16,243.70
51400A · Donation for special purpose 650.00
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51500 · Advertisement 10,300.00
51600 & 51700 · Media sale & Vendor Booth 570.50
51800 · Discounts and contra-incomes -995.00
51900 · Other miscellaneous 797.39
Total 51000 · OSA Convention Income 90,866.59
52000 · OSA National Income
52100 · OSA Membership Fee 3,090.00
52200 · OSA Convention Fee 2,370.00
52800 · Discounts and Contra-Incomes -400.00
Total 52000 · OSA National Income 5,060.00
53000 · Special fund for invited artists
53100 · Fund for Sunanda Pattnaik 9,600.00
53200 · Fund for Trupti Das 1,800.00
53300 · Devraj - Ellora program 1,850.00
53400 · Buddhist Heritage & HE Seminar 2,000.00
53500 · Fund for Prafulla Kar 2,000.00
Total 53000 · Special fund 17,250.00
54000 · Matching Programs
54100 · Volunteer hours matching 11,525.00 *
54200 · Doantion matching 420.00
Total 54000 · Matching Programs 11,945.00
55000 · Investments - Interest, Short-term CD 30.11
Total Income
125,151.70
* $1700 for Volunteeer hours matching was received after final account was submitted by host chapter.
Convention Expense
71000 · OSA Expenses
71100 · Operation expenses 5,109.25
71200 · Facilities and equipments 12,193.81
71300 · Cultural, seminar and youth 13,101.60
71400 · Awards & prizes (Non-cultural) 3,976.81
71500 · Food services 21,564.44
71600 · Hospitality and guest expenses 4,088.83
71700 · Transportation & accommodation 5,639.56
71900 · Other Expenses 700.00
Total 71000 · OSA Expenses 66,374.30
72000 · OSA National refund ( Membership and OSA Fee) 5,060.00
73000 · OSA Expense for special program
73100 · Expense for Sunanda Pattnaik 5,598.28
73200 · Expense for Trupti Das 1,535.22
73300 · Devraj Ellora Patnaik program 3,572.16
73400 · Prafull Kar Lifetime Award 2,000.00
73500 · Expense for Buddhist Seminar 2,254.07
Total 73000 · OSA Expense for special program 14,959.73
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Reserve fund (Volunteer Appreciation and others) 502.62
Total Expense and reserve 86,896.65
Net Surplus
38,255.05
50% of surplus to OSA National 19,127.53
50% of surplus to PNW Chapter 19,127.52
Convention Treasurer: Pradeep Sahoo Accepted by Sushant Satpathy, Treasurer , OSA
Chapter President: Priyadarshan Patra Convener: Amulya Das
Co-conveners: Pradeep Sahoo, Rakesh Patnaik and Kuku Das (VP, OSA)
OSA Account Summary as of Dec 31st, 2012
Between June 2012 and Dec 2012 the net increases in OSA balance is $6,405.86 and total balance is $137,322. This does not reflect all receipts from 2012 convention.
Membership: 16 more life members/ 5-year members have joined by end of 2012 (28 as of
3/15/13) with total 130+ new life members/5-yr members till date. Although it will be difficult
to recruit 65 more members before July 2013, we are hopeful and depending on all of you.
Membership Upgrade: We have reached out to members to upgrade their membership and till
date (3/15) we have 8 member families who have upgraded their membership and we request
others to consider.
Follow-up on past pledges after legal case: We have reached out to members regarding their
pledges after legal case but so far that effort has not been very successful. I thank those who
have fulfilled their pledge and request others to do so. It is our decision not to pass on the list
to next team of volunteers.
Financial: Our goal is to overcome the financial setback after last legal case and leave OSA in
a stronger financial footing. We had $135K balance on May 2009, $105K on Aug 2011 and
$136K on Dec 2012 (accounting for convention advance). We hope to achieve that by
continued membership recruitment and membership upgrade.
OSA Programs: During our time the income earned on OSA’s fixed deposit amount has been
dismal and almost non-existent. We have sustained OSA activities without the benefit of that
additional income rather we have started oDia Speech and CCO program at the chapter level.
We plan to formalize those programs for better chapter-National relationship. In future we plan
to continue with RDF (at different times), oDia Speech during fall and CCO during spring. All
these programs will have a national component during OSA Annual Convention.
2nd
CCO CD: Out of 200 copies of first CCO Karaoke CDs produced by OSA we have sold
more than 140 copies and after deducting all costs made $900. We are planning to produce
another Karaoke CD under OSA’s banner this year.
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OSA Account Statement as of 12/31/2012
Amount
Income/ Expense Category
Opening Balances as of 06/01/2012
Checking #1 $13,955.00 Checking #2 $18,607.41 CD#1 $25,696.03 CD#2 $62,657.95 Total Balance (as of
** Items marked will be transferred to fixed deposit/ CD ( donations to 'Rebuild OSA Fund')
*** Designated special funds
Note: Balances on cash basis. On accrual basis both the opening and closing balance will be 10K higher on account of convention advance, as the advance is expected to be returned in full. So on accrual basis the opening and closing balances will be $130,916.39 and $137,322.25 respectively.
Balances as of 12/31/2012 Checking #1 $24,014.24
CD#1 $103,308.01 Total Balance (as of
12/31/2012) $127,322.25 Total Balance(as of 06/01/2012) $120,916.39 Net Increase $6,405.86
Balances under special funds
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ODF $2,390.00 CCO Fund $1,451.24 Odia (Language) Development- $3,489.50 Emergency Fund $5,000.00
I hope you have registered for 2013 Convention in Chicago. We look forward to welcome you here during July
Washington DC Chapter: Saraswati Puja Report Prakash Sahu, President
OSA DC Chapter celebrated Saraswati Puja on February 16, 2013.
The day started with great excitement with setup activities of the puja hall, food and drink service areas in preparation for the Saraswati puja. Kids worked along with adults getting the place organized neatly. We thank all the volunteers for the following: Setup: Meera Apa, Urmila Apa, Devaraj bhaina, Moushumi, Pinky, Mehul, Lonika, Leena Satpathy, Leena Mishra, Sarthak and Shaswat Food Item and Pickup: Urmila Apa, Dr. Manoj Mishra, Pinky Puja & ceremony proceedings: Meera Apa played a critical role assisting Pratap Dash during the ceremony. Kids were keenly interested and absorbed by the explanations provided by both Pratap and Surendra bhaina associated with the puja, while Pinky helped the kids demonstrate the puja actions they needed to perform on their respective arrangement of Saraswati. Khadi chuan was performed for Arnav Bali and Aaradhya Pradhan. Food Serving: Urmila Apa, Shivani (Gudli), Lonika, Divya Das Cleanup: There were so many helping hands we are grateful to all, in getting the cleanup work done rapidly and very efficiently. Find the Saraswati puja 2013 pictures located at: https://plus.google.com/photos/111493703072442987385/albums/5846479199069037505?gpinv=AMIXal__Qeoi7seeIKUGU3ykKmJQIzI2xvyaU8rr1MYYiT4-PE6zjNGcYC_x2KtCvF2z6F3zmKjLmGJDUpEZ1xEPwrJjF64pueKwMcnOM1FlBg5ZllDg1kQ&cfem=1 Thanks to Sujit Das for taking the pictures and Gati, Upendra and Moushumi for their advice and assistance for the event. Please excuse us if we missed your name as volunteer. Bhoga, fruits, followed by lunch and khiri and bundi for dessert, tea, soda and water was enjoyed by all. OSA identity cards were distributed to OSA life members. Please find the attached document for you to read, review and pursue further, regarding the OdishaGateway initiative with Surendra bhaina that we could not cover.
Our special thanks to our sponsors for their generous contributions to: 1. Hemant & Priti Biswal 2. Prafulla & Sangeeta Nayak 3. Sarbeswar & Tara Acharya Thank you all those who attended the Saraswati puja. We look forward to meeting you on our next event "Raja picnic" planned for 06/22/2013 (Saturday). More to come on this as we firm up the venue. Best Wishes and Regards, OSA Washington DC Chapter Office Bearers email:[email protected]