Ashutosh Mishra

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: What is it that makes BJP stronger in western Odisha compared to the state’s coastal belt? Right from the beginning the party has been winning more seats in the western region...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: There are fresh reports of depredation caused by elephants in different parts of the state. The pachyderms have been destroying crops and damaging houses, triggering anger among the residents of affected...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Change, as the proverb goes, may be the only constant in life but it is never easy to effect. Most people, by their very nature, are reluctant to accept change for...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Eversince chief minister, Naveen Patnaik stepped into the political arena there has been speculation about the people guiding him. In the initial days bureaucrat-turned-politician, Pyari Mohan Mohapatra was believed to have...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Two black bucks (Antilope cervicapra) were recently found dead in Ganjam’s Polasara forest range. Both males their carcasses were recovered from different places in the same range. However, the carcasses did...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The spine chilling murder in a Keonjhar village of a 60-year-old tribal woman and her relative, both suspected to be practising sorcery, serves as a cruel reminder of how superstition continues...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The recent appointment of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders to various boards and corporations has triggered a debate about chief minister, Naveen Patnaik using political patronage to rehabilitate leaders who were...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The proposal of Odisha and Chhatisgarh to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to notify the Sunabeda wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve is a welcome move but the state government...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has drawn up grand plans to turn Puri into a world-class heritage city. The government has already launched a demolition drive around the 12th century Jagannath temple, the town’s...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Within the span of a few weeks Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has lost two of its most articulate and efficient leaders whose appeal cut across party lines. The diminutive Sushma Swaraj,...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s first geo-synthetic tube wall at Pentha in coastal Kendrapara, the only example of state-of-the art technology being used in the state to fight erosion, is in news again but for...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Water management is a huge challenge. It is a much bigger challenge in states like Odisha where a lot of water is wasted on a daily basis either through unplugged leakages or...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: There seems to be no end to the exploitation of minor girls studying in residential schools in the state’s tribal-dominated areas. If reports in a section of the local media are...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The killing of a hardcore Maoist, a platoon commander, in an encounter in Malkangiri district on Wednesday, is a significant achievement of state police. Though a district voluntary force (DVF) jawan...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha government must be grateful to the Centre for allocating more than rupees five thousand crore for afforestation and forest regeneration activities in the state over a period of ten years....

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha BJP is likely to get a new president with organisational changes in the offing. While the names of some probables are already being bandied about the pertinent question to ask...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha government’s plan to involve common people in the protection of elephants is a welcome move considering that there was an urgent need to make them stakeholders in this exercise. The...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Not one to rest on his laurels chief minister, Naveen Patnaik has set about the task of further strengthening the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) organisation in the state. The party, of...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: In a significant move, union agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar has promised additional assistance to coconut farmers whose crop was hit by cyclone Fani. The assurance must be music to the...

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: If newspaper reports are to be believed Odisha government had diverted more than 14,475 hectares of forest land for mining purposes in the last one decade. The mineral-rich Keonjhar and Sunergarh...