Guest Column News Updates

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Op-Ed: The Challenge of Saving Odisha's Widlife

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Wildlife management is not an easy job. The risks involved are evident from the fate of the much talked about inter-state tiger relocation project which has been practically on the hold following the death of three-year-old male tiger, Mahavir that was brought to the state from Madhya Pradesh and released in […]

Op-Ed: Public Representatives Must Set Good Examples

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The controversy surrounding newly elected Patnagarh MLA, Saroj Meher’s alleged “dabanggiri” with a PWD junior engineer seems to be snowballing. With video clips of Meher, a first time lawmaker of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), forcing the JE to do sit-ups in public for having carried out poor quality of road work […]

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Op-Ed: Modi-Naveen meeting, a significant encounter

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: On his first visit to Delhi after taking up the reins of the state for the fifth time chief minister, Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to meet Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. This is no ordinary meeting. To begin with this will be their first meeting after taking charge of their respective offices […]

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Op-Ed: Farewell Yuvraj!

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Certain images linger. Like the image of a young Yuvraj Singh clobbering six sixes off a hapless Stuart Broad at Kingsmead, Durban in the first edition of ICC World T20 in 2007. The innings is now part of cricket folklore. Yuvraj, who was at the crease with MS Dhoni, had hit […]

Op-Ed: BJP's Mission 120 in Odisha Still On

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Despite winning just 23 assembly seats in Odisha the BJP remains determined to pursue its Mission 120 Plus in the state which is crucial to its growth plans in eastern India. Senior party leaders have made it clear that though they are disappointed with the results of assembly elections there is […]

Op-Ed: Politics Apart Odisha Needs Special Category Status

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Chief minister, Naveen Patnaik’s request to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi at their recent meeting in New Delhi that states hit by major calamities be declared special focus states and granted benefits of special category status for a specific period has evoked varied reactions. While state BJP has described it as a […]

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Op-Ed: Wildlife Habitats Need Security

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Lack of security has made some prominent wildlife sanctuaries of the state vulnerable to poaching and left wing violence. This is bound to take a toll on their appeal as tourist destinations. The Similipal national park, which happens to be state’s first tiger reserve, was one of the first to witness […]

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Op-Ed: Smaller Wetlands, Too, Need Attention

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha government’s exclusive obsession with Chilika, Asia’s largest brackish water lake, has practically sealed the fate of  comparatively smaller wetlands which play an equally important role in preserving the state’s rich biodiversity. The plight of Ansupa, a freshwater lake on the banks of Mahanadi in Cuttack district which is returning back to […]

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Op-Ed: Hirakud dam needs a fresh look

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: With monsoon likely to arrive in the state soon focus will shift to flood management and Hirakud dam over Mahanadi will be at the centre of the discussions over the issue. The dam, one of the first multipurpose irrigation projects of the country, has courted several controversies in the past with […]

Op-Ed: Saving Wildlife the Ganjam Way

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: At a time when saving wildlife has become a challenge for the authorities it is heartening to note that blackbucks ( Antilope cervicapra ) have found a safe sanctuary in the Betnai-Balipadar area of Ganjam district with their population growing at a fast clip. During the last census in 2018 officials […]

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Op-Ed: What Makes Naveen Tick?

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar; In the wake of Biju Janata Dal’s stunning victory in the assembly elections the question uppermost in everyone’s mind is what makes Naveen Patnaik tick? Becoming the chief minister of the state for the firth time in a row is no ordinary feat, specially for a person who had made a […]

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Op-Ed: The War Against Left Wing Insurgency

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Maoist insurgency is one of the most intractable problems confronting Odisha government. The problem that began in the eighties when Congress was ruling the state has acquired serious dimensions now. In the last two decades the radicals have stepped up their attacks on police and even targeted mines in a bid […]

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Op-Ed: India’s Pluralism Must Survive At All Costs

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The Lok Sabha recently was witness to a spectacle that does not augur well for democracy in the country. The House saw a virtual slogan shouting contest between treasury and opposition benches as the newly elected MPs took oath. Quite a few of these MPs signed off with slogans expressing loyalty […]

Op-Ed: Naveen's Bid To Empower Women

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Chief minister, Naveen Patnaik has been a staunch advocate of women empowerment. In one of his now famous speeches he had described empowerment of women as the real ‘double engine’ for growth, a phrase coined by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi while campaigning for his party in Odisha where he had sought […]

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Op-Ed: Yet another example of Patnaik's politics of expediency

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Chief minister, Naveen Patnaik’s decision to support BJP candidate and former IAS officer, Ashwini Vaishnav for the third Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha has taken many by surprise. After all, only about a month and a half ago the Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and BJP were at each other’s throats. […]

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