By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: In the cacophonous campaign of political parties marked by mutual recrimination environmental issues often get lost during the elections. It is no different this time. Hardly any party is raising any environment-related issue of consequence. Interestingly, a few days ago chief minister, Naveen Patnaik sought to bring Chilika, Asia’s largest brackish […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Ironical as it may seem neither chit fund nor the mining scam has emerged as a major issue in these elections in Odisha where the last phase voting will take place on April 29. Only BJP leaders have been talking about these scams but people in general seem indifferent to them. […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha watchers might be bewildered by the elections results in the state. The BJP has made big gains in the Lok Sabha with its tally set to reach 7 from the 1 it had in 2014. But the voters’ enthusiasm for the party in the Lok Sabha has not been reflected […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Congress in Odisha seems to have gone from bad to worse. The party, which ruled the state for the longest period, has lost its main opposition party tag to the BJP with its assembly tally getting reduced to nine from 16 in 2014. The victory of its candidate in the Koraput […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Balasore MP and freshly minted minister of state in Modi cabinet, Pratap Sarangi is all over the media. While social media has been going gaga over his austere lifestyle with pictures of him coming out of a thatched house going viral sections of the mainstream media have sought to put him […]
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 […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: In its latest move to empower women state government plans to engage women from economically deficient background in services like running of Aahar kendras, managing community toilets and collecting water bills. These women will be part of the self-help groups (SHGs) formed by the state urban development agency (SUDA) under the […]
By Ashutosh Mishra London: Tribal Odisha continues to fascinate foreigners. Browsing through the newspapers here I came across a promotional travel write-up on India with a nice photograph of the Konark sun temple at the top. The piece titled “ Another India” sought to highlight the “ little-visited eastern tribal state of Odisha ( formerly […]
By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Growing awareness about environmental issues is a healthy sign. It is nice to see people taking part in events like the rally against climate change held in the state capital on Friday. Thanks to such campaigns the issue is now being discussed even in lower middle class drawing rooms. Climate change […]