Tag: Ashutosh Mishra

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: In his fifth innings as the chief minister of the state, Naveen Patnaik seems to have put his best foot forward asking his ministers to submit monthly performance reports with regard to the implementation of Biju Janata Dal’s election promises. The opposition may deride it as a political stunt but it […]

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 […]

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: 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha government’s decision to close down around 1000 schools with student strength of less than 10 has stirred a controversy with the move not going down well with parents and educationists. The government plans to shift these students to nearby schools. Arrangements will be made for escorts and payment of transport […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The bizarre spectacle of a black magician trying to revive a dead woman, a victim of snakebite, near the morgue of Padampur sub-divisional headquarters hospital in Bargarh district on Sunday, once again proves that despite the spread of education superstition continues to rule roost in the rural areas of the state. […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The visuals of Biju Janata Dal and BJP candidates filing their nominations for the Rajya Sabha by-poll together in the state assembly have made many political observers conclude that bonhomie is back between the two parties which had parted ways after ruling the state in tandem for more than nine years. […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s temple architecture is the most important reminder of its glorious past. Temples with intricate carvings and great miniature works are scattered across the state. Old Bhubaneswar houses some of these architectural marvels located mostly in its narrow lanes and by-lanes. The sad part, however, is that we have utterly failed […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: Union environment ministry’s decision to grant a two-year extension for the construction of Polavaram multi-purpose project in Andhra Pradesh comes as an embarrassment for the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government which has been opposing the dam that threatens to submerge several tribal villages in Malkangiri district. The discomfiture of […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The alarming fall in the standards of education in government-run schools has finally made the mass education department sit up and think of corrective measures. As a first step towards this the department recently organised the first-ever interaction between parents and teachers in schools across the state. The purpose was to […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: With employment scenario in the state remaining bleak the focus has once again turned to the annual phenomenon of migration of labourers from the hunger zones of what has come to be known as the KBK belt. The argument that people from this region migrate to other states in search of […]

By Ashutosh Mishra Bhubaneswar: The visuals of Dana Majhi, a tribal from Kalahandi, carrying his wife’s body on his shoulders after failing to get a hearse are still fresh in the minds of people. That was 2016 but three years down the line nothing much seems to have changed in the state as far as […]