It's a morning of celebration at Bhubaneswar's picturesque Forest Park. Newly
elected municipal representatives from across the state-men in kurtas, women in
colourful saris-crowd the driveways and porticos of Naveen Niwas, the private
home of the Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen
Patnaik, waiting for an audience. A few minutes after 10 a.m., Patnaik emerges
from his drawing room to greet the visitors. The interaction plays out like a
sophisticated dance. One group two-steps forward, bends to touch the smiling
Patnaik's feet, gives him flowers and a shawl, and waltzes back, making way for
the next group to foxtrot ahead. Patnaik, 67, clasps and unclasps his hands for
each guest, and softly says "badhai ho" (congratulations) to anyone whose eyes
meet his. It's as tranquil a ceremony as you would ever hope to see in the
raucous world of Indian politics-no banners, slogans or
firecrackers.
With the same serenity and quietude, Patnaik, a reluctant politician who jumped from New York high society into Odisha's political minefield as his father Biju Patnaik's legatee, has transformed the state during his tenure over the last 13 years. He has emerged as a shrewd politician with such a grip over the state that a random vox pop asking people on the street to name other prominent leaders yields almost no results. "He seems reticent, almost aloof. He is not a talker," says a member of his third-floor staff at the state Secretariat, "he is a doer-both as a politician and an administrator."
It was this quality that galvanised the Odisha government's response to Cyclone Phailin. Winds of 220-250 kmph lashed the state's coast this October, but the damage was minimised through Mission Zero Casualty, which included the evacuation of 983,642 people in 36 hours. In comparison with the 1999 cyclone in which 12,642 people had died, the number of deaths was down to 21. The government's efforts were given a thumbs-up by both the United Nations and the World Bank, making it a rare example of effective disaster management in a country with an abysmal track record of dealing with natural calamities.
This comes just four months after the Uttarakhand government was caught off-guard by flash floods, in which nearly 6,000 people died and lakhs were rendered homeless.
Cyclone Phailin: The Great Escape
Once in the news mainly for hunger, poverty and starvation deaths, Odisha is now one of the most steadily growing states in the country. Its economy has grown at an average rate of 9 per cent a year in real terms from 2000 to 2012 as opposed to about 3 per cent from 1951 to 2000. Poverty has been brought down more than 30 per cent from 57.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 37 per cent in 2009-10. According to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India, the state is the most preferred investment destination for new projects with its financial closure for projects amounting to 27 per cent of all new investments in India. A visible sign is star-rated hotels in Bhubaneswar always brimming with occupants and flights from Delhi and Mumbai chock-a-block with business travellers. While a few of its human index figures may still not compare with leading states, they're showing an upward trend as well.
The growth story, unaccompanied by Patnaik showboating at public functions or tom-tomming his achievements in interviews, has taken him to a point where his popularity in the state is undisputed. "The children of Odisha now have a future to look forward to," the reticent Patnaik tells India Today in his office."That wasn't always the case. The party is reaping the benefits of bringing about this change." In the recent municipal polls, BJD swept almost all districts, including Kandhamal where religious violence against Christians by Hindu activists had led to his party and BJP snapping ties in 2009. BJP failed to open its account in either of the municipal corporations in the district. This popularity surge despite 13 years of incumbency is making Patnaik a much-sought-after politician going into the 2014 General Elections- likely to coincide with Odisha Assembly elections in which he is gunning for a record fourth term-and the possible leader of a third front. In 2009, BJD won 14 of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 108 of 147 seats in the state Assembly. Both tallies are expected to rise. "The BJD is equidistant from Congress and BJP. It's too early to talk about post-election scenarios but I've always considered the third front as a healthy alternative," Patnaik says, refusing to say any more.
Eye of the storm
Patnaik had been more animated, but equally frugal with his words, when the state was faced with its biggest crisis in more than a decade. Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra still remembers the call from Bhubaneswar-based Indian Meteorological Department Director Sarat Sahu on October 4, telling him that a weather formation over Thailand may lead to devastating cyclone in Odisha over the next few days.
"He said this was a preliminary phone call, but the intensity may be the same as the cyclone 14 years ago," Mohapatra says. The officer, who remembers the 1999 calamity as collector of Puri district says he was so distressed by the call that he couldn't get himself to eat anything for the rest of the day.
Two days later, as reports of the cyclone started gaining credence, Mohapatra called the chief minister's office and told them that a major natural disaster was knocking at the door. By October 8, the leave of all officials in 14 coastal districts had been cancelled, and daily crisis management meetings were conducted as work began on a war footing. Patnaik had a review meeting of his own every afternoon to supervise the preparations.
The concentration was on four key areas: One, repositioning forces and equipment at stops close to the areas where the cyclone was supposed to hit so the relief operations could begin the moment it receded; two, sending ration to places from where they could be rushed to relief camps; three, ensuring all essential offices remain functional even when power was lost; and four, smoothly managing the "largest human evacuation in history".
By October 9, the Indian Air Force, the Army, and the National Disaster Relief Force had been mobilised and transported to their designated places, and the entire evacuation was ordered to be completed by October 11, before Cyclone Phailin hit. On October 12, as the cyclone hit Ganjam, which falls in Patnaik's constituency, Mohapatra remembers a text message from District Collector Krishan Kumar saying the rooftop of his office had blown away. But on October 13, by the time the deafening winds had receded after blowing relentlessly, as if a bullet train were passing by, for more than 12 hours, Mohapatra got a call from Patnaik. "He said three things, which I will never forget because he is so careful with his words: 'Heartiest congratulations, commendable job, I'm proud of you'," Mohapatra says.
Over the next 24 to 48 hours, the government was able to restore traffic, and water supply in most of the affected areas. Electricity in 75 per cent of the region was restored within four days. Schools and colleges along the coast, all concrete buildings after the 1999 cyclone, served as makeshift relief camps. Nearly 1.8 million tonnes of rice from state godowns were immediately distributed in these camps, where hot food was provided to those who had sought shelter.
Those who lost their lives did mainly because of trees or walls collapsing, and not because they were swept away. The first death, for example, was in Bhubaneswar city, 200 km from the coast, where the wind speed was a relatively moderate 140-150 kmph. A woman who had gone out to pluck flowers despite bad-weather warning was crushed by a falling tree.
Though lives were saved, relief operations are still on in many districts, particularly Ganjam, for whose restoration alone Rs 500 crore has been sanctioned by the government.
Odisha has sent a total estimate of Rs 5,842 crore for rehabilitation and rebuilding to the Centre seeking assistance, but so far only Rs 250 crore has been released. The state Cabinet passed an ordinance on November 7 increasing Odisha's Contingency Fund from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,900 crore so that rehabilitation work can start without Central assistance.
Scheme machine
Long before it earned its reputation for managing crises, Odisha had started transforming with a variety of welfare schemes aimed at the poor and women. These schemes cover the entire lifespan of an individual. They start with Mamata, a programme for women whose loss of employment during pregnancy is compensated by the government in instalment payments of Rs 5,000, and end with Harishchandra Sahayta, which allocates Rs 3,000 for a person's last rites.
In between, there is an assurance of free hospital care during birth, free anganvadi education in which uniforms and food are provided, free primary education, scholarships, bicycles for all tribal students and girls who reach Class X, and laptops for meritorious students. The government's Employment Mission offers training for jobs such as driver, plumber and electrician. The Madhu Babu Pension Scheme offers pension not just to the old, the disabled, and the widowed, but also to all who are HIV-positive. There are several high-intensity zones of the HIVpositive people in the state.
"Most of these schemes work on exclusion rather than inclusion criteria so no one can fudge papers to benefit," explains a senior bureaucrat. "In Mamata, for example, everyone other than income tax payees and government officials is covered." The money in many of these schemes is provided through bank transfers.
Pregnant women in large numbers can be seen in banks on the designated days when Mamata installments are paid. "From a political perspective, it's a unique scheme because it gets the government the goodwill of two families instead of one-the woman's family and her husband's family," says a senior BJD leader, only half-joking.
But the two most popular initiatives of the Odisha government are on women's employment and affordable food. Mission Shakti, launched in 2001, promotes women's self-help groups to improve their livelihood. By the end of 2010-11, 457,000 such groups had been formed with a staggering 5.48 million members. A public distribution system was launched in August 2008 which provides rice to 5.6 million people at Rs 2 per kg.
In February 2013, when the country began reeling under a price rise, the price was reduced to Re 1 per kg.
The recluse
Though he's surrounded by frenetic activity-welfare schemes, cyclone rehabilitation programmes and political machinations by rivals and rebels, as evidenced by an alleged coup engineered in 2012 by his former political adviser Pyarimohan Mahapatra Patnaik appears as stoic as he is laconic. Patnaik's home looks like an extension of this disconnected, almost reclusive, demeanour. Naveen Niwas highlights both his minimalism and his eclectic taste.
The floors are white mosaic, not marble or granite. The sofas are upholstered wood matched with silk cushions, not leather behemoths. The walls, painted in light pastel shades, are adorned with paintings of animals and nature, and not with gilt-framed portraits or geometric abstraction. In one of his three bedrooms, on the ground floor of the main building an artist has painted figures directly on the blue walls-a sea horse, a fish and a few sea shells.
There are bookshelves in every room, both at home and in the office.
If a man is defined by the books he reads, Patnaik would be nearly impossible to define. His collection ranges from Jane Austen to Malcolm Gladwell, from architecture to jazz, from Siberia to Lucknow. There are books on Winston Churchill and Barack Obama, a few by Strobe Talbott and Open by Andre Agassi. All of his collection of books is interspersed with thin Georgette Heyer paperbacks which populate almost every shelf.
Patnaik now says his mission for Odisha is eradicating poverty, promoting industry, and making the state a hub for education and healthcare.
The strides the state has taken may be small in comparison with some other states. But they are giant leaps from where Odisha was just 13 years ago.
With the same serenity and quietude, Patnaik, a reluctant politician who jumped from New York high society into Odisha's political minefield as his father Biju Patnaik's legatee, has transformed the state during his tenure over the last 13 years. He has emerged as a shrewd politician with such a grip over the state that a random vox pop asking people on the street to name other prominent leaders yields almost no results. "He seems reticent, almost aloof. He is not a talker," says a member of his third-floor staff at the state Secretariat, "he is a doer-both as a politician and an administrator."
It was this quality that galvanised the Odisha government's response to Cyclone Phailin. Winds of 220-250 kmph lashed the state's coast this October, but the damage was minimised through Mission Zero Casualty, which included the evacuation of 983,642 people in 36 hours. In comparison with the 1999 cyclone in which 12,642 people had died, the number of deaths was down to 21. The government's efforts were given a thumbs-up by both the United Nations and the World Bank, making it a rare example of effective disaster management in a country with an abysmal track record of dealing with natural calamities.
This comes just four months after the Uttarakhand government was caught off-guard by flash floods, in which nearly 6,000 people died and lakhs were rendered homeless.
Cyclone Phailin: The Great Escape
Once in the news mainly for hunger, poverty and starvation deaths, Odisha is now one of the most steadily growing states in the country. Its economy has grown at an average rate of 9 per cent a year in real terms from 2000 to 2012 as opposed to about 3 per cent from 1951 to 2000. Poverty has been brought down more than 30 per cent from 57.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 37 per cent in 2009-10. According to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India, the state is the most preferred investment destination for new projects with its financial closure for projects amounting to 27 per cent of all new investments in India. A visible sign is star-rated hotels in Bhubaneswar always brimming with occupants and flights from Delhi and Mumbai chock-a-block with business travellers. While a few of its human index figures may still not compare with leading states, they're showing an upward trend as well.
The growth story, unaccompanied by Patnaik showboating at public functions or tom-tomming his achievements in interviews, has taken him to a point where his popularity in the state is undisputed. "The children of Odisha now have a future to look forward to," the reticent Patnaik tells India Today in his office."That wasn't always the case. The party is reaping the benefits of bringing about this change." In the recent municipal polls, BJD swept almost all districts, including Kandhamal where religious violence against Christians by Hindu activists had led to his party and BJP snapping ties in 2009. BJP failed to open its account in either of the municipal corporations in the district. This popularity surge despite 13 years of incumbency is making Patnaik a much-sought-after politician going into the 2014 General Elections- likely to coincide with Odisha Assembly elections in which he is gunning for a record fourth term-and the possible leader of a third front. In 2009, BJD won 14 of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 108 of 147 seats in the state Assembly. Both tallies are expected to rise. "The BJD is equidistant from Congress and BJP. It's too early to talk about post-election scenarios but I've always considered the third front as a healthy alternative," Patnaik says, refusing to say any more.
Eye of the storm
Patnaik had been more animated, but equally frugal with his words, when the state was faced with its biggest crisis in more than a decade. Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra still remembers the call from Bhubaneswar-based Indian Meteorological Department Director Sarat Sahu on October 4, telling him that a weather formation over Thailand may lead to devastating cyclone in Odisha over the next few days.
"He said this was a preliminary phone call, but the intensity may be the same as the cyclone 14 years ago," Mohapatra says. The officer, who remembers the 1999 calamity as collector of Puri district says he was so distressed by the call that he couldn't get himself to eat anything for the rest of the day.
Two days later, as reports of the cyclone started gaining credence, Mohapatra called the chief minister's office and told them that a major natural disaster was knocking at the door. By October 8, the leave of all officials in 14 coastal districts had been cancelled, and daily crisis management meetings were conducted as work began on a war footing. Patnaik had a review meeting of his own every afternoon to supervise the preparations.
The concentration was on four key areas: One, repositioning forces and equipment at stops close to the areas where the cyclone was supposed to hit so the relief operations could begin the moment it receded; two, sending ration to places from where they could be rushed to relief camps; three, ensuring all essential offices remain functional even when power was lost; and four, smoothly managing the "largest human evacuation in history".
By October 9, the Indian Air Force, the Army, and the National Disaster Relief Force had been mobilised and transported to their designated places, and the entire evacuation was ordered to be completed by October 11, before Cyclone Phailin hit. On October 12, as the cyclone hit Ganjam, which falls in Patnaik's constituency, Mohapatra remembers a text message from District Collector Krishan Kumar saying the rooftop of his office had blown away. But on October 13, by the time the deafening winds had receded after blowing relentlessly, as if a bullet train were passing by, for more than 12 hours, Mohapatra got a call from Patnaik. "He said three things, which I will never forget because he is so careful with his words: 'Heartiest congratulations, commendable job, I'm proud of you'," Mohapatra says.
Over the next 24 to 48 hours, the government was able to restore traffic, and water supply in most of the affected areas. Electricity in 75 per cent of the region was restored within four days. Schools and colleges along the coast, all concrete buildings after the 1999 cyclone, served as makeshift relief camps. Nearly 1.8 million tonnes of rice from state godowns were immediately distributed in these camps, where hot food was provided to those who had sought shelter.
Those who lost their lives did mainly because of trees or walls collapsing, and not because they were swept away. The first death, for example, was in Bhubaneswar city, 200 km from the coast, where the wind speed was a relatively moderate 140-150 kmph. A woman who had gone out to pluck flowers despite bad-weather warning was crushed by a falling tree.
Though lives were saved, relief operations are still on in many districts, particularly Ganjam, for whose restoration alone Rs 500 crore has been sanctioned by the government.
Odisha has sent a total estimate of Rs 5,842 crore for rehabilitation and rebuilding to the Centre seeking assistance, but so far only Rs 250 crore has been released. The state Cabinet passed an ordinance on November 7 increasing Odisha's Contingency Fund from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,900 crore so that rehabilitation work can start without Central assistance.
Scheme machine
Long before it earned its reputation for managing crises, Odisha had started transforming with a variety of welfare schemes aimed at the poor and women. These schemes cover the entire lifespan of an individual. They start with Mamata, a programme for women whose loss of employment during pregnancy is compensated by the government in instalment payments of Rs 5,000, and end with Harishchandra Sahayta, which allocates Rs 3,000 for a person's last rites.
In between, there is an assurance of free hospital care during birth, free anganvadi education in which uniforms and food are provided, free primary education, scholarships, bicycles for all tribal students and girls who reach Class X, and laptops for meritorious students. The government's Employment Mission offers training for jobs such as driver, plumber and electrician. The Madhu Babu Pension Scheme offers pension not just to the old, the disabled, and the widowed, but also to all who are HIV-positive. There are several high-intensity zones of the HIVpositive people in the state.
"Most of these schemes work on exclusion rather than inclusion criteria so no one can fudge papers to benefit," explains a senior bureaucrat. "In Mamata, for example, everyone other than income tax payees and government officials is covered." The money in many of these schemes is provided through bank transfers.
Pregnant women in large numbers can be seen in banks on the designated days when Mamata installments are paid. "From a political perspective, it's a unique scheme because it gets the government the goodwill of two families instead of one-the woman's family and her husband's family," says a senior BJD leader, only half-joking.
But the two most popular initiatives of the Odisha government are on women's employment and affordable food. Mission Shakti, launched in 2001, promotes women's self-help groups to improve their livelihood. By the end of 2010-11, 457,000 such groups had been formed with a staggering 5.48 million members. A public distribution system was launched in August 2008 which provides rice to 5.6 million people at Rs 2 per kg.
In February 2013, when the country began reeling under a price rise, the price was reduced to Re 1 per kg.
The recluse
Though he's surrounded by frenetic activity-welfare schemes, cyclone rehabilitation programmes and political machinations by rivals and rebels, as evidenced by an alleged coup engineered in 2012 by his former political adviser Pyarimohan Mahapatra Patnaik appears as stoic as he is laconic. Patnaik's home looks like an extension of this disconnected, almost reclusive, demeanour. Naveen Niwas highlights both his minimalism and his eclectic taste.
The floors are white mosaic, not marble or granite. The sofas are upholstered wood matched with silk cushions, not leather behemoths. The walls, painted in light pastel shades, are adorned with paintings of animals and nature, and not with gilt-framed portraits or geometric abstraction. In one of his three bedrooms, on the ground floor of the main building an artist has painted figures directly on the blue walls-a sea horse, a fish and a few sea shells.
There are bookshelves in every room, both at home and in the office.
If a man is defined by the books he reads, Patnaik would be nearly impossible to define. His collection ranges from Jane Austen to Malcolm Gladwell, from architecture to jazz, from Siberia to Lucknow. There are books on Winston Churchill and Barack Obama, a few by Strobe Talbott and Open by Andre Agassi. All of his collection of books is interspersed with thin Georgette Heyer paperbacks which populate almost every shelf.
Patnaik now says his mission for Odisha is eradicating poverty, promoting industry, and making the state a hub for education and healthcare.
The strides the state has taken may be small in comparison with some other states. But they are giant leaps from where Odisha was just 13 years ago.
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