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 EscapeOnce 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
stormPatnaik 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 machineLong 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
recluseThough 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.
