Naveen Completes 2nd Year of 5th Term: A Resilient Odisha Stands Tall Amid Adversity

By Newsroom Odisha Network On May 29, 2021

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has completed the second year of his fifth term in Odisha. It is a momentous event in the political history of Odisha, for not just in terms of number of years a leader has been in power, but his sheer dedication to steer the State towards path of rapid transformation in a true sense and changing lives of the people.

The two-year tenure of fifth term of Naveen Patnaik is a demonstration of his numerous achievements deeply rooted in his two decades of good governance and people-centric policies for ensuring food and health security to vast masses of people, politically and economically empowering women, uplifting millions from poverty and ensuring all round development of the State.

At the face of dual challenges of COVID pandemic and unprecedented natural disasters, Naveen Patnaik has shown the world the resilience of Odisha in saving life and livelihood of people from disasters.

The massive mandate to the Naveen’s party Biju Janata Dal in the 2019 elections has shown that the people have unconditional faith on the leadership of Naveen. The mandate also showcases Naveen’s untiring journey towards achieving a new Odisha, an inclusive Odisha where the fruits of the development reach every segment of the society.

Naveen took oath for his fifth term on this day in May 2019 in the backdrop of havoc caused by cyclone Fani, the intensity of which was equal to the Super Cyclone of 1999, and subsequently faced two more disasters – Amphan and Yaas. In spite of the colossal disaster caused by that cyclone the loss of human lives was very minimal. It was attributed to high global bench mark of governance in managing that natural disaster and shifting a million people to shelter homes in a record time.

The leadership of Naveeen Patnaik in saving lives from the catastrophic consequences of natural disaster has gained worldwide recognition on several occasions. And it has now stood a case study for others to emulate.

Since inception of his fifth term, Naveen has stressed on 5T manta of governance – Teamwork, Transparency, Technology and Time leading to Transformation and Mo Sarkar to bring changes in the lives of the people. The initiatives have brought a new revolution in governance and administration empowering the common man. The innovative governance initiative has caught the imagination of all, including policy makers and the general public. Mo Sarkar has led a fundamental change in the mindset among the public servants while dealing with the people. It has inculcated a greater sense of accountability and transparency in the public departments. The Mo Sarkar movement has made the public servants to realize the Naveen Patnaik’s philosophy that people are the real masters in a democracy and all the institutions are there to serve them with utmost dignity.

Another major achievement of the Naveen Government during the second term is its successfully handling of COVID-19 pandemic. The spread of Coronavirus Pandemic had been a cause of concern for almost all countries of the world. Odisha had faced the biggest challenge when the virus hit the State in early 2020 and shown its rising trend due to influx of migrants. But the way Odisha has managed the pandemic needs to be lauded. Chief Minister had taken a slew of measures to tackle the pandemic and achieved.

As the country faced the second wave of pandemic and Odisha was not an exception, Naveen had once again shown his statesmanship skills to save the lives of the people of his state.

Being a mass leader, Naveen has been leading the fight on behalf of his family of four and half crore people. While saving the lives of his state, he has not forgotten his federal responsibility. He has extended all supports to the Union Government when needed. All these days, he has been giving valuable inputs to the Center on the better management of the pandemic.

Since the onslaught of the second wave of the pandemic, there has been an acute crisis for medical oxygen. States especially, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh grappled to get oxygen supplies. At this critical juncture, Odisha Chief Minister took the bold step and announced that the Odisha Government would provide help so that the required oxygen reaches the needy states. Odisha has sent Liquid Medical Oxygen to more than half of the country. Odisha has become the lifeline for the affected states.

The world’s most acclaimed peer-reviewed medical journal, the Lancet has also appreciated Odisha for its better preparedness in fighting the second wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The journal, in its latest editorial titled ‘India’s Covid-19 Emergency’ has said that Odisha is among the few states in the country which were better prepared, and have been able to produce enough medical oxygen in this second wave to export it to other states.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been closely monitoring the situation in the state and his priority remains saving the lives of the people. His active monitoring and guidance has helped the state in a proper management of the crisis.

In his fifth term, Naveen has continued his focus on women empowerment. The seven million women members in seven lakh self-help groups (SHGs) in the State constitute a massive women’s movement in the State and form part of Mission Shakti programme of the Government of Odisha. Each SHG group consisting of ten women members has access to Rupees five lakh interest free loan. Mohammed Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and nobel laureate, has famously said that right to credit is a human right. By ensuring access of women SHG members to credit their human rights are upheld and they are set on path for their economic empowerment. During the fifth term of the Naveen Government several decisions for economic empowerment of these women have been taken and one particular decision to outsource so many activities of the Government to these women in self-help groups has created huge opportunities for them to stand on their own for their economic betterment. The way in which the members of these SHGs have provided masks to people, supplied vegetables and cooked food to them during the lock down period brought out their invaluable roles as frontline workers in the battle against COVID pandemic. Therefore, the celebrations of the second anniversary of BJD Government affirm its commitment to provide the much needed gender dimension to the politics, political process and economic empowerment.

One of the most important decisions taken by the Chief Minister in his fifth term is the transformation of the heritage sites in the state. Starting with the holiest place of the country – the Jagannath Temple, the Naveen-led BJD government has taken the initiatives to develop the amenities at major heritage sites upholding the spirit of secularism. Besides looking after the development of world class heritage sites, Naveen has given importance for the development of minority religious institutions and sanctioned funds for their development.

The longest-serving Chief Minister has been instrumental in ushering Odisha into a new era of transformation.

Naveen Patnaik, who became the Chief Minister in 2000, has been successful in providing a stable and strong government to Odisha and taking it on the path of sustained progress. The most popular mass leader of Odisha, Naveen is adored by millions for his crystal clear image, corruption-free and transparent government for two decades.

Through his sheer commitment to the cause of common man, he has won the minds and hearts of the people and enjoys unparalleled support and affection of the populace, and remains invincible ever since he entered into politics.