Bhubaneswar/Rome: It was an event of a get together session with the Odia Diaspora at the Hotel Roma Hassler in Rome, Italy on Thursday, where intellectuals, students, young entrepreneurs and professionals gathered to listen to the Chief Minister. They had come from faraway places to have a meeting with the most successful Chief Minister of India and a true leader of Odisha. Naveen was meeting the non-resident Odias and listening to their success stories.
One of the participants present during the interaction started his story of struggles before the esteemed guests including the Chief Minister and 5T Secretary V K Pandian, and brought utter silence and the Chief Minister became emotional and teary-eyed . He illustrated the story of his struggles and how Naveen came in his life as his messiah at a time when he was totally alone and helpless . The story of the young scientist was so inspiring that the Chief Minister could not control his emotions and became teary-eyed for a moment. It was such a sight that many of the people present at the meeting also became emotional.
He was none other than Seshadev Kisan, a young chemical scientist, born in a very poor peasant family from Balasingha village of Sambalpur district in Odisha who is now a Research Associate at Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany, had first met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2018.
It can be said that the moment was the best timing to depict his struggle and in front of that person who did change his whole life path ahead and after a long interval of time gets the opportunity to show the fruit of the plant once he had taken care and watered it at a very drought situation. Yes he was Odisha’s CM Naveen Patnaik who had watered once on an occasion to this young man during his drought conditions and watching him today as big grown tree and shadowing and feeding others was really amazing for him.
It was in 2018, Sesha was felicitated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his courage and successes in Bhubaneswar. He had met the Chief Minister wearing bathroom slippers and an outdated Nokia phone.There Naveen had given him a new iPhone and a cheque of Rs One lakh. Sesha still carries the iPhone given by the Chief Minister with him. Naveen also helped the poor guy in building his home. Patnaik had asked Sesha to give a speech at the Secretariat. On September 1, 2018, the young scholar presented a lecture on the Odisha Knowledge Hub (OKH) platform that was attended by ministers, senior bureaucrats, technocrats, academicians, and students.
Really it was a great moment for the CM on Thursday meeting the young boy in the glowing form whom he had helped once and these all made him to be emotional and watered his eyes.
Sesha on this great occasion recalled the past moments how had the Chief Minister helped him and he thanked him for making him what he is today. The heart rending emotional story of Sesha touched the Chief Minister. Naveen was so moved it brought tears to his eyes.
Explaining the story, Sesha said that Naveen is like his parent. After the death of Sesha’s mother and father, he had to struggle a lot for his higher education. His hard work could bring him success and he was able to complete his education with outstanding success.
In his own word Sesha said, “He is like my parent. So, I promised him I will fulfill all his dream,”
Seshadev Kisan, a native of Balasingha village in Sambalpur, had lost both his parents by the age of 18, is a gold medallist in Integrated Master of Sciences (MSc) from the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) in Bhubaneswar, joined the German University on October 1, 2018 and right now is working as a Research Associate at Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany.
Sesha had lost his mother to chronic illness when he was just a year old. In 2006, his father suffered from severe health complications and could not support him financially. However, he did not give up his studies and worked as a daily wager during vacations to support his father and elder sister. His father passed away when he was 18.Two years ago, he also lost his sister.
He had done his schooling in the village Sevashram where he topped the annual school examinations for five consecutive years. In 2005, he bagged the Best Student Award and also topped the Navodaya entrance exam. In fact, he was the only student from the Naktideul block to get into Navodaya Vidyalaya in Sambalpur where he studied from class VI to XII. He had scored 92 percent and 86 percent in his class X and XII exams respectively.
In 2012, Sesha cracked the National Entrance Screening Test (NEST), securing 17th position but tragedy struck when his father passed away. Later in 2013, he again cleared the NEST, securing the 15th position, and was admitted into the five-year integrated MSc course at NISER. During his studies in Bhubaneswar, he used to save his stipend money and take tuition to meet his expenses, take care of his sister, and return the money he had borrowed for his father’s treatment.
Today, Sesha specialises in organometallic catalysis, which is a part of synthetic chemistry. He is working as a research associate at the prestigious Georg-August-Universität Göttingen of Gottingen, Germany.
Inspired by the Chief Minister, Sesha decided to dedicate his life for the betterment of the poor people. He has adopted more than 170 children in his village and provides them free education and bears all expenses. He promises to fulfill the dreams of Naveen. He promises to build homes for the needy. The heart rending emotional story of Sesha touched the Chief Minister and brought tears in his eyes.
It can be noted that Naveen was meeting the non-resident Odias (NROs) residing in 12 countries across Europe and listening to their success stories. He calmly heard how they became successful in their ventures. He advised them to give back to the state and participate in Odisha’s transformation. 5T Secretary V K Pandian also interacted with the diaspora and explained them about Odisha’s transformation and successes. He illustrated Odisha’s growth story in the last two decades and how the state has adopted various welfare activities. He enlightened the audience about how Odisha became a food surplus state, how the state could lead the world in disaster management and how women empowerment has been the bedrock of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s government. He explained how Naveen’s priorities have been changing the lives of the people of Odisha. Naveen promised the people of Odisha to make them self sufficient in food production and the promise has been fulfilled. Infrastructure was created to augment agriculture ad steps were taken to improve farm productivity. He said that the Chief Minister’s motto is Women Empowerment. If the state has to progress, its women have to be empowered. He also highlighted the developments in the field of health, education and governance including Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, School Transformation, Mission Shakti and 5T Initiatives.
By Nilanchal Naik
