As he shared from leaves of his inspirational autobiography – Ajira Dina Mora, Kulange narrated his story of triumph to pass the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and become an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.

Stories of people overcoming adversity resonate with something deep within us. The parts of us that hope our future is not determined by destiny but by our hard work. One such incredible story of resilience and inspiration belongs to Kulange.

Born in the tiny village of Ralegan in Maharashtra’s Ahmadnagar district to a father who worked as a tailor and a mother who worked as a daily wage worker on farms, Kulange grew up seeing his parents toil all day long to make both ends meet. Earning just about Rs 200 a day, his parents were constantly worried about providing their children with two square meals a day. Money was always scarce, and even bare necessities were unimaginable. He could not take admission in medical college for financial reasons. He started out as a primary school teacher but persevered and got through the IAS in the first attempt.

The Odia autobiography book is the translated version of ‘Ajcha Diwas Maza’ written in Marathi. An inspirational journey from a school teacher to IAS officer, the book depicts Kulange’s struggles and successes in his life. He has mentioned how he turned the difficulties and challenges into opportunities.

Almost all the budget expenditure, about 99% will be met from revenue sources and about 1% from loans. The process of conversion of the expenditure to tangible and intangible outcomes is not a straight one. Because there are several intermediate stages and complementary resources required in achieving the intended impact. But the departments have to own up the outlays and sensitize down below with the fact that the financial resources are deployed for achieving certain outcomes. In the coming years this will no more be a theoretical pipe dream. The pressure of targets has entered the room and is here to stay. Targets for both outputs and outcomes. This year the revenue sources for the state will be expected to contribute Rs 36,978 crore (state’s share from the taxes imposed by the Centre), the state’s own tax revenue of Rs 46,000 crore and non-tax revenue of Rs 48,200 crore and the Central allocation of Rs 32,789 crore. It seems the total tax and non-tax revenue in the first two months, April and May have registered about 36% higher in comparison to last year same period. Non-tax revenue is from the mining sector. I am concerned about the coal mining. As India will strive towards achieving the 2070 net zero target, Odisha’s contribution to the nation’s energy transition will be more important than perhaps what we assume now. In 2020-21, Odisha produced the second-highest quantity of coal (over 154 million tonnes) in the country. It is believed that this will help in reducing imports and hence protect the capital of the country. But what about the environment and the coal mining communities? Does the non-tax revenue from mining, including coal, comes at humanitarian cost?

The welfare programs in health, employment, education, food and women development have been supported by the budget but in some cases inadequately. Some of the allocations are — Rs 2,664 crore for the ‘Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana’ (Health Insurance), Rs 500 Cr towards the MGNREGS and Rs 2,001 Cr for the MGNREGA scheme, Rs 1,023 Cr towards food security, Rs 2,000 crore for Mission Shakti Department, Rs 700 Cr for the employment program MUKTA. Creating opportunities for poor urban people and migrant labourers needs more investment. The uncertainty in agriculture and outbound labour has to be protected as much as possible. I was expecting more outlay in MUKTA, agriculture research & education (Rs 161 Cr) and flood control measures (Rs 968 Cr). These are closely related. Agriculture has not been efficient and is overtaken by manufacturing and service sectors but continues to be mothballed for bad times. R&D in agriculture needs immediate boost. Rs 3581 Cr allocated for Samagra Shiksha is a wise step. Since the last three years, this drive has focused on improving quality of education, enhancing learning outcomes and using technology to help children and teachers for development of school education (from Class I to Class 12) at the district level. The outcome of this initiative has the potential to immediately contribute to the SGDP by building the base of our coming generations. Last year the allocation was Rs 3,157 Cr and this year it is Rs 3,581 Cr. Rs 100 crore for high school transformation program looks inadequate because this is a capital-intensive program and quite a diversified one. This has been treated as a subdivision and not as a main division. This has surprised me. Development of MSME & Start-up promotion has been announced about 30% more than the previous year’s allocation but we should know the unspent and the work in progress to arrive at a more realistic figure of allocation.

Budget provisions for Jhajhanbati Project in Koraput, Mid-day meal schemes, KALIA scheme do not surprise me. Rs 312 Cr for horticulture and Rs 112 Cr for income support to farmers’ families, is spent well, should be enough. But the challenge is the outreach and the accountability in doing so.

The Budget Stabilisation Fund takes the cake. This is intended to insure the Budget from revenue uncertainty and volatility and help the state continue undisrupted with its programmed expenditure and programs. The Budget Stabilisation Fund is required to absorb possible future revenue shocks due to the unimaginable and ominous swing in mining revenues and international commodity prices. Odisha is most unlikely to escape the geopolitical turmoil.

This budget has provisioned more for capital expenditure, more than 50% addition to last year’s allocation. Under the Capital Outlay, there are allocations for Biju Expressway, State Capital Project, Augmentation of Basic Amenities and Development of Heritage and Architecture (ABADHA) at Puri, Ekamra Khetra Amenities and Monuments Revival Action Plan (EKAMRA), Samaleswari Temple Area Management & Local Economic Initiative (SAMALEI), Integrated Development of Heritage, Monuments & Tourist Destinations, Connecting Unconnected Villages in Difficult Areas (CUVDA) and others. Special focus is given to the development and preservation of cultural heritage. This will help boost the cultural economy of Odisha. The size and potential of the economy is forever growing rapidly, since the last decade. I had written this earlier in the context of the cultural economy of Odisha, “Art and culture is the permanent treasure. Its fast depletion is making us poorer every year. In 2022, culture-based explanations for economic development will have to make a comeback in Odisha. Cultural activism and concomitant creativity in general population can make us richer in 2022. GDP is grossly incomplete without arts and culture.” Rs 132 crore has been provided for the promotion of Odia Language, Culture, and Heritage, and this includes the important Rs 46 Cr for Mukhyamantri Kalakara Sahayata Yojana and Rs 15 Cr for preservation, conservation, and protection of monuments and sites which reflect the rich cultural heritage of our state. Mukhyamantri Kalakara Sahayata Yojana will help in bringing back tangible social security of the art community and this will be crucial as a confidence building measure among the artistes. But why Rs 56 Cr has been earmarked for Directorate of Culture is beyond my understanding. The Department of Culture and the University of Culture possess the mandate to change Odisha and Odias, but we haven’t seen anything transformational happening there. So, allocating more budget isn’t a surefire way of rejuvenating them and making them deliver. Along with funds, please give them a funds Burn Plan.

Capital expenditure is the money spent by the government on the development of machinery, equipment, building, health facilities, education, etc. It also includes the expenditure incurred on acquiring fixed assets like land and investment by the government that gives profits or dividend in future. We need the state to multiply capital assets, broad based and diversified.

I was quite expecting the allocation for social sector to go up substantially and now 34% of the total expenditure is no small jump. The hikes have been in the areas of education and skill development, public healthcare, housing and urban development department, pipe and drinking water under Jal Jeevan Mission and Basudha and construction and improvement of roads. I have mentioned these at the beginning of this article.

In Odisha, the first state to have climate financing, more than Rs 230 Cr should be available for groundwater recharge and solar micro-irrigation, with a focus on tribal areas of Odisha.  There is something like a Green Climate Fund in Odisha (about $34 million). It needs to have a larger pool for Just Transition. I had mentioned this last year too. In each coal block in Odisha (and there are more than 31 blocks operational), there are more than 2,000 Project Affected Families — the primary stakeholders. There would also be more than 10,000s secondary stakeholders. At least half a million lives are associated with coal mining in Odisha, according to FIDR study. In this budget there is provision of Rs 52 crore under Green Climate Fund (GCF), Rs 42 Cr under National Mission for a Green India, Rs 40 crore for fire prevention and Rs 35 Cr for the Tiger Reserve.

Allocation in the budget is one part but delivery on the budget is what makes all the difference. Budgetary governance entails the processes of formulating the annual budget, overseeing its implementation, and ensuring its alignment with public goals. The entire chain will break down if the governance gets weak kneed. The degree or extent of implementation of the Odisha budget is an indicator of government’s ability to deliver public services and achieve development objectives. The deviation between approved and actual spending is measured annually, over a 12-month period and this will have important implications, specifically in the current fiscal year through tumultuous market situations, for macroeconomic stability, public service delivery, and social welfare. A credibly implemented budget will have minimal deviations from the approved one both in terms of overall expenditure and revenues and in allocations between welfare and other programs. That is where the critical role of 5T comes in. 5T can ensure protection of budget credibility, the usefulness of the budget process for policy making and implementation and the safekeep of public trust in the state.

The Chief Minister has aptly mentioned that “the budget is in line with our transformational agenda under “5T” and “Mo Sarkar”. I hope this Budget will meet the aspiration of the people of the State.

SDG indicator 16.6.1 recognizes the necessity of and the urgency in the achievement of development objectives and the requirement of the government budgets to be comprehensive, transparent, and realistic. Odisha budget will help the state and our country in achieving the SDGs, with the best of our intentions and practices.

This budget of Odisha is certainly more economic than political.

We are talking about Bikash Mondal, a student of the Jadavpur University in Kolkata who has secured a job at Facebook with this amount of annual pay . He is a fourth-year computer science and engineering student at Jabalpur University.

He was been offered jobs by Amazon and Google but he didn’t choose. “I will join Facebook in September. Before accepting this job, I got offers from Google and Amazon. I thought choosing Facebook would be the best as the pay package offered by them was high,” Bikash said.

Cracking interviews with Facebook, Google and Amazon is not an easy job and speaking about what had helped him, Bisakh told Indian Express, “In the past two years during the Covid-19 pandemic, I got the opportunity to do internships at several organisations and gather knowledge outside my curriculum studies. This has helped me crack the interviews.”

Mondal belongs to a modest family in West Bengal’s Birbhum district. His mother Shibani is an anganwadi worker. She said, “It is a matter of great pride for us.” She also added that her son has always been a “meritorious student”.

As per the IE report, this is the highest pay package a student from JU received this year. Previously, nine JU students from various engineering departments had secured overseas jobs with pay packages exceeding ₹1 crore. Samita Bhattacharya, placement officer at JU, pointed out, “This is the first time since the pandemic that students have got such a large number of international offers.”

As of June 2022 Meta (Facebook) has a market cap of $562.19 Billion. This makes Meta (Facebook) the world’s 7th most valuable company by market cap according to data published by companies market cap. The market capitalization, commonly called market cap, is the total market value of a publicly-traded company’s outstanding shares and is commonly used to measure how much a company is worth.

By Nilanchal Naik

The movie is an adaptation of Ullekh NP’s book The Untold Vajpayee: Politician and Paradox. Filmmaker Sandeep Singh and producer Vinod Bhanushali are jointly going to project the film .

The film will be an adaptation of Penguin Random House India’s book “The Untold Vajpayee: politician and paradox” by author Ullekh NP.

Filmmaker Sandeep Singh shared a statement writing on Instagram as “Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji was one of the greatest leaders of Indian history who won hearts of enemies with his words, who lead the nation affirmatively and created the blue print of progressive India. Being a filmmaker, I feel that cinema is the best medium to communicate such untold stories, that will unveil not only his political ideologies, but his humane and poetic aspects, that made him the most loved ” leader of opposition” as well as India’s most progressive Prime Minister.”

‘Main Rahoon Ya Na Rahoon’, Yeh Desh Rehna Chahiye – Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.’ Presenting #ATAL, a film on the life story of India’s most exemplary leader, renowned poet, and a visionary. Sandeep added.”

The makers are currently scouting for an actor to portray the role of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Main Rahoon Ya Na Rahoon, Yeh Desh Rehna Chahiye – Atal.

The film is scheduled to go on floors in early 2023. The biopic will be released on Christmas 2023, which marks the 99th birth anniversary of Vajpayee.

It can be noted that director Sandeep Singh, had earlier directed the biopic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is again coming back with another biopic and this time on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who led the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government from 1998-2004, was the first-ever leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to have become the nation’s Prime Minister. He served as Prime Minister thrice — briefly in 1996, and then for two terms between 1998 and 2004.

One of the prominent leaders of the country and founder members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Vajpayee died on August 16, 2018, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after a prolonged illness. He was 93.

The late leader was conferred Bharat Ratna in 2015. He had also been awarded Pt Govind Ballabh Pant Award for Best Parliamentarian in 1994. (ANI)

By Nilanchal Naik

Mohammad Zubair is the co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News, which he founded along with former software engineer Pratik Sinha. Zubair and Sinha founded the Alt News website in 2017 to combat fake news.

An anonymous Twitter complaint, a scene from a film, and a previously unknown case are some of the reasons that have emerged so far.

Zubair was arrested on the charges of outraging religious feelings and promoting enmity between different groups. The factchecker was arrested over a 2018 tweet carrying a “questionable image with a purpose to deliberately insult the god of a particular religion,” the police said.

The image has been taken from the scene of the 1983 comedy film Kissi Se Na Kehna, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Mohammed Zubair, on 24 March 201 8, tweeted a picture of the signboard of a hotel changed from ‘Honeymoon Hotel’ to ‘Hanuman Hotel.’

“Before 2014: Honeymoon Hotel. After 2014: Hanuman Hotel. #SanskaariHotel,” he had tweeted with the above stated image .

The police has stated, “In the month of June, 2022, when Delhi Police was alerted by a twitter handle that Mohammad Zubair had earlier made an objectionable tweet and his followers/social media entities had amplified and created a series of debates/hate mongering in the tread, he was examined in this case and his role was found objectionable,”

The complaint was registered by a Twitter handle ‘@balajikijaiin’

The account, whose user(s) remain anonymous, calls itself ‘Hanuman Bhakt.’ It is based out of Rajasthan, as per its location in the bio.

The account, made in October 2021, had put out a single tweet, which appeared to be its first, on 19 June 2022, complaining that Zubair has insulted Hindus.

In response to Zubair’s 2018 tweet, the user wrote, “@DelhiPolice Linking our God Hanuman ji with Honey Moon is direct insult of Hindus because he is brahmchari @DCP_CCC_Delhi kindly take action.”

The account has posted two new tweets after Zubair’s arrest. One of the tweets raises a complaint against the other co-founder of Alt News, Pratik Sinha. Retweeting a 2019 tweet of Sinha’s on Ganesha, the anonymous user wrote, “What would you call it? This person openly hurting the religious freedom of Hindus. @DeIhiPolice @DCP_CCC_DeIhi Kindly take action.”

Meanwhile, the Editors Guild has condemned Zubair’s arrest, calling it ‘Disturbing,’ ‘Unjustifiable.’ In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the G7 summit, where he backed free speech both online and offline, the EGI said it demands the Delhi Police should immediately release Zubair.

On the other hand Zubair’s lawyer today told a Delhi court that he’s been arrested for a 2018 tweet even when it is a screenshot from a 1983 movie cleared by the censor board. “Many have tweeted the same, the only difference between those handles and mine is my faith, my name and my profession,” lawyer Vrinda Grover said, referring to Mr Zubair being a Muslim and a journalist.

In the March 2018 tweet, Mr Zubair, one of the founders of fact-checking website Alt News, had shared an image from Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s classic ‘Kissi Se Na Kehna’. It shows a hotel signboard that reads ‘Hanuman Hotel’ in Hindi, but paint marks suggest it was earlier called ‘Honeymoon Hotel’. Mr Zubair wrote with the image, “Before 2014: Honeymoon Hotel, After 2014: Hanuman Hotel”, in what appeared to be a dig at the BJP coming to power in 2014.

Mr Zubair’s lawyer rubbished the police’s claim that he had edited the image, and said there was no basis to charges of hurting religious sentiments or promoting enmity. “This is not a place of worship. It is joke on honeymooners… The entire case borders on absurdity.”

Arguing for bail, she said the police are abusing their power. “What has happened between 2018-2022 because of this tweet?… My client is being targeted for his work. He may be challenging people who are powerful but that can’t be a reason for his harassment,” she told the court.

However Delhi Police has sought five days of custody, citing other FIRs registered against him. “This is a continuing offence,” the police’s lawyer argued, referring to a tweet in which Mr Zubair had written, “Pray to Hanuman, monkeys will not disturb you.” But his lawyer said Mr Zubair was merely reiterating a statement by a chief minister (Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh).

Founded in 2017 as a non-profit, Alt News is among the world’s most prominent fact-checking outlets. Its founders have been facing online trolling and police cases, particularly by right-wing groups, for years.

By. Nilanchal Naik

Yashwant Sinha former AITC leader, has been unanimously chosen as common candidate of UPA and other opposition parties for 2022 Presidential Election while Draupadi Murmu is the official nominee of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for the 2022 presidential election.

Talking about Draupadi Murmu , She will be the first President born in Independent India if get’s elected. At 64, she will be the youngest occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

She is younger by a month to the sixth President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy who was 64 years and two months when he took office. President Reddy was born on May 19, 1913.

On July 18, the day of the election, Murmu will be 64 years and one month; she was born on June 20, 1958.

Also she will be the first President born in a tribal family and the second woman to hold the First Citizen’s office after Pratibha Patil if she wins the election.

Let’s look into some unique facts regarding previous Presidents of India.

The other President to be born in Odisha was Varahagiri Venkata Giri or in short named V V Giri, a Telugu born in Brahmapur. He took the chair of president’s on 24th August 1969 and served as the 4th president of India till 24th August 1974 . He also served as the 3rd vice president of india from 13 May 1967 to 3 May 1969.

Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, another Telugu, is the only President to be elected unopposed. Reddy served the sixth president of India having the shortest tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker before being elected to the Presidency. He served from 25 July 1977 to 25 July 1982.

He is also the first chief minister (Andhra Pradesh) elected President. The other two chief ministers elected Presidents were Giani Zail Singh from Punjab and Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma from Madhya Pradesh .

Ramaswamy Venkataraman and Pranab Mukherjee both served as India’s finance and defence ministers before becoming President as none other President worked for the stated department.

It is Dr Rajendra Prasad, the only President to serve two terms from . He remained in the office from 26th January 1950 till 13th May 1962 .It was in 1957, Prasad was re-elected to the presidency, becoming the only president to serve two full terms . He is the first president of India . He died 9 months after leaving Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Presidents Zakir Husain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed are the only Presidents who died in office. Zakir Husain Khan was an Indian economist and politician who served as the third president of India, from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an Indian lawyer and politician served as the 5th president of India from 1974 to 1977. He is the second Muslim President of India, and also the second President of India to die in office.

Till now six Presidents have been conferred the Bharat Ratna.They are Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Husain, V V Giri, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and Pranab Mukherjee.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam who is well known as Dr Kalam is the only President to receive the Bharat Ratna prior to becoming President. He was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honour five years before becoming President. He served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.
A P J Abdul Kalam was the first aerospace scientist to become President and the only non-political person to hold office. He was never a member of any political party. He was inarguably the most popular occupant of the Presidency and known as the ‘People’s President’.

K R Narayanan was the first career diplomat to be elected President. An Indian Foreign Service officer, he was a former Indian ambassador to the United States, China, Thailand and Turkey. He served as the tenth president of India (1997–2002) and ninth vice president of India (1992–1997).

He is also the first from a Dalit family to be elected President.

Ram Nath Kovind is the second President from a Dalit family,who is serving as the 14th and current President of India since 25 July 2017. Ram Nath Kovind is also the first person from Uttar Pradesh to serve as President of India.

Presidents Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma worked with four prime ministers.

During his two times tenure Dr Radhakrishnan witnessed the changing of four Prime Ministes of India. They were Jawaharlal Nehru, Gulzari Lal Nanda (acting PM), Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

And Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma worked with P V Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral, other four Prime Ministes of India.

Seven of 14 Presidents hailed from south India. They are Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, was from Madras Presidency which comprised present Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Dr Zakir Husain belonging to Hyderabad state, presently the state of Andhra Pradesh, V V Giri a Telugu, born in present day Odisha, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy from Andhra Pradesh, Ramaswamy Venkataraman from Tamil Nadu, K R Narayanan from Kerala and Dr A P J Abdul Kalam from Tamil Nadu.

Three presidents are from north India. They are Dr Rajendra Prasad from Bihar, Giani Zail Singh from Punjab and Ram Nath Kovind from Uttar Pradesh.

Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma was from central India belonging to Madhya Pradesh.

Two Presidents were from the eastern states. They were Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed from Assam and Pranab Mukherjee from West Bengal.

One of the President was from the west. She was none other than the first and, to date, only female president of Indiaof India Smt Pratibha Patil from Maharashtra . She served as the 12th president of India from 25 July 2007 to 25 July 2012.

The longest surviving former President was R Venkataraman. He was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union Minister and as the eighth president of IIndia. His tenure was From 1987 to 1992. He died at 98.

The following Presidents served as Vice-President before being elected as President.
Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan alongside Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr Zakir Husain alongside Dr S Radhakrishnan, V V Giri alongside Dr Zakir Husain, Ramaswamy Venkataraman alongside Giani Zail Singh, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma alongside R Venkataraman and K R Narayanan alongside Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma.

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

On Friday morning, Raimohan’s body was found by his family in his room in the Prachi Vihar area of Bhubaneswar. He is survived by his wife and two daughter

The actor had texted “bye” to his daughters and wife before allegedly hanging himself inside a room at his residence in Prachi Vihar in Palasuni area. Friends and actors have been visiting his residence to pay their tributes. His neighbours said that they had met him a day before his death and found him to be his usual self, noting that he enjoyed a good relationship with everyone.

Raimohan’s death has created a void in the Odia cinema industry. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also expressed grief over his demise. “I am saddened to learn about the demise of Raimohan Parida. His sudden death has created a void in the industry. He had impeccable acting skills, he will always be remembered…,” tweeted Patnaik.

Actor Siddhanta Mahapatra, who worked with Raimohan in several films, remembered him as a ‘jolly’ person. He said, “It is hard to believe that such a jolly person, who has experienced several ups and downs in life, can think of doing something like this. He was highly successful in the profession.” Actor Sritam Das said it was unbelievable that Raimohan who had become a “hero from zero” could commit suicide.

Raimohan was very famous for his iconic villain role in Olly industry. He was playing negative roles in Odia and Bengali films, His villainous look, maniacal laughter and thundering dialogues, was bringing down the curtain on an actor who has left a legacy that will keep on inspiring actors for generations in his career spanning for over four decades.

Raimohan had acted in over 100 Odia films and 15 Bengali movies in his career, and was also a popular figure in the Odia Jatra (local theatre) world. He was a part of several superhit movies like Rama Laxman, Aasibu Kebe Saji Mo Rani, Naga Panchami, Udandi Sita, Tu Thile Mo Dara Kahaku, Rana Bhumi, Singha Bahini, Kulanandan and Kandhei Aakhire Luha. He was a recipient of the Odisha State Film Award and an Abhinandia Puraskar.

(By Nilanchal Naik)

The occasion led him to become the first chief minister of an Indian state to meet Pope Francis in Vatican. This meeting was his second in past 22 years.

Within the few minutes of meeting, Naveen expressed his pleasure meeting His Holiness and thanked him for his warm audience. The chief minister also wished him good health and a long life.

“It has been an absolute pleasure meeting His Holiness Pope Francis (@Pontifex) in Vatican City. Thanked him for the warm audience and wished him good health and a long life,” tweeted Naveen.

https://t.co/B1oA5BBbnv

On behalf of the people of Odisha, the chief minister presented a ‘Patachitra’ painting to the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, and sought his blessings, an official statement issued by his office in Bhubaneswar said.

https://t.co/iCb6YCiD8U