Team Modi may need nothing less than divine intervention for power to change hands in Naveen Patnaik’s Odisha next year
Siddhartha Tripathy
Earlier this month, it was confirmed that the party leaders and workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Odisha chapter were desperately keen to have Prime Minister Narendra Modi contest from the Puri Parliamentary constituency in next year’s general elections.
Expressing hope that Prime Minister Modi’s doing so could breach the coastal stronghold of the Biju Janata Dal and significantly improve the saffron party’s prospects of victory in the coming elections, Odisha BJP president Basant Panda recently revealed that a proposal to that effect would be forwarded to the national leadership.
As Panda also claimed that party would bag more than 120 of the 147 seats in the 2019 assembly elections, many political experts reckoned that he was being overly optimistic on one too many fronts.
That’s not because the Modi government enjoys no goodwill in Odisha. While it has caused significant inconvenience to the state’s people through such drastic measures as demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax, it has also done some good work.
For example, more than 34 lakh poor women have received LPG connection under the Ujjwala scheme in Odisha. Around 18,000 beneficiaries of the scheme spoke at the Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayats held recently across the state about how access to LPG transformed their lives
According to a statement from Indian Oil Corporation, LPG penetration in Odisha has increased from the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has skyrocketed over the past three years – from a mere 20 per cent in 2014 to an impressive 68 per cent in September this year.
Through videoconferencing from Bhubaneswar, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan interacted with the Ujjwala beneficiaries in Angul, Baripada, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Jeypore.
NO COMPARISON
These achievements, however, appear dwarfed in comparison to those of the Naveen Patnaik government’s never-ending slew of welfare measures for the poor and its continuous efforts to boost the industry sector by making Odisha increasingly more attractive as an investment destination.
Take just this month for instance.
On the 149th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Odisha government put into effect an embargo on the use of plastic in the six main cities of the state. A strict ban on polythene, thermocol, and similar plastic products has been implemented in these cities.
A Forest and Environment Department order read: “No person, by himself or another, shall knowingly or otherwise, sell, trade, manufacture, import, store, carry, transport, use or distribute polythene and single-use plastic within the municipal limits, or as the case may be within the municipal corporation limits of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Puri.”
While there were certain exclusions – plastic for carrying and transporting garbage, containers for dairy products, polythene packaging materials for horticulture, agriculture and healthcare sectors – these were practical ones in which the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.
As per the order, major commercial establishments found to be flouting these norms could face a minimum of five years in prison and a fine up to Rs 100,000, while small-time traders could be fined anywhere between Rs 2000 to Rs 3000.
To ensure that the ban does not just end up being on paper, the Naveen Patnaik government has instructed district collectors and sub-collectors to ensure its complete implementation within a month, after which action would be taken against the violators.
Revealing that teams comprising personnel from the Police Commissionerate, Labour Department, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Odisha State Pollution Control Board have been set up for that purpose, BMC Mayor Ananta Jena said such teams will “make people aware against the use of plastic and polythene”.
“Notices have been served on plastic and polythene manufacturing companies while raids will be conducted on godowns where these items are stocked,” he added.
The Odisha government has made efforts this month to not only make its cities environmentally healthier but also make them smarter.
On October 5, the Chief Minister launched the “Odyssey City Card” – a common city payment card system for Bhubaneswar that will facilitate payment transactions for citizen services across the state capital.
Being a joint initiative of the BMC, Bhubaneswar Smart City Ltd and the ICICI Bank, the services include shopping, city bus, recreation, parking and utility services like properties tax payments.
As part of the initiative, as many as 25 “My Odyssey Centres” were launched immediately to facilitate payment services for citizens, with another 300 scheduled to be set up soon.
Noting that the card system represents the continuous evolution of the heritage city of Bhubaneswar into a modern urban centre as part of the Odisha government’s Smart City vision, the Chief Minister expressed optimism that the initiative would also enhance Bhubaneswar’s reputation as a premier sports city during the coming Men’s Hockey World Cup.
A day later, the Naveen Patnaik administration launched yet another scheme for the underprivileged lot – titled “Nirman Kusuma Yojana”, the scheme is aimed at providing financial aid to children of construction workers for pursuing technical education.
Under the scheme, the government bears the entire financial cost of such children’s education at government ITIs and engineering diploma institutions. While Rs 23,000 will be provided to each student pursuing an ITI course, those pursuing polytechnic and diploma courses in government institutions will be provided Rs 26,300 in financial assistance.
PRIME MEASURE
Already financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1.09 crore has been deposited in the bank accounts of almost 1900 beneficiaries for the 2018-19 academic session.
Declaring that the financial assistance provided to the daughters of the registered workers for pursuing education from class six to post graduation (PG) has been enhanced by 20 per cent, the Chief Minister said: “Under this scheme, the dream of the construction labourers to provide their children with higher education will come true.”
As an added gift, he also announced again that the ex gratia amount for the death of registered construction workers had been doubled.
Apart from these smart moves, the BJD boss has also manage to strike the perfect balance between being politically cooperative and aggressive, depending on the need of the hour.
Late last month Prime Minister Modi during his Odisha visit hurled many serious accusations at ruling BJD government during his speeches.
While addressing a BJP rally after inaugurating the Jharsuguda Airport, Modi said Odisha had so many scams surface over the past years that corruption and delay in decision-making had become the identity of the state government, thus hampering development.
“Before the BJP government came to power in the Centre, Odisha government got around Rs 82,000 crore in five years. In our government, we increased it to Rs two lakh crore. But can you see the impact of this money on the ground? Where is this money going?” he asked.
“How will development happen in such a situation? So time has come for a big change in Odisha,” he told the gathering in the town.
Earlier in the day, while addressing a public meeting in Talcher after laying the foundation stone for the country’s first coal gasification-based fertiliser plant, Prime Minister Modi criticised the Naveen Patnaik government for failing to keep the national cleanliness drive momentum and not adopting the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme.
He stated that Odisha needed to do much work on the sanitation front to be on par with other states on the issue of cleanliness.
“I had earlier warned Chief Minister Naveen Babu that Odisha would be left behind in cleanliness. But today, when I have come here, I have to again urge Naveen Babu to give priority to cleanliness in Odisha for the health of the people here,” PM Modi added.
Refusing to give due credit to the BJD government for providing Re 1/kg rice to the poor, Modi said the scheme was only possible because the Centre was providing subsidies for. “We give Rs 450 crore to the Naveen Patnaik government for these subsidies,” he sought to inform.
The BJD supremo did not take those accusations lying down. He promptly gave it back – and then some.
The very evening of the day Prime Minister Modi gave his speeches in Talcher and Jharsuguda, Naveen nonchalantly told the press that Modi must have said whatever he did to fire up his BJP workers. “They should be thinking of [the failures of] their own skill mission and Ujjwala scam,” said the Chief Minister, adding that the Centre would do well to worry about the rocketing prices of petrol and diesel for which the people of the country are suffering.
The Chief Minister also made it a point to clarify that the state’s health and food security schemes was better than the Centre’s because it not only covered an extra 50 lakh people that the Centre was ignoring but also provided Rs 2,00,000 more to women than the Central programme that provided only Rs 5,00,000.
“The Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) covers extra 50 lakh beneficiaries which the Centre’s scheme does not provide. Under the scheme, we provide health assistance to the tune of Rs 7 lakh for women. As far as food security scheme is concerned, we provide the benefits to 25 lakhs extra poor people,” he added.
RIGHT POINTS
More recently, on Gandhi Jayanti, Naveen duly reminded fellow Odias about how the BJP had reneged on its promises to them, especially the one on providing “Special Category” status to their state.
“In its poll manifesto, the BJP had promised to accord this status to Odisha, but nothing has been done so far. As we know, empty vessels make the most noise,” said Patnaik after flagging off the BJD’s “Jana Sampark Padayatra” in Bhubaneswar, which would involve BJD workers and leaders fanning out across the state and creating awareness among people throughout this month about the welfare programmes of the Naveen Patnaik administration.
The Chief Minsiter also pointed out that the state was forced to implement its own food security programme as deserving beneficiaries were left out under the National Food Security Act.
At the beginning of this month, BJD workers took to the street to protest against the rising fuel prices. Holding a demonstration in front of the Raj Bhawan, submitted a memorandum to Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal to be forwarded to the President of India.
“Compared with other states, Odisha has imposed lowest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel. On the other hand, the Centre has imposed 100 per cent excise on fuel. As a result, people are suffering from a burden on their pockets,” said senior BJD leader Sanjay Dasburma, adding that Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had grossly failed to control fuel prices.
Just a couple of days, however, the Odisha government assured the Centre of complete cooperation in establishment of a Rs 6,500 worth strategic petroleum reserve facility at Chandikhol in Jajpur district.
Sunjay Sudhir, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, confirmed that Odisha government has assured that the project – which requires 400 acres of land and is expected to be operational within 5 years – would receive all the necessary support.
It is widely held that good leadership is all about balance. With Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik maintaining that balance with a seemingly effortless ease, Team Modi will need nothing less than divine intervention for power to change hands in Odisha next year.
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