Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Ahead of oath-taking as members of the Legislative Assembly,the members of the new Ministry of Orissa have taken constitutional oath on May 29 in a very expensive showy ceremony, for the first time outside the Rajbhawan, in the exhibition ground, where Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was felicitated as Priya Oriya after defeating a four-years-old slum-dweller boy Buddhia Singh in a popularity contest stage managed by a non-Oriya owned ETV. The boy, who by that time had attracted world attention as record braking youngest marathon runner, was crushed to total collapse of his natural ability by misuse of law by the then Child-Development Minister and his celebrated coach Biranchi Das was eliminated in such circumstances the real cause of which has not yet been convincingly put on records. The title Priya Oriya has remained his exclusive till now, as no such contests has ever been organised by the same media or any of its Avatars.
But, plutocracy and its practitioners and tentacles have helped him stay the Priya Oriya, which has been proved by his awe-inspiring victory in the elections that has made him the CM for the fifth time without break. The Ministers he has made are empowered with portfolios as per his preference.
While welcoming them all to their respective responsibilities, we hope that they would serve Orissa with better management of the bureaucracy, which, perceived generally,had kept the preceding ministries docile, to the total detriment of democratic pride of the people.
Allocation of portfolios to members of the ministry is prerogative of the CM that may change as and when the CM desires. But we may say, that the present allocation is well thought.
The Cabinet Ministers:
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik: Home, General Administration & Public Grievance
and any other
Department specifically not assigned
Niranjan Pujari: Finance, Excise
Bikram Keshari Arukha: Forest & Environment, Parliamentary Affairs
Prafulla Kumar Mallick: Steel & Mines, Works
Ranendra Pratap Swain: Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Co-operation
Padmanabha Behera: Planning & Convergence, Commerce & Transport
Pratap Jena: Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water, Law, Housing & Urban
Development
Arun Kumar Sahoo: Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, Fisheries & Animal
Resources Development, Higher Education
Sudam Marndi: Revenue & Disaster Management
Susanta Singh: Rural Development, Labour & Employees’ State Insurance
Naba Kisore Das: Health & Family Welfare
Tukuni Sahu: Women & Child Development and Mission Shakti
Ministers of State (Independent Charge):
Jagannath Sarka: S.T. & S.C. Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare
Dibya Shankar Mishra: Energy; Industries; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Ashok Chandra Panda: Science & Technology, Public Enterprises, Social Security &
Empowerment of Persons with Disability
Samir Ranjan Das: School & Mass Education
Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi: Tourism; Odia Language, Literature & Culture
Premananda Nayak: Skill Development & Technical Education
Raghunandan Das: Water Resources, Information & Public Relations
Padmini Dian: Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts
Tusharkanti Behera: Electronics & Information Technology, Sports & Youth Services
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