Niranjan Patnaik

Niranjan Patnaik (born 22 February 1948) son of Braja Bandhu Patnaik is an etnically Odia Indian politician and a popular opposition public figure from Odisha. He is also associated with the various labour unions of the iron ore and manganese rich region of Keonjhar and is also a artisanal miner who secured his first lease at the age of 21 back in 1969 which was cancelled due to meddling of the Swatantra Party and elements from the Jana Congress. He is a former state president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee and former minister of Odisha State Government under the Chief Ministership of Janaki Ballabh Patnaik. He is a seasoned politican who is known for his secular and reformative views on Odia society at large. Though marred in controversy during the liberalisation period of India in the mid nineties started in the era of P.V. Narasimha Rao. Niranjan has left a lasting impact on the developement of greenfield projects and also planning, development and strengthening of major irrigation and flood control projects across Odisha.He has also been very vocal about flooding in the Odisha due to unplanned urbanisation and industrialisation affecting landuse and watertable across the state.

He held multiple portfolios during his tenure in the Janaki Ballabh Patnaik led Goverments of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee in Odisha. As Minister of Industries & Textiles, Handlooms, and Handicrafts, & Cottage Industries along with additionally holding vital portfolios like Irrigation & Power, Revenue, Science, and Health & Family Welfare. Niranjan had been instrumental creating and implementing new projects for irrigation and water management in Odisha through his travels to Texas, Arizona and also Canada. The recommendations and irrigation master plan drawn up by his ministry would serve as a model for successive future goverments.

As Minister of Health back in 1987 Niranjan has been potrayed as someone who had shown tendecies of reform in the State Government especially in the reporting of pandemics, outbreaks and hunger related deaths. Even up until the mid 2000s hunger related deaths were common due to the states difficult geography and lack of political will coupled with the fact of economic viability in building infrastructure.

In his capacity as Pradesh Congress Committee President in the run up to the 2019 General Elections and simultaneously occurring Odisha State Legislature Elections the Odisha Congress created progressive manifesto echoing the voices of marginalized sections of Odia society and focussing on Congress Party's approach to Universal Basic Income aka NYAY. During his tenure he ensured new faces like Bismaya Mahapatra, Sudarshan Das (known for Mahanadi river activism), Panchanan Kanungo(former Minister Goverment of Odisha), Uma Ballav Rath (former MLA Puri), Amiya Pandav and many others from Odisha's liberal, socialist and progressive fronts join the Indian National Congress's State unit.