Bhubaneswar: August 18: Odisha Chief Minister has won the prestigious Outlook Speak out Award-2017 as the best administrator in the country. He was chosen among six Chief Ministers including Nitish Kumar, Manik Sirkar, Ms Mamata Banerjee, Devendra Fernavis and Siddha Ramiah, who were nominated for award. The award was presented to Odisha CM at a glittering function in New Delhi today by former President Pranab Mukherjee. Accepting the award, Naveen Patnaik said, ‘It is a proud moment for all of us. I dedicate this award to the four and half crore people of Odisha. We are on the right path. I will get satisfaction when our Odisha becomes the number one state in the country’.
The award is recognition of Odisha’s exemplary turnaround under the helmsman ship of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Inheriting a government lagging on all fronts and a state devasted by the super-cyclone, Patnaik scripted a successful journey for the state beyond comparision.
Under his stewardship over the last 17 years, Odisha has shed the most backward state tag and is now held as a paradigm of development and economic growth. Odisha is a fiscal surplus state today. It is also the most favoured destination for investment in the country. Odisha has registered economic growth of 8% in 2016-17.
Odisha has recorded one of the sharpest drops in poverty in the country with 80 lakh people raised above poverty line.
Odisha’s agricultural transformation has been unparalled. From being depended on others for its minimum food requirements, Odisha has not only become self-sufficient in food grain production but also plays a vital role in ensuring food security for the people of the country.
Odisha is the only state to have doubled farmers’ income in the last 10 years. Sustained efforts for agricultural developments through pro-farmer policies, irrigation expansion and technology infusion has resulted in winning National Krushi Karman Award four times in the last five years.
Across human development indicators, Odisha’s surge has been astounding. The state has registered the highest rate of decline in infant mortality rate in the country since 2000.
Total development has been very close to the heart of Naveen Patnaik.
