A four-time chief minister and the author of four books, Naveen Patnaik’s secret of longevity in office is this: he has transformed the bureaucracy into a pro-poor agent of social change. His monumental effort in evacuating a million people ahead of Cyclone Phailin on coastal Odisha in October 2013 was lauded by the UN.
Born on Oct 16, 1946, in Cuttack into a Karan family to Biju Patnaik, former Odisha Chief Minister and his wife Gyan Patnaik, Naveen was educated at Doon School and later at Stephen’s College, Delhi University. He took a degree in Bachelor of Arts.
Time was when Naveen was an affable socialite in the charmed circuit of former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and Pop sensation Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.
For most part of his youth, he had been away from both politics and Odisha. But his father’s sudden death in 1997 changed all that. A year later, he founded the Biju Janata Dal, and he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Aska in a by-election.
He became a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Cabinet. But when his party won the majority in the Odisha Assembly, Patnaik resigned from the Union cabinet and was sworn in Chief Minister in 2000.
Books he authored:
- A Second Paradise: Indian Country Life 1590–1947
- A Desert Kingdom: The People of Bikaner
- The Garden of Life: An Introduction to the Healing Plants of India
- Sacred Geography Of Puri: Structure And Organisation, And Cultural Role Of A Pilgrim Centre
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His brother, Prem Patnaik, is a businessman, while his sister, Gita Mehta, is a famous author. Naveen is a confirmed bachelor.
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