 "image")
Who is Naveen Patnaik?
Naveen Patnaik, the founder of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), is serving as the 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He is the son of former CM Biju Patnaik. He is in his fourth term at the helm of the state government.
Early life and education
Naveen Patnaik was born on October 16, 1946 in Cuttack to former Odisha CM Biju Patnaik and his wife Gyan Devi. He attended Welham Boys' School in Dehradun and The Doon School. After completing his primary education, he studied at St Stephen's College of Delhi University (DU) and gained a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.
Political career
Political career
Initially seen as a reluctant heir to his father’s illustrious political career, Naveen returned to Odisha after Biju Patnaik’s death in 1997 and founded the BJD.
Subsequently, he was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from the Aska Parliamentary constituency in the by-elections and became a member of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Steel and Mines, a member of the Standing Committee on Commerce, and a Member of the Library Committee of Parliament.
Later, he represented the same seat in the 12th Lok Sabha and was subsequently made the Union minister for mines in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
BJD allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Odisha Assembly elections in 2000, following which Naveen Patnaik became CM for the first time. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2004. However, the coalition led by Naveen Patnaik won the state legislative elections and he became CM for a second time.
BJD quit the NDA in 2009 but won a huge victory in the Assembly polls that year. Patnaik became CM for a fourth time in 2014.
UN recognitions
In 2013, the United Nations (UN) felicitated Naveen Patnaik by presenting a citation for his government’s handling of Cyclone Phailin which hit Odisha in October that year. Patnaik was also invited by the UN to attend the 2015 Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) held in Japan.
In 2019, the UN complimented Naveen Patnaik for his government's proposal of reserving 33 per cent of seats for women in the National Parliament as well as in the state's Legislative Assembly.