Special

BIJU PATNAIK AND HIS DAKOTAS 4720

• Special
• Mar 08, 2020

Anil Dhir

A piece of Odisha’s history lies in  forgotten ignominy in the remote village of Ngota in the Province of Yogyakarta in Central Indonesia. Few know about it, none from Odisha may have visited it, but this memorial signifies a vital contribution that Biju Babu had in the independence of Indonesia. 

On 17th August 1945, Sukarno proclaimed himself President of independent Indonesia. The country had been a Dutch Colony for nearly three hundred years and was under three years of Japanese occupation. The British Army had freed it from

Nabaghana and Biju Patnaik 5178

• Special
• Mar 08, 2020

Anil Dhir

The Bhubaneswar airport was still the small five roomed building, the hangars of the flying club and the state aviation in the far corner. I used to get up early, cycling all the way, picking up the weather report from the Meteorological office. The Pushpaks had no radios and all the   communications with the ATC was with the Aldis lamp which they aimed at us and flashed. Before making the touchdown, at base leg, we had to take a peek at the wind sock, to anticipate the wind direction on the ground which usually caused a shear just b

Biju Patnaik and JBS Haldane 5637

• Special
• Mar 08, 2020

Anil Dhir

Biju   Babu’s   first   spell   as a Chief Minister lasted just 27months; in spite of his short stint, he left an indelible mark in the history of emergent Odisha. He ran a powerful and efficient administration and injected a rare dynamism into the administration that was never seen again. Odisha was thrown into the national limelight. His string of successes included the setting up the Paradeep Port, the MIG factory at Sunabeda, Thermal plant at Talcher, the Express Highway connecting the iron ore deposits ofSuk

Biju and the Americans 6161

• Special
• Mar 08, 2020

Anil Dhir

The American Secret Agency CIA had always maintained an extensive dossier on Biju Patnaik. Numerous memoirs of ex-bureau chiefs, diplomats and operatives mention him in their works. During the Nehru heydays, McCarthyism ruled the CIA’s decisions and policy. Senator Joseph McCarthy had started the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1938. Thousands of American citizens were jailed on unfounded accusations of being communist supporters. The CIA maintained dossiers on leaders and politicians who were anti-communist and friendly t

Biju Patnaik’s Tibet Air Link 5201

• Special
• Mar 08, 2020

ANIL DHIR

Very little are known about Biju babu and his role in the Tibet uprising. It was through Kalinga Airlines that Patnaik had his first touch with Tibet. In the 1950s, he acquired half a dozen Dakotas and wanted his Kalinga Airlines to expand its operations.  He was keen to start a freighter-cum-passenger service to Tibet in 1957. He spoke of his plans to Krishna Menon, who then spoke to Nehru on the subject. Nehru’s proposed visit to Lhasa was in the offing. So Biju met him and discussed the strategic advantage of having an air connection bet

Biju Patnaik, the self acclaimed Naxalite 6105

• Special
• Mar 08, 2020

Anil Dhir

Biju Patnaik’s second term as Chief Minister came nearly 30 years after his first short-lived spell. He was disappointed to find that the bureaucrats, administrators and elected representatives were very different from what he had seen his during his previous stint. There was a palpable disconnect between the government and the people, and this frustrated him a lot. He was like a bull in a China shop, raring to go. Biju Patnaik was a man in a hurry, with grandiose plans for the upliftment of the poor and the downtrodden of the State