Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released the book titled ‘Pandemic Disruptions and Odisha’s Lessons in Governance’ by Dr. Amar Patnaik, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha this evening at Naveen Niwas.
The book is the culmination of various essays on relevant contemporary issues that appeared in India during the pandemic years 2020-21 and 2021-2022. Since the pandemic hit the world, many cracks have appeared that needed to be analyzed to understand where India stands in the world. They addressed health care, vaccines, online education for children, and the increasing use of technology to mitigate these concerns.
With the use of technology came the issue of data privacy and citizens’ right to privacy. Added to these was the issue of disaster management and the capacity of the state to negotiate them on a sustainable basis, even as the financial and budgetary resources of both the Center and the state were dwindling.
While drawing attention to the multifaceted challenges in several sectors, the book highlights the achievements of states like Odisha, which stood out for adopting the famous 5T framework of governance, which forms the overarching policy approach in what has now come to be known as the Odisha Model for Growth and development. The Odisha government’s handling of the covid crisis based on its past experience in dealing with natural disasters has been applauded both nationally and globally.