Odisha Channel Bureau
BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik received the Outlook Speakout Award-2017 for Best Administrator in the country in New Delhi on Friday.
The award was presented to Patnaik by former president Pranab Mukherjee. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was also given the Outlook magazine’s Best Parliamentarian Award on the occasion.
Several senior Biju Janata Dal leaders were also present at the award presentation ceremony.
Patnaik was chosen from among six Chief Ministers. The others in the run were Nitish Kumar, Manik Sarkar, Mamata Banerjee, Devendra Fadnavis and Siddaramaiah.
“It is a proud moment for all of us. I dedicate this award to the four 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,” said Patnaik in his acceptance speech.
He also elaborated on his efforts which, among other things, helped raise 8 million people of Odisha above the poverty line.
“In 2000, Odisha used to import rice and now we have the 3rd largest public distribution system in the country. In the last 10 years we have doubled farmers’ income,” he said.
“Ours is also a State with 5 million Self-Help Groups under the Mission Shakti project. Earlier Odisha had high Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) but now our IMR is lower than the national average,” he observed.
Under Patnaik’s 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, and it is also the most favoured destination for investment in the country. The State has registered economic growth of nearly 8% in 2016-17.
