The Odisha government has decided to provide `1,700-crore crop loan to farmers in the state for rabi cultivation.

One more minister of the Naveen Patnaik council of ministers is caught in the land row. The state BJP on Thursday alleged that revenue minister Surya Narayan Patro had “grabbed” 10,296 square feet land at Nayapali in the city.

All along, Michael Daube of New York State, United States, was passionately looking for an opportunity to serve people in a distant land which lacked the basic healthcare facilities.

The Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa on Thursday faced further embarrassment as an FIR was registered against four ministers, for availing lands and houses from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) by “fraudulent” means.

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik is the richest among his ministerial colleagues. His total movable and immovable property is estimated to be around `12 crores.

Finally, the long wait is over. Orissa is “Odisha” now and its language Oriya is “Odia.”

With its strength of 15 Lok Sabha members, the ruling BJD in Orissa headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik has succeeded in keeping two of its strong opponents — the Congress and BJP — on tenterhooks.

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani on Monday sounded critical of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s direction that either finance minister Pranab Mukherjee or home minister P. Chidambaram should remain in Delhi to look after the day-to-day affairs of the government in his absence. “As per practice, the Prime

Estranged Biju Janata Dal (BJD) stalwart and former Orissa minister Dr Damodar Rout on Tuesday launched his much awaited platform — Biju Bichar Manch (BBM) — a forum seen as a parallel platform for the dissident leaders.

The Orissa government on Thursday announced to build concrete roads in all the 3,000 villages which were submerged in the recent spells of flood.
At least `150 crores will be spent for the purpose.