Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik received the coveted ‘Ideal Chief Minister Award’ from former President Pratibha Patil at the 8th Indian Students’ Parliament held at the MIT World Peace University in Pune on Sunday.
Patnaik was conferred the award for his outstanding commitment, courage and conviction coupled with revolutionary ideas of clean governance aimed at making Odisha an Ideal State. The Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad in association with the MIT School of Governance gave away the award.
After receiving the award, Patnaik addressed more than 10,000 students. He dedicated the award to 4.5 crore people of Odisha.
“It is a great honour for us to be conferred with this award as it is the voice of the youth of India. Odisha’s transformation is a work-in-progress and I am joined in this mission by all 4.5 crore people who make Odisha. We will continue our journey as we continue to grow, together,” the Chief Minister said.
The CM told the students that what took him from being a novice at politics to the longest serving Chief Minister is the resolve to bring about a change in the lives of people.
He cited both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin luther King saying that at the core of good governance is love for people.
“If you love your people, you do not see the post you hold as a post, but as a means to serve the people. You do not see power as power, but as a means to transform the lives of people.”
Given an epithet of Mr Clean for his drive against corruption and performance on the development front, the State Government, during its current tenure, has been instrumental in changing the face of Odisha by creating a high impact in all core areas of the State, including empowering the poor and women, health, education, industry and entrepreneurship, disaster management, agriculture and sports.
More than eight million people were lifted above the poverty line and the overall poverty declined at 25 per cent, the highest in the country. Farmers saw their income doubled and the State hosted premier sporting tournaments in Asian Athletic Championship and World Hockey league in 2017. Odisha was declared the Champion State in Exports for 2017 with a 114 per cent growth.
The State has also has done ground breaking work in reducing the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). In a recent landmark resolution, the State became the first in providing land rights to slum dwellers.
Notably, Patnaik had last year been awarded the’ Best Administrator’ award by the ‘Outlook’ magazine.