Odisha

Famous sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik welcomed the world's largest vaccination drive' with his latest artwork at Odisha's Puri Beach on January 16. Captioning his artwork 'Together we can win', he tweeted a picture of his sand art of a syringe and a bottle labelled as COVID-19 vaccine with a welcome at the background. Shared and appreciated by the netizens, his COVID-19 vaccine welcoming post became viral on social media.

Odisha government has ordered an enquiry after CM Naveen Patnaik received an anonymous letter stating a threat to his life. Reportedly, received on January 5, the letter warned CM Patnaik of a planned conspiracy that involves killers equipped with AK-47, semi-automated pistol and other latest weapons. It also mentioned that the planner is from Nagpur. Following this, the CM's security has been tightened since the letter has surfaced. 

In a rare achievement, 7-year-old Venkat Raman Patnaik from Odisha's Balangir district cleared five Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) examinations. Raman, a third grade student cleared the exams for programming in Java, Javascript, Python, HTML and CSS, after a year enrolled for WhiteHat Jr's Silicon Valley programme. He also outran 26 finalists of the program with his self-developed app 'Let's Reward Kids'. Moreover, the boy has also been… read-more

In a move to curb corruption, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik on December 21 made it mandatory for all government officials to disclose property details in the public domain. The CM also mandated all elected BJD representatives in the state, from Sarpanch to the CM, to declare their property details. He said Odisha will be the first state to implement such measure, wherein all the property details will be shared with "powerful" Lokayukta (ombudsman… read-more

In Odisha's Malkangiri district, police have killed two Maoists including a female in the wee hours of December 13. The police have revealed that Maoists opened fire on the Special Operations Group and District Voluntary Forces which were on routine exercise in Gajalmamudi village. The police had killed them in retaliation and have recovered one INSAS rifle, one SLR rifle, bullets, Maoists literature and kit bags from the encounter site.