The grand opening of the Puri Temple Heritage Corridor, also known as the Sreemandir Parikrama Prakalpa, is set for January 17th. This is a big event for the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha.  The ceremonies started on January 15th with a special three-day ‘Maha Yagna,’ a religious ritual. Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, a respected figure, ...

VK Pandian, originally from Tamil Nadu, was a senior IAS officer in the Odisha cadre. He has just joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which is led by Naveen Patnaik. The BJD has been governing Odisha for over two decades, and Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister, has been a dominant figure in the state’s politics. ...