A common man's Governor

Hailing from a family of warriors and freedom fighters of Odisha, Biswa Bhusan Harichandan started his legal career in the High Court of Odisha in 1962 and rose to eminence as an advocate and political leader. He joined the JP's movement for saving democracy in 1975 and fought against the imposition of Emergency in the country and was sent to jail for about six months.

Harichandan was a stalwart in Odisha politics, having been elected to the State Assembly of Odisha for five times and served as a Minister for four times, handling important portfolios such as revenue, law, rural development, industries, food & civil supplies, labour & employment, housing, cultural affairs, fisheries and animal resources development departments.

Such is the popularity of Harichandan in his constituency that he won the State Assembly election held in 2000 by a margin of 96,000 votes over his nearest rival, breaking all previous records in Odisha.

A writer at heart

In spite of his busy political career, Harichandan forayed into Odia literature with highly acclaimed literary works, notable among which are: 'Maha Sangramar Mahanayak,' a drama on Buxi Jagabandhu, the supreme Commander of Paik Revolution of 1817, and 'Sangram sari nahin,' his autobiography outlining his struggle in political, administrative, social, cultural and other fields during his long and distinguished public life.

Keen interest in uplift of the downtrodden

Since assuming charge as the first Governor of Andhra Pradesh on July 24, 2019, after division of the State, he has been actively participating in several programmes and toured extensively all over the State and attended convocations of State universities in the capacity of Chancellor. As the Administrator of the Scheduled Areas, the Governor interacted with the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in Vizianagaram and Kurnool districts and evinced keen interest in implementation welfare programmes for their development.

Readily accessible to common people

The gates of Raj Bhavan have always been kept open for the common man to meet the Governor. Moved by the plight of migrant workers during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Governor gave instructions to the authorities concerned to provide food, shelter and transport facilities to them. At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, he made personal appeals to the people though several forums to adhere to the Covid-appropriate behavior as stipulated by the authorities.

He encouraged students to actively participate in tree plantation and voluntary blood donation and would always made it a point plant trees on university campuses during his visits to attend convocations as the Chancellor of State Universities to create environment consciousness among the youth. He visited Rangannagudem village in Krishna district for a first-hand experience of organic farming being done there and encouraged farmers in the State to take up organic farming in a big way.

He was against putting up of arches, laying of red carpet, presentation of flower bouquets during his field visits and had given specific instructions to give up such arrangements as he considered them as a legacy of the past and should be dispensed with.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, Harichandan has been attending university convocations, programmes conducted by various organisations within the State and outside, in virtual mode through video conference from Raj Bhavan, on a regular basis.

Befitting honour

In recognition of his exceptional contribution to the nation in the field of public service, the Governor was awarded the Degree of Honoris Causa by the Desh Bhagat University of Punjab in February 2020. He was also conferred the prestigious 'Kalinga Ratna' award for 2021 by Sarala Sahitya Sansad, Odisha, a leading literary organisation in the country, which was presented to him by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in Odisha in April this year.

As a common man's Governor, he always believes in simplicity and austerity and has taken several measures to curtail wasteful expenditure. His day starts with a walk in the Raj Bhavan lawns and practice of yoga. As an avid reader himself, he spends much of his time reading books. May God bless him with long life and good health.

(Biswa Bhusan Harichandan will be completing two years as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh on July 24, 2021)