Odisha Shifts Panchayati Raj Divas to Align with National Date

The Odisha government will no longer celebrate March 5 as 'Panchayati Raj Day,' shifting the observance to April 24 to align with the national date. Instead, March 5 will be marked as Biju Patnaik's birth anniversary. The move has sparked criticism from the BJD party.

In a significant shift, the BJP government in Odisha announced that March 5 will no longer be observed as 'Panchayati Raj Day,' ending decades of tradition associating the date with former chief minister Biju Patnaik's birth anniversary.

Instead, the observance will be shifted to April 24 to coincide with the national Panchayati Raj Day, aligning state celebrations with the rest of the country. The state government has also decided to commemorate March 5 solely as Biju Patnaik's birth anniversary.

This decision has been criticized by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which called the separation of Biju Patnaik's name from Panchayati Raj Divas a significant loss to his legacy. The CMO, however, stated that the change aims to address inconsistencies between national and state celebrations.

(With inputs from agencies.)