The book is a daring attempt to record the latest history of an Indian province in the context of national political changes depicting the sordid drama of steady alround degradation, the unhealthy nexus between greed and power and the lonely crusade of a subaltern leader to redeem parliamentary democracy from corruption and many other corrosive influence of contemporary society. The economic backwardness of Orissa despite abundance of natural resources and a relatively peaceful law and order situation has been an enigma baffling social scientists since long. Natural calamities apart, the lack of political will and able leadership are no mean impediments in the path of her progress. Democracy being consistently under trial for various reasons, Orissa sinks deeper in the mire of poverty and attrition. While analysing the conflict between weakening forces of Gandhian tradition and changing values of recent times, the study reveals with understanding the goals and aspirations of many living characters of history who have enjoyed the privilege of presiding over the destiny of a State in acute distress. Table of Contents Chapter 1: The prelude Chapter 2: Decades of destiny Chapter 3: Drummer to speaker Chapter 4: Looking ahead Chapter 5: Dropping the pilot.
