An Exhibition On The Great Orissa Famine Kicks Off In Bhubaneswar

Photograph: Ashok Panda

Bhubaneswar: An exhibition on ‘Na’Anka Durbhikshya’, a dark forgotten chapter of Odisha’s history, was inaugurated by Culture Minister, Ashok Panda at the State Archives on Monday.

Organised by The Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage (INTACH), the exhibition showcased photographs, sketches and newspaper reports on the Great Orissa Famine of 1866 or Na’anka Durbhikshya as it is infamously known as.

Speaking on the occasion, SKB Narayan, Convener of INTACH said that even after 150 years of the Great Famine, Odisha still faces regular threats of calamities like droughts, floods and cyclones, and crop failures.  He further said that the exhibition would be taken to the other INTACH chapters in Bhadrak, Balasore and Baripada too.

Curator of the exhibition, Anil Dhir, said, “The Famine was not an accident of nature. It was not providence; rather it was a series of mistakes. For many decades after the great famine, it is simply a dark experience to recall.”

Ramesh Mohapatro, Convener of the Pipili Sanskrutika Parishad said that a suitable memorial will be set up in Pipili in memory of the millions who perished in the Famine.

Shashanka Sekhar Das, the Limca Book of Record holder for the largest collection of newspapers in India was felicitated on the occasion. The exhibition will remain open till April 6.