Jagadish Mohanty

Nija Nija Panipath Jagadish Mohanty

The novel "NIJa Nija Panipath" by Odia novelist and storyteller Jagadish Mohanty is based on theme of colliery life, coal management, trade union, minister and mafias. The protagonist of this novel Hari Shankar has sent his life as a trade union secretary in coal mines and for that reason paid a lot by neglecting his personal life. He has joined coal India as worker at the age of 18 and joined trade union. At the age of 50 he could realize that trade union has lost its loyalty ethics due to the interference of local minister .so he has decided to build a new union by the support of management, but he could not get success because of the protest of Dhruba Khatua, the existing union leader. Then he has kept hunger strike along with few peoples. After two three days all the peoples who have supported him left him alone and compromised with management alone and compromised with management. Pradyumna another character of the novel has suffered identity crisis. Being a Brahmin boy, he has accepted an identity of Samaru khadia, a tribal folk. Officially he was declared as the son of Baithu khadia. This he has to accept as he goes for a job purchased from mafia. Coal India has a policy to provide job to the people whose land have been acquired. Many tribal peoples were not interested for jobs but they preferred to instant money in lieu of such jobs. Local Mafia targeted those tribals and resold the jobs. And here Pradyumna is a victim of the system.