Draft:Amiya Pandav

Amiya Pandav is a writer, columnist, human rights activist and politician from the eastern indian state of Odisha, he currently is heading the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee social media department as its Chairperson and is a spokesperson with the Congress party Odisha state unit. He has been working against caste discrimination, caste violence, witch hunting and communalism in Odisha.

He has represented Odisha and participated in many pan India movements, workshops, seminars and fact finding committees dealing with issues relating to minorities and marginalised sections of Indian society like dalit and adivasi populations of Odisha and their documentation, reportage and inference of such cases. He has been part of Odisha’s liberal voices and is very vocal about his views on the rise of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) / Hindu right wing inspired which has has made him quite popular on social media platforms and also among youth.

As a Congress party member and an active civil society stakeholder in the state Amiya was also part of an interaction of Odisha civil societies with Bharat Jodo Yatra to help this pan indian "Yatra" movement gain credence in Odisha and receive support from civil society of Odisha.

Early life, education and career
Born in Brajrajnagar in the year 1976 he completed his schooling from Brajrajnagar, Jharsuguda in Western Odisha. He enrolled in Ispat College Rourkela where he was elected as Cultural secretary and participated in several students movements later on he moved to Kendrapara college and later on to Ravenshaw college where he completed his senior year in higher education. During his Ravenshaw days Amiya actively participated as campus leader for Student’s Federation of India and later became state president of the ChhatraJanata Dal (Secular) and then state vice president of Yuva Janata Dal (Secular) under the leadership of Janata Dal leader Ashok Das.

During his career as a student political leader and President Janata Dal Secular in Ravenshaw, for the first time in student leaders of all political parties shared the same platform. The then presidents of the Congress students' front Jinesh Das, president of AISF Jyoti Ranjan Mohapartra and president of the Janata Dal (S) students' wing Amiya Pandav joined hands to voice the demand to create a National Institute of Sciences.

As a close ally and aide de camp to Pyari Mohan Mahapatra, he was general secretary and spokesperson for the short lived Odisha Jana Manch political outfit. Following his fallout with Pyarimohan Mahapatra over the function of OJM in 2017 Amiya joined the Odisha state(Pradesh) unit of the Indian National Congress.

Subsequently he became a spokesperson for the state unit of Congress party being appointed as a state secretary for OPCC. He also has been appointed as the party’s intellectual and research cells functionary. He currently is serving as the Chairperson of the social media department of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee.

He calls himself as a “committed soldier of social justice movement” and has been focusing on issues relating to OBC communities across Odisha. He has written numerous articles on socio political issues and which are published in leading daily newspapers, journals and magazines and has authored 13 books based on social and political issues.

As a journalist and editor he has been editing AKSHYARA, a progressive Odia Literature Magazine from 2009 and ANGIKAR, a weekly newspaper based on political analysis from 2013. He is known to have worked with activists like Teesta Setalvad, Medha Patkar, Rakesh Tikait and many such other activists and civil society members.

Amiya is married to Smt AparnaTripathy and together they have two children called Taslima and Nelson.