Bhupesh Baghel

Bhupesh Baghel started his political career from Indian Youth Congress and became member of All India Congress Committee, he was also the General Secretary, and Program Coordinator of Pradesh Congress Committee. He was elected to Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1993 for the first time from Patan, and was later elected five times from same seat.[4]

Baghel was appointed as Minister of State, Chief Minister related, Public Grievances Redressal (Independent Charge), M.P. Governance in Digvijay Singh’s cabinet in December 1998 and became Minister of Transport in December 1999.[4]

After the state of Chhattisgarh was formed in November 2000, he became member of Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, and appointed as Minister, Revenue Rehabilitation, Relief Work, Public Health Mechanics under CG Governance. He again became MLA in 2003 state election from same seat. He lost the Patan assembly seat in 2008 elections. He also lost Parliamentary elections in 2009 from Raipur .[6]

He again won Patan Vidhan Sabha seat in 2013 election, and became Member of Working Committee, Chhattisgarh Assembly. In 2014-15, he became Member of Public Accounts Committee, CG Government.

He was President of state unit of Indian National Congress from October 2014 to June 2019.[7][8] After the state's top Congress leaders like Mahendra Karma, Vidya Charan Shukla, Nand Kumar Patel and 28 others were killed in the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley,[9] Baghel played a very important role in reviving the party in the state.[10] He managed to sideline ex-Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and his son Amit Jogi in state congress after Antagarh Assembly by-election audio tape row.[11][12]

Under his presidency Chhattisgarh Congress won the 2018 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election by a thumping majority.[13]

Baghel became MLA from Patan assembly seat again and became the Chief Minister of the state defeating BJP’s Raman Singh, after leading the opposition in Chhattisgarh State Assembly for 15 years.[14][15] He took oath as chief minister on 17 December 2018. He was replaced by Kondagaon MLA Mohan Markam as PCC President in June 2019.[16][17]

Baghel fulfilled two major poll promises farm loan waiver and raising paddy support price by 50% in relatively quicker way, the order letter was released dramatically, within hours of oath taking ceremony, though actual money transfer to farmers took days, weeks and months in some cases.[18][19][20] Tendu patta collection prices were increased. Government took a major step away from shiksha-karmi (temporary teacher) policy and vacancy for posts of 15,000 permanent teachers was announced.[19]

Bhupesh Baghel is the architect of this innovative scheme. The objective of this scheme is to revive the agricultural economy by striking a balance between modernity and traditions. The scheme has been launched to ensure water conservation, livestock protection and development, use of organic compost through household waste and cultivation of fruits and vegetables in backyards for self consumption and earning additional income.[21]

National Health Family Survey (NHFS)- 4 (2015-16), Chhattisgarh is one of the top states in India with high level of malnutrition and anemia among children and women. The scheme launched on 2 October 2019 on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150 birth anniversary aims to turn Chhattisgarh into malnutrition and anemia free state in the next three years.[22]

Under an MoU signed between the then govt and Tata Steel in 2005, agricultural land was acquired from the local tribals 10 villages around Lohandiguda in Bastar region. Despite protests from the villagers, the govt went ahead with the acquisition to build a 5.5 million tonne per annum capacity mega integrated steel plant. Tata Steel decided to quit the project in 2016. Immediately after coming to power, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel took a decision to return 4400 acres of the land to 1707 tribal families. The land was returned to the immediate owners or their legal heirs as per the provisions of the 'Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 under the Section 101. Section 101 stipulates that if any land acquired remains underutilized for a period of 5 years from the date of taking over the possession the same shall be returned to the original owners of their legal heirs.[23]

Malaria is a major public health concerns in India and major contributor to the malaria burden in South East Asia. Several factors contribute to the prevalence and incidences including socio-economic factors, geographical region, drug resistance. Bastar region of the state of Chhattisgarh has the highest Annual Parasite Incidence (API) (malaria) in India. Timely diagnosis due to limited infrastructure compounds the problem.

Launching the “Malaria Mukt Bastar” on 26 January 2020, the Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel pledged to make Bastar Malaria free in the coming days. In the first phase of the campaign, 14 lakh people were tested in Bastar, out of which 64,646 (4.60 percent) were found malaria infected. The second phase of the campaign started on 6 June and ended 31 July in which more than 23 lakh people have been examined. The process of medication of the victims has started.[24]