Ambassador Vijay Kumar IFS (Retd.)
Secretary, MEA
I have been privileged to know Dr Jagannath Patnaik from my days in Sydney in the late 90s when he was introduced to me by one of my colleagues, Mr SS Mahapatra. He has impressed me from our first meeting and later he had made quite an impression during his short stay in Sydney. He had close interactions with the academic personnel we had been working together for on a joint collaboration with Australia TAFE for skill training of our youth.
Dr Patnaaik has kept up his passion of developing closer cooperation between our educational institutes and overseas he left his name in the Caribbean, Africa and within India, he had worked in Sikkim, tribal areas of the Chhattisgarh and Odisha by his relentless efforts for uplifting weaker section and all his association with different multinational associations.
I have known Dr Jagannath Patnaik for a long time. He is a multifaceted personality and a great academic with deep knowledge of Indian spirituality. His lectures in the overseas are well appreciated and his modest way of communicating with people and depth of knowledge with his humility is well known.
I am happy to know that his book The Veracity of Truth based on his life and philosophy is coming soon. I am sure it would be appreciated around the world by his admirers based in Australia, Europe, the USA and Latin America. I send my best wishes and like his many admirers look forward to read it. All the best.