Following are some biographical pointers excerpted from this article in tathya.in.

JB born on 3 January, 1927 is one of the senior most leader of the Indian National Congress.

And as former Chief Minister of Odisha he served for the longest time on record. 

After the completion of his early education at Khurda High School, he passed his B.A. degree in Sanskrit from the Utkal University in 1947. 

He passed his M.A. degree in Political Science from the Banaras Hindu University in 1949. 

In 1950, he became the President of the Odisha State unit of the Youth Congress. 

He edited Prajatantra and Eastern Times for a long period.

In 1980, he became the Union Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation and Labour. And later he took over as the Chief Minister of Odisha. 

He continued till 1989 and later in 1995 he became CM for the third time and handed over the reins to Giridhar Gamang in 1999. 

Later in 2004 he became the Leader of Opposition and continued till 2008. 

He is recognised as an eminent poet and writer, and has won awards from the Odisha Sahitya Akademi and Kendriya Sahitya Akademi.