Tusharkanti Behera is a Member of Legislative Assembly from BJD in the 16th Odisha Legislative Assembly, and is currently serving as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Electronics & Information Technology, Sports & Youth Services for the Government of Odisha. He has a background in biotechnology and bioengineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and has previously served as Assistant Professor in the department of Civil Engineering, Centurion University of Technology & Manageme