Bargarh, is a town and a municipality in Bargarh district in the state of Orissa, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bargarh District.

Bargarh is located in western Orissa, close to the border of neighboring state of Chattisgarh. It is positioned at 21°20′N 83°37′E / 21.33°N 83.62°E / 21.33; 83.62 with an average elevation of 171 meter (561 feet). The whole of Bargarh district lies in the Deccan plateau with Eastern Ghats running close to the town. As per the earthquake zoning of India, Bargarh falls in the zone 2 category, the least earthquake prone zone.

Bargarh is one of the many forts built by the Chouhan dynasty.^{[citation needed]} Although no clear data is available about the settlement, the old fort walls can be traced near the 'Jira' river towards the plains of Ambapali. Unconfirmed literature claims that the name Bargarh has been derived from Balaramgarh, other sources claim that the name is so because Bargarh was the best of the cluster of forts (Garhs). The other subdivision of the district, Padampur has a feudal history with a tribal leader.

Shri Prasanna Acharya (born 8 August 1949) was a member of the 13th, and the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Sambalpur constituency of Orissa and is a member of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) political party.

In the elections in May 2009, when both Orissa and India went to the polls, Prasanna Acharya opted to get elected from an Orissa Assembly seat rather than his Parliament Constituency (Sambalpur).

He contested the elections from Redhakhol in Orissa with a BJD ticket and won with a margin of around 10,000 votes than his nearest competitor.

As of today, Acharya holds the post of the Minister of Health in Orissa.

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil (for the Latin philosophiae doctor or doctor philosophiae), in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities. The academic level of degrees known as doctorates of philosophy varies considerably according to the country, institution, and time period, from entry-level research degrees to higher doctorates. A person who attains a doctorate may be referred to as a doctor.

In the context of academic degrees, the term "philosophy" does not refer solely to the field of philosophy, but is used in a broader sense in accordance with its original Greek meaning, which is "love of wisdom". In most of Europe, all fields other than theology, law and medicine were traditionally known as philosophy. The doctorate of philosophy as it exists today originated as a doctorate in the liberal arts at the Humboldt University of Berlin, and was eventually adopted by United States universities, becoming common in large parts of the world in the 20th century. In many countries, the doctorate of philosophy is still awarded only in the liberal arts, which is known as "philosophy" in continental Europe.