BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged NITI Aayog to recommend the Centre for special dispensation to Odisha to catch up with frontline states. In his interaction with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and his team, which is on a three-day visit to the State, the Chief Minister said that Odisha has made substantial improvement in the last two decades both in macroeconomic indicators and socioeconomic indicators.
The State has invested heavily in infrastructure development and become an attractive investment destination in the manufacturing and mining sectors. However, Odisha is burdened with infrastructural gaps and vulnerability to recurring natural calamities. “This requires a special dispensation from the Central government to help the State to catch up with the frontline states,” he stated.
The Chief Minister said that the State’s development interventions have been successful in combating Left Wing Extremism, mobilisation and economic empowerment of nearly 70 lakh women through SHGs. Odisha has its own health insurance scheme for cashless treatment in empanelled hospitals with wider coverage to reduce out-of-pocket health expenditure.
“We are the third-largest contributor to the PDS rice pool of the country. We have pioneered a conditional cash transfer system for pregnant women and nursing mothers,” he added. Welcoming the NITI Aayog team to Odisha, the Chief Minister said this platform will help in sharing innovative and emerging ideas for development. “We would like to take this opportunity to present various longstanding and emergent development issues requiring the support of NITI Aayog and Government of India,” he added.
Hailing the NITI Aayog for its support to states in identifying priorities, sectors and strategies for sustainable development, Naveen said that he welcomes more such consultations and collaboration with the states in the course of strategy and policy formulation across sectors.
Kumar congratulated the Chief Minister for the increase in State’s per capita income, improvement in agriculture and mining along with managing the fiscal deficit below five per cent. He advised the State to improve its mining production from one per cent to more than two per cent. He proposed the State to set up an SDG monitoring unit and suggested switching to chemical free agriculture. Stating that every state has its own priorities and specificity, Kumar said that the Niti Aayog is keen to partner with Odisha for formulating a State-specific development blueprint.