BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday unveiled 16 new initiatives in the budget, signalling a calibrated push to align welfare, infrastructure, technology, agriculture and tourism with the state’s vision of building a Viksit Odisha by 2036.
The schemes span from Rs 5,575 crore rural housing expansion under VB-G RAM G to the Rs 23 crore State AI Mission. In the social sector, Rs 635 crore has been allocated under Samruddha Anganwadi Yojana, which seeks to modernise anganwadi infrastructure and improve nutrition delivery for women and children. Another gender-focused intervention, Mukhyamantri Kanya Sumangal Yojana (MKSY), has been announced to promote education and welfare of girls.
“One of the visions of our government under women empowerment is to ensure every girl completes graduation. Under MKSY, a savings instrument of Rs 20,000 will be created in the name of a girl born in a family from the economically weaker section and she will be provided Rs 1,00,001 on completion of graduation,” the chief minister said.
The chief minister proposed the Dignified Access to Livelihood, Knowledge, Health and Allied Infrastructure (DALKHAI) with an allocation of Rs 220 crore to address the underlying causes of distress migration by ensuring sustainable livelihoods through inter and intra-departmental coordination. Connectivity to unconnected habitations has been prioritised, with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore to bridge the last-mile infrastructure gap.
Agriculture and rural economy received focused attention through the Rs 100 crore allocation for 100 smart farm markets (model mandis). Complementing this is the Rs 240 crore plan to establish the world’s largest grain storage infrastructure. The proposed Jagannath Interpretation Centre and World Tourism Centre (WTC) at Puri at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore are designed to enhance the spiritual and experiential tourism ecosystem. For the Tourism Land Bank Scheme, an allocation of Rs 150 crore has been made to streamline land availability for tourism infrastructure.
The state government has allocated Rs 10 crore for the Rare Earth Corridor initiative, a part of a larger plan to position itself in the country’s strategic mineral value chains. Urban transformation remains a priority as it has proposed Chief Minister Smart City Mission with an outlay of Rs 100 crore.
In the technology domain, Rs 23 crore has been allocated for the State AI Mission to embed artificial intelligence in governance, education and healthcare. The Rs 10 crore Fit Odisha Mission is expected to emphasise preventive healthcare and sports culture for building a healthier and more productive population.
Majhi has also proposed State Institute for Transformative Initiatives - Odisha (SITI-Odisha) as a policy think tank to drive evidence-based governance, innovation and cross-sectoral coordination.