BHUBANESWAR : Odisha has become one of the fastest growing states in the country with its economy registering a growth rate of 7.8 per cent in 2022-23 as per advance estimate, Governor Raghubar Das said on Monday.
Addressing the budget session of the Assembly, Das said Odisha’s growth is higher than the Indian economy which is projected to grow by 7 per cent.
He said Odisha’s post-Covid growth revival is exemplary. “The state’s economy has witnessed an annual average growth rate of 6.47 pc from 2012-13 to 2022-23 which is higher than the national average of 5.59 pc,” he said.
While growth in agriculture and allied sectors during 2022-23 was 6 pc, industries and services sectors have recorded growth rate of 6.1 pc and 8.8 pc respectively. Besides, per capita income in Odisha has grown significantly at 16.9 pc at current prices in 2022-23 to reach Rs 1.51 lakh crore from Rs 1.29 lakh in 2021-22.
Agriculture and allied sectors of the state contributed 22.5 pc to the Gross State Value Added (GSVA). “Agriculture holds the key to socio-economic development in the state as the sector provided the largest employment, nearly 45.8 pc of the workforce as per the periodic labour force survey of 2022-23. The unemployment rate of Odisha has also declined from 7.1 pc in 2017-18 to 6.2 pc in 2019-20,” Das stated.
He read out the address of 123 pages in Hindi for more than two hours. Stating that the overall law and order situation in the state has remained by and large peaceful, he said the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) has remarkably declined due to proactive operational and administrative response of the government.
He said 42 Maoist cadres were neutralised in police action while 145 arrested and 63 have surrendered. Besides, 162 guns, 180 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and large quantity of other articles have been recovered during anti-Maoist operations.
The number of LWE-affected districts has reduced to 10 from 21 due to proactive response of security personnel, the Governor said and added, under ‘Ghar Wapsi’ in Swabhiman Anchal of Malkangiri district, once a stronghold of LWE, 3,200 active militias and supporters have returned to social mainstream.
Das further expressed his happiness over the ‘Biswa Odia Bhasa Sammilani’ which was held from February 3 to 5 to promote the Odia language in a big way. “From Utkal Sammilani to the present Biswa Odia Bhasa Sammilani, Odisha’s mother tongue has evolved to be the sixth Indian language to be given classical language status,” he added.
Hailing the efforts of the government to promote Odia language, he congratulated it for inauguration of the newly-built campus of Odia university at Satyabadi. The university will play a significant role in further enriching the language, he added.