Odisha, in 2025, stands at a historic confluence. Its cultural wellspring—Balijatra, Kartika Purnima, Boita Bandana—remains alive, not as romantic nostalgia but as the DNA of an emergent maritime vision. The state’s port-led industrial economy and blue tourism drive are not divergences from its past but direct continuations, realising anew what the Sadhabas understood: greatness comes from openness, adaptability, and integration of land, sea, and people.
On the luminous night of Kartika Purnima, thousands of paper boats carrying flickering lamps are set afloat on rivers across Odisha. The people do not merely celebrate a festival—they invoke a civilisational memory. Balijatra commemorates the voyages of Kalinga’s uniquely enterprising seafarers who once sailed to Java, Sumatra, Bali and beyond. These journeys carried not only spices and textiles but also ideas, art, and faith, binding Odisha to the wider world.
Today, that same spirit of maritime ambition is being reimagined for the 21st century. The Odisha government is positioning the state as the Eastern Maritime Gateway of India, anchoring the nation’s entry into the global Blue Economy. As a cultural economist, I commend & welcome this vision—but I also ask: how will this translate into real, inclusive, and ecologically balanced outcomes?
Anchoring Ambition in Reality
Odisha’s coastline stretches 575 km, with 14 identified port locations. The state has set an ambitious target: to expand port capacity from ~80 million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 500 MTPA by 2047. Two transformational projects lie at the heart of this vision, the `21,500 crore Bahuda Port in Ganjam district, with a planned capacity of 150 MTPA and the `24,700 crore Shipbuilding Cluster at the Mahanadi mouth, designed to position Odisha as a global shipbuilding hub.
Together, these projects promise to turn Odisha’s coast into a dynamic hub of trade and industry, creating vast opportunities for investment and employment. If implemented with integrity, they could generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs, especially in logistics, shipbuilding, and allied services. Paradip Port, already one of India’s foremost maritime gateways, is being modernised and developed as a Green Hydrogen Hub. We are aware that non-major ports at Dhamra, Gopalpur, Subarnarekha, and Astaranga are steadily expanding capacity.
Governance: The Framework and the Gaps
The state’s maritime ambitions are underpinned by a governance framework. The Odisha Port Policy 2022 ensures policy stability and investor confidence. The Odisha Maritime Board (OMB) acts as a single-window authority, streamlining approvals and oversight. Innovative models like BOOST (Build, Own, Operate, Share, Transfer) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) — the first-of-its-kind among Indian coastal states—aim to create a transparent and investment-ready environment.
But what is required to make this effective? Governance must move beyond policy documents to field-level coordination, timely clearances, and community engagement. The success of these frameworks will depend on how they empower local stakeholders, protect coastal ecology, and ensure that employment reaches the youth of Odisha, not just the investor’s balance sheet. Odisha’s vision must extend beyond cargo and commerce. Odisha’s Blue Economy should meet its Orange Economy to promote coastal tourism, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) business, and music concerts.
From Sailors to Shipbuilders
From the historic voyages of Kalinga’s sailors to the shipbuilding hubs of tomorrow, Odisha’s maritime journey is both ancient and futuristic. The Mohan Charan Majhi government’s drive, as expressed, to make Odisha the Eastern Maritime Gateway is not just about tied to the sea. Today, with bold investments, cultural imagination, and ecological mindfulness, Odisha is poised to turn its coast into a global hub of trade, tourism, ww transformation.
As the Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi noted at India Maritime Week 2025, “What we are building is not just infrastructure; it is a foundation for a prosperous, resilient, and globally connected future.” We are with the government as long as we all believe sincerely that Odisha’s future is blue, illuminated by the golden light of Kartika Purnima. But, the onus of preserving Odisha’s coastline, its ecology, its heritage, its dignity, lies equally with its citizens and civil society. We must come together under this initiative to give tangible shape to the mission ‘Vikas Bhi, Virasat Bhi’. Only then will the boats we set afloat carry not just dreams, but direction.
(Charudutta Panigrahi is a thinker and a cultural economist. He can becontacted at charudutta403@gmail.com)
