Indus Valley Times

By Swagatika Bhutia

Bhubaneswar, March 24: Odisha’s economy has seen massive transformation in the past two decades. The state has recorded an enviable journey from a revenue-deficit economy to a revenue surplus economy. All this was possible because of massive industrialization, said eminent political leaders and economists at the annual ‘New Odisha-Vibrant Odisha’ Conclave here on Wednesday.

Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly Dr Surjya Narayan Patro, former finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, former state chief secretary Jugal Mohapatra, JSPL CSR head Prashant Hota, JK Paper Ltd CSR state head Prafulla Kumar Dhal, economist Dr Pravas Mishra, Press  Council of India member Prasanna Mohanty and senior journalist Akshaya Kumar Sahoo touched various points of Odisha economy and suggested measures for strengthening it.

“Odisha has rich mineral resources which are attracting mineral based industries. In the last two decades, the state has succeeded in wooing all the big mineral based industries who have greatly contributed to the state’s economy,” said Dr Patra.

The conclave was jointly organized by New Delhi-based Centre for Socio-Economic Studies and Indus Valley Times, an English newspaper.

Prafulla Ghadai spoke how the state was battling financial blues in the early years of the present century and outlined the fiscal measures that helped Odisha overcome its financial hardships.

“In 2000, we were struggling to prepare a budget of Rs 11,000 crore. In 2021-21, we presented a budget of 1.70 lakh crore. This year, the budget allocation might touch or even exceed Rs 2 lakh crore,” said Mr Ghadai.

Jugal Mohapatra stressed on the need for harnessing green energy to run industries to reduce the carbon burden on the environment. He also emphasized that strategies need to revisit to see that agri-labourers are absorbed in labour intensive industries so as to address the unemployment issue.

The industry leaders and other speakers highlighted how the industries in Odisha worked hand in hand with the state government during the Covid-19 pandemic and contributed to keep the state economy afloat.

“When the state badly required funds to meet the Covid exigencies,  the industries in Odisha who continued their productions despite the challenges, contributed revenues to the state coffer. Their contribution was almost 40 per cent to the state’s Gross State Domestic Product,” the speakers said.

Delegates from New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and all districts of Odisha participated in the conclave.