The vision document, ‘Orissa vision 2022’, prepared by the state council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) aims to make Orissa a poverty free state by 2022.
Orissa has one of the highest percentage of people below poverty line among the Indian states. As per the planning commission report, 39.9 per cent people lived below poverty line in 2004-05 as against the national average of 21.8 per cent.
The vision document seeks to usher in a balanced socio-economic growth of the state with sustainable development of industry, right harnessing of natural resources and actualisation of employment potential.
Saurabha Garg, the state industry secretary, released the vision document at a function organised by the Orissa State Council of CII on the occasion of its annual day. The document outlines seven main planks to achieve the objectives enshrined in the vision document.
This includes making community the partner in development through benefit sharing, fostering the vocational education sector, integrated infrastructure development, mainstreaming the large employment generating sectors, special intervention in backward districts, strengthening the public institutions and efficacy of programmes and responsible fiscal and public system management.
In the infrastructure sector, the vision document envisages that in next 14 years, all 50,000 villages in Orissa will have all weather connectivity compared to 40 percent at present. Three private ports like Gopalpur, Dhamara and Kirtania are likely to be developed into major ports by 2022 besides Paradeep which is the existing major port.
On the social front, infant mortality rate (IMR) should decline to 20 percent per 1000 live birth from 73 at present. Similarly, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) should also be brought down from 358 per 1 lakh population to 50 by 2022.The state is projected to be a fully literate state by 2022 from the current level of 63.08 percent. Focusing on agriculture, the report states that concerted effort should be made to provide irrigation facilities to all farm lands compared to about 30 percent at present.
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Besides, dedicated efforts should be made to address issues of tourism promotion, educated unemployment, under-employment, frictional unemployment and popularisation of child welfare programmes. District Development Plans (DDPs) should be drawn up to provide guideline for development, the report points out. Speaking on the occasion, Garg said, the industry fraternity should take care of the skill gap prevailing in the state and the drop out in the school and college level.
Since skilled work force will push competitiveness and help to reduce cost, skill upgradation work like setting up of ITIs needs to be taken up by the industry. While there will not be any delay on the existing schemes including the stimulus package, monthly meetings of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) will be held to streamline the credit flow to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the state, he assured.
Mukul Somany, deputy chairman, eastern region, CII said, the industry is passing through a difficult period and the government needs to ensure speedy clearance of the projects. Santosh Mohapatra, the chairman of Orissa State Council and S S Nandurdikar spoke on the occasion.
CII’s skill gap study report by mid April
In a parallel development, the state council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will bring out a report on the skill gap of the human resources in the state, as part of its initiative of improving the skill of the work force in Orissa. The task has been assigned to the Price Water House Coopers (PwC) and the report is expected by the second week of April 2009, a senior executive of the CII said.
Mukul Somany said, PwC has been asked to prepare a report on the availability of skills in Orissa and the requirement of the industry and the market in times to come. Since Orissa has a large gap in terms of skilled manpower, the outcome of the study will be beneficial for the state.
PwC has submitted the draft report to the chamber and the chamber has provided inputs and clarification about the study. It will be Orissa specific and the final report is expected by the second week of April 2009.
Once the report is received, CII plans to take up 1 or 2 districts to implement the measures suggested in the report.
Depending on the outcome, these measures will be implemented in other districts of the state, he added.
In line with the National Centre of Excellence for Skill Development set up by CII at Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh, the confederation also plans to set up a similar Centre of Excellence in Orissa. It will be implemented through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to bridge the skill gap. Training is proposed to be imparted in trades like masonry, bar-bending, welding, excavator operators and fitters for a period of 1 to 3 months. Training in areas like auto mechanic, security guards and drivers will also form part of the training course.