Odisha Plan size pegged at Rs 21,500 cr

Plan size was fixed after deliberation between Naveen Patnaik, Montek Singh Ahluwalia

The Plan size of Odisha for 2013-14 has been pegged at Rs 21,500 crore, 24.63 per cent higher than Rs 17,250 crore for the last fiscal.

The Plan size was fixed after discussions between Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of Planning Commission.

Commenting on the state’s Plan performance, Ahluwalia said, “The performance is satisfactory and efforts at improving human development indicators are appreciable. Progress has been reached during the 11th Plan in all sectors including agriculture. Focus on human development needs to be continued.”

“The human development indicators have improved across all regions and all classes in Odisha. The overall literacy rate for the state is 73.45 per cent against the national average of 74.04 percent in 2011. The gender gap in literacy has come down by 24.84 per cent in 2001 to 18.04 per cent in 2011. Infant mortality rate has declined from 73 in 2006 to 57 in 2011 and maternal mortality rate from 303 during 2004-06 to 258 during 2007-09,” he said.

Ahluwalia stressed on making more intense efforts to improve basic amenities and address the problem of adverse child sex ratio.

The Plan panel deputy chairman has also underscored the need for encouraging public private partnership in both physical and social sector development.

He complimented Odisha for achieving the highest ever poverty reduction during 2004-05 to 2009-10. Poverty in the state declined 20.2 per cent from 57.2 per cent to 37 per cent in this period.

Patnaik said for faster and balanced socio-economic development, the major focus of the state is to develop critical infrastructure mainly electricity, roads and water and to step up public sector investments in high priority sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure and human development.

“Despite global economic slowdown, Odisha’s economy has grown at a real annual average rate of 7.13 per cent at 2004-05 prices during the 11th Plan period against the target of 9 per cent. Efforts to pursue fiscal reform measures that aim at augmenting revenue and managing expenditure more effectively will continue,” he added. Patnaik reiterated his demand for special category status, pointing out that the state satisfies most of the criteria for this tag except that it does not have an international boundary.