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The Planning Commission has spurned the Odisha government’s long-standing demand for a special category status, clarifying that the state with stable fiscal indicators and being devoid of an international border does not meet the criteria for such a tag.
The Plan panel’s refusal to accord special status to Odisha is likely to set the stage for a face-off between the ruling BJD and the Congress led UPA government at the Centre. The state assembly had recently passed a resolution wherein all political parties had pledged support for the state’s demand for a special category status.
“Odisha does not satisfy the criterion of hilly and difficult terrain although forests in some areas do pose some difficulties. The density of population of Odisha relative to general density of population in special category states is not low. The proportion of tribal population in Odisha is relatively high compared to the general category states but is lower than several special category states. The criterion of strategic location along inter borders is not satisfied,” Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said in a letter to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
Non-viable nature of state finances being one of the criterions for grant of special category status, Ahluwalia said that the state of Odisha’s finances is stable and viable with sound indicators of fiscal deficit, outstanding liabilities and interest payments to total revenue receipts. The balance of current revenue is also positive which contributes to plan resources and thus the state does not satisfy this criterion, he reasoned.
On the criterion of economic and infrastructural backwardness, Ahluwalia said, “In the field of infrastructure, Odisha’s status is less than national average in terms of irrigation potential created and railway route per 100 km. However, in terms of national highway density, other roads and power infrastructure, Odisha's position is satisfactory. Thus, this criterion appears to be only partially satisfied.”
“I hope you would appreciate that under the existing criteria approval by the National Development Council (NDC), Odisha does not qualify for the grant of special category status,” Ahluwalia said.
Grant of special category tag to a state is determined by a host of criteria – hilly and difficult terrain, low population density or sizeable share of tribal population, strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries, economic and infrastructural backwardness and non-viable nature of state finances.
