___________

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indopia.

  … "The first phase with 0.8 Mtpa capacity is expected to be commissioned by June-July, 2010. Work for the stainless steel plant is going on in full swing,"JSL Vice President and Managing Director Ratan Jindal told reporters after meeting Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Though there has been some delay in the Rs 6,500 crore project …

Once the first phase is commissioned, work for the next phase would be expedited to achieve the 1.6 Mtpa capacity at the earliest.

… He said 50 per cent of the electricity generated from the captive power plant (cpp) of the company is being provided to the state government.

On the proposed 1,000 mw thermal plant to be set up in Dhenkanal, Jindal said details were being worked out for the project.

Tathya.in has a few statements on the simple style of Billionaire owner Ratan Jindal.

Ratan, in fact, known for his down to earth approach and simple life style.

He like others never moves in his personal jet and does not shows off his wealth, said an industry watcher.

He simply moves in Jetlite or Indigo with a few of his officers.

Ratan Jindal is the one of 4 sons of late O. P. Jindal. His mother is a minister in the Harayana state government and one of the brother Naveen Jindal is an MP. There are many colleges and a university with O. P. Jindal’s name. This includes the:

• O. P. Jindal Global University in Harayana with Jindal Global Law School as its first school
• O. P. Jindal Institute of Technology in Chhatisgarh under the aegis of Jindal Education and Welfare Society

The Orissa government should push Mr. Ratan Jindal for an engineering college and a medical college in Orissa.

Following is from Samaja:

Following is from a report in Economic Times:

Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizer, Srikant Jena on Sunday said the fertilizer plant at Talcher, 126 km from here would be revived with an investment

of Rs 12,000 crore. It provided direct and indirect employment to 30000 people in the area.

“The government will appoint consultants to suggest the modalities to raise finance, identify appropriate technology to revive the closed fertiliser unit at Talcher”, Mr Jena told ET.

The union government already had decided to revive Talcher plant. In fact, last October the Cabinet had set up an Empowered Committee of Secretaries under the chairmanship of Fertiliser Secretary Atul Chaturvedi to come up with possible financial models for the revival of the closed plants at Talcher, Barauni, Haldia, Ramagundam, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Korba and Sindri.

The Talcher plant had liabilities of over Rs 4000 crore and assets worth of Rs 225 crore. “The liabilities comprise of mostly loans from the government of India and interest on loans. This can be waived once all the modalities of revival are worked out. We propose to expand its capacity to 12 million ton per annum [TPA].

Commercial production of Ammonia and Urea at the Talcher unit commenced in November 1980. Urea and Ammonia plants have been designed with a capacity to produce 4.95 lakh and 2.97 lakh tpa respectively.

However production of Urea and Ammonia was first suspended from April 1, 1999 due to its economic non-viability. In 2002, it came to grinding halt after the NDA government decided to close the unit following BIFR sanction.

Last year, the union government decided to renew Talcher unit and consulted with the companies like the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers and National Fertilisers. It even decided to put in an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in the project in view of the ambitious target of production of 40 million tpa of urea by 2012.

… RCF is the only profit making public sector fertilizer company which has evinced interest to take over Talcher and Durgapur (West Bengal) Fertilizer plant for revival. In fact, the feasibility report on Talcher had already been submitted to RCF.

The revival plan included proposal to convert Talcher plant from a coal based urea plant to a gas-based urea unit with capacity to produce 2000 ton of ammonia per day. There is no problem of water in Talcher, non-availabilty of gas remains the biggest hurdle in the way of reviving the plant. There is no source of gas nearby.

The proposed gas pipe line to be laid by Reliance Industries carrying gas from Krishna-Godavari basin to West Bengal via Bhadrak in Orissa could be the solution, sources said. However, the ministry will take a final view after the consultants submit detailed report on the financial model and technological options available for the revival of the Talcher unit.

Following is from a report in Pioneer:

Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena has to push a few major projects for Orissa, feel industry watchers. One of the largest projects waiting for clearance is the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) project at Paradip.

The State Government has proposed a PCPIR expecting an investment of Rs 2.75 lakh crore.

While PCPIRs have been approved for Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, the fate of Orissa’s proposal for it is still hanging. The PCPIR policy, notified in April 2007, seeks to ensure adoption of a holistic approach to the development of global scale industrial clusters in the petroleum, chemical and petrochemical sectors in an integrated and environment-friendly manner.

The Government of Orissa has taken the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as the anchor investor. The IOCL is investing nearly Rs 30,000 crore for a greenfield refinery project at Paradip. The PCPIR proposal is, however, gathering dust in the files of the Ministry. So, it is high time Jena pushed the project to the Union Cabinet for approval by convincing the Cabinet-rank Minister MK Ajhagiri.

With this single clearance, Paradip will be in a position to attract huge investments in the petroleum, petrochemicals, fertilisers and other related areas. Similarly, Jena can push for the establishment of a NIPER (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research) in Orissa.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

As regards Orissa projects, where 80% of the employees are from the state, we have resolved not to go for any layoff. In fact, we are appointing more and more people in our projects here,” Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal told reporters here on Saturday on the sidelines of his first meeting with Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik after the latter swept the just concluded polls.

Mr Agarwal claimed that Vedanta had already invested Rs 25,000 crore of its promised Rs 50,000 crore investment in the state. “The rest will be spent in the next two years”, he assured.

Meanwhile, the VAL had secured Stage I clearance for mining of bauxite in Niyamgiri hills to feed its Lanjigarh project. …

Mr Agarwal also stated that Vedanta had got coal block for its Jharsuguda smelter project and it will soon start coal mining. To a query on the University project, Mr Agarwal said: “We are going to start our university project very soon.”

Mr Agarwal hoped that the state government would soon pass the Vedanta University Bill in the Assembly. “We have already submitted all papers to the state government required for passing of the Vedanta University Bill. I hope it will be passed in the House shortly,” he added.

He informed that Anil Agarwal Foundation – which is setting up a world class university at Puri that includes a 1000-bed hospital – will have its extended centre in Bhubaneswar. “During the meeting, the CM was contemplating if we have can have an extended centre of our hospital project in Bhubaneswar to set up a trauma centre for burn and coma patients. We have in fact agreed for it,” he said.

The whole speech is at http://presidentofindia.nic.in/sp040609.html. Following are excerpts. The underlining and other emphasis is mine.

18. The flagship programmes which my Government introduced have moved the country towards inclusive development. It would be our endeavour to consolidate these programmes in the next five years. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has proved to be what it promised-an effective social protection measure and the largest programme in the world for rural reconstruction. Its transformational potential is unfolding before our eyes. My Government would enlarge the scope of works permitted under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act presently limited to unskilled manual work. The opportunity for improving land productivity through the NREGA will be maximized through better convergence of NREGA with other programmes. To ensure transparency and public accountability, independent monitoring and grievance redressal mechanisms will be set up at the district level.

19. The National Rural Health Mission has begun to strengthen rural public health infrastructure. The Mission would be consolidated to make perceptible reduction in infant mortality and maternal mortality in the next five years. Vaccine producing institutes in the public sector will be revived to support the immunization programme. My Government will expand the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover all families below the poverty line in the next five years. Malnutrition has emerged as a major health challenge needing urgent response. Hence the nutrition delivery programme will be comprehensively revamped to bring it under the watch of panchayat institutions and move to provision of hot cooked meals in anganwadis.

20. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been able to provide access to children to elementary schools and retention has increased on account of the universal mid-day meal programme. The focus will be on making quality education a right through the enactment of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill now under consideration of Parliament. The Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan will universalize access to secondary education. The massive expansion in higher education through new institutions under implementation in the Eleventh Plan will enable the country to meet the challenge of education in full measure. In the last five years, a wide range of scholarships and educational loans was introduced for the needy and deserving students. This effort will be reviewed and further strengthened. Government’s strategy for higher education will be formulated around a three-fold objective of expansion, inclusion and excellence. The suggestions given by the National Knowledge Commission will guide the formulation and implementation of the strategy.

21. While male literacy went up to over 75 percent in the last census and is expected to be higher now, female literacy was only 54 percent in 2001. My Government will recast the National Literacy Mission as a National Mission for Female Literacy to make every woman literate in the next five years. Increased female literacy is expected to become a force multiplier for all our social development programmes.

22. My Government launched Bharat Nirman five years ago as a time-bound business plan for rural infrastructure. It has succeeded in reaching basic infrastructure of roads, electricity and telephone to a large number of villages. It has also achieved most of the targets of rural water supply, rural housing and has increased irrigation potential. The remaining tasks will be completed in the second phase of Bharat Nirman. It is also proposed to set enhanced targets for Bharat Nirman in the second phase.

– The Indira Awas Yojana, which exceeded the original target of sixty lakh houses for the period 2004-2009, will now take up double the target of rural housing to one crore twenty lakh houses to be completed in the next five years.

– Rural Water supply programme will be completed by 2011 and handed over to be managed by panchayats in the next Plan.

– The rural telecommunication target will be set at reaching 40% rural teledensity in the next five years and expanding broadband coverage to connect every panchayat to a broadband network in three years. The scheme for Common Service Centres or e-kiosks will be suitably repositioned to be a network of panchayat-level Bharat Nirman Common Service Centres to provide government services to citizens in rural areas.

– New targets would be set for rural electrification, irrigation and road connectivity.

23. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) with approval of projects of nearly Rs. 50,000 crore in the last four years is reshaping our cities and has been widely welcomed. It will continue to focus on infrastructure, basic services and governance reform and increase support to cities to upgrade public transport. Over 15 lakh houses are under construction for the urban poor. There is a need to focus urban housing programmes on the poor living in slums. My Government proposes to introduce a Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and the urban poor on the lines of the Indira Awas Yojana for the rural poor. The schemes for affordable housing through partnership and the scheme for interest subsidy for urban housing would be dovetailed into the Rajiv Awas Yojana which would extend support under JNNURM to States that are willing to assign property rights to people living in slum areas. My Government’s effort would be to create a slum free India in five years through the Rajiv Awas Yojana.

24. My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas will be entitled, by law, to 25 kilograms of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per kilogram. This legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reform in the public distribution system.

26. Over 50 percent of our population is below 25 years of age and their creative energy is our greatest strategic resource. The challenge is to invest in their education, employability and employment. India has the capacity to contribute to a fourth of the global work force if it invests in skill development of its youth. Education which provides employable skills holds the key for equal opportunities for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Minorities. My Government has in the last five years brought in legal changes and investment in this direction. These would be consolidated. Besides making massive investment in education, government will focus on the national skill development initiative that has commenced operation with the very ambitious goal of creation of 500 million skilled people by 2022 so that we realize the demographic dividend.

27. The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act would be monitored to ensure that all title deeds are distributed by end of 2009.

29. The Amendment Bill to the Land Acquisition Act and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill prepared to protect farmers and others dependent on farming from unfair displacement and which was placed before Parliament could not be carried through. It will be our endeavour to have these bills reintroduced and enacted in the budget session of Parliament.

30. My Government considerably enhanced provisions for social security through old age pension for all people below the poverty line and above 65 years of age, all handicapped people and all widows above the age of forty. It will examine extending social protection to other persons at special risk. Social security schemes for other occupations like landless labour, weavers, fisherfolk, toddy tappers, leather workers, plantation labour, construction labour, mine workers and beedi workers will be appropriately expanded.

32. My Government will initiate steps within the next hundred days on the following measures:

…

– Restructuring the Backward Regions Grant Fund, which overlaps with other development investment, to focus on decentralized planning and capacity building of elected panchayat representatives. The next three years would be devoted to training panchayat raj functionaries in administering flagship programmes;

– A public data policy to place all information covering non-strategic areas in the public domain. It would help citizens to challenge the data and engage directly in governance reform;

– Increasing transparency and public accountability of NREGA by enforcing social audit and ensuring grievance redressal by setting up district level ombudsman;

– Strengthening Right to Information by suitably amending the law to provide for disclosure by government in all non-strategic areas;

– Strengthening public accountability of flagship programmes by the creation of an Independent Evaluation Office at an arm’s distance from the government catalysed by the Planning Commission. It would work on a network model by collaborating with leading social science research organizations and concurrently evaluate the impact of flagship programmes and place it in the public domain;

– Establishing mechanisms for performance monitoring and performance evaluation in government on a regular basis;

– Five Annual Reports to be presented by government as Reports to the People on Education, Health, Employment, Environment and Infrastructure to generate a national debate;

– Facilitating a Voluntary Technical Corps of professionals in all urban areas through JNNURM to support city development activities;

– Enabling non government organisations in the area of development action seeking government support through a web-based transaction on a government portal in which the status of the application will be transparently monitorable;

– Provision of scholarships and social security schemes through accounts in post offices and banks and phased transition to smart cards;

– Revamping of banks and post offices to become outreach units for financial inclusion complemented by business correspondents aided by technology;

– Electronic governance through Bharat Nirman common service centres in all panchayats in the next three years;

– A model Public Services Law, that covers functionaries providing important social services like education, health, rural development etc. and commits them to their duties, will be drawn up in consultation with states;

– A National Council for Human Resources in Health as an overarching regulatory body for the health sector to reform the current regulatory framework and enhance supply of skilled personnel;

– A National Council for Higher Education as recommended by the Yashpal Committee and the National Knowledge Commission to bring in reform of regulatory institutions;

– Develop a "brain gain" policy to attract talent from all over the world into the 14 universities proposed in the 11th plan to position them as "Innovation Universities";

– A roadmap for judicial reform to be outlined in six months and implemented in a time-bound manner;

– Targeted identification cards would subsume and replace omnibus Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. NREGA has a job card and the proposed Food Security Act would also create a new card. Identification of beneficiaries for other programmes which currently use the omnibus BPL list would improve identification based on programme objectives with the common underlying principle that all identification of beneficiaries will be done through gram sabhas and urban local bodies and the list placed in the public domain to be open to challenge;

– A Delivery Monitoring Unit in the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor flagship programmes and iconic projects and report on their status publicly;

– Suitably institutionalized quarterly reporting on Flagship programmes as "Bharat Nirman Quarterly Reports" where Ministers would publicly report on progress through the media.

33. Infrastructure is a fundamental enabler for a modern economy and infrastructure development will be a key focus area for the next five years. Public investment in infrastructure is of paramount importance. Bottlenecks and delays in implementation of infrastructure projects because of policies and procedures, especially in railways, power, highways, ports, airports and rural telecom will be systematically removed. Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are a key element of the strategy. A large number of PPP projects in different areas currently awaiting government approval would be cleared expeditiously. The regulatory and legal framework for PPPs would be made more investment friendly. My Government will continue its special emphasis on infrastructure development in the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir and enhance connectivity to these regions.

34. Our fellow citizens have every right to own part of the shares of public sector companies while the government retains majority shareholding and control. My Government will develop a roadmap for listing and people-ownership of public sector undertakings while ensuring that government equity does not fall below 51 %.

35. My Government is firmly committed to maintaining high growth with low inflation, particularly in relation to prices of essential agricultural and industrial commodities. It will steadfastly observe fiscal responsibility so that the ability of the Centre to invest in essential social and economic infrastructure is continuously enhanced. This will require that all subsidies reach only the truly needy and poor sections of our society. A national consensus will be created on this issue and necessary policy changes implemented.

36. My Government has been able to significantly increase realization of direct taxes as a result of improved and simplified tax administration and this process will continue. The roadmap for moving towards a Goods and Services Tax will be vigorously pursued. My Government is fully seized of the issue of illegal money of Indian citizens outside the country in secret bank accounts. It will vigorously pursue all necessary steps in coordination with the countries concerned.

37. Coordinated action for energy would be guided by the integrated energy policy. The effort would be to see that at least 13,000 MW of generating capacity is added each year through a mix of sources -coal, hydel, nuclear and renewables. Village and rural household electrification and reduction in aggregate technical and commercial losses will continue to be given the highest priority. Competitiveness and efficiency in the power sector will be enhanced through time-bound measures, including operationalising the provision of open access.

38. The pace of oil and gas exploration will be intensified and India’s oil diplomacy aggressively pursued. Reforms in the coal sector, for which a detailed blueprint has been prepared, will be pursued with urgency. The international civil nuclear agreements will be operationalised with various countries even as domestic sources of uranium are exploited and work continues on the indigenously designed fast breeder and thorium reactors.

39. My Government will ensure that our space programme which has achieved wide recognition continues to bring rich dividends to society in agriculture, tele-medicine, tele-education and by providing information to rural knowledge centres, besides contributing to telecommunication, television broadcasting and weather forecasting. Several innovative initiatives commenced by government in the science and technology sector in the last five years and now under implementation will be further strengthened.

40. My Government is proactively addressing issues of climate change through eight national missions. Of these the National Solar Mission, the National Water Mission, the National Mission on Energy Efficiency, the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture and the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat will be launched by the end of this year. The National Ganga River Basin Authority, set up recently will evolve a new action plan for cleaning and beautifying the river in partnership with the basin states.

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

… Mr.Agarwal impressed upon the Chief Minister that his group is eager to expand the .50 million ton smelter in Jharsuguda to a 1.6 million ton per annum (MTPA). 

Naveen Patnaik, asked the Chief Secretary to look into the matter finalize the expansion program, said sources. 

Mr.Agarwal updated the Chief Minister about the status of Vedanta’s ongoing projects in the state here on 3 January..

The Alumina Project at Lanjigarh, Smelter and Power Projects at Jharsuguda and the University project at Puri is being implemented by the Vedanta group.

On Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) front, adoption of 400 anganwadis, providing education for 14000 children at Kalahandi are being implemented, briefed Mr.Agarwal.

Mr. Agarwal agreed to extend the coverage to 40000 children and agreed to introduce the Mid Day Meal scheme for 30000 primary and the secondary level school student in the state through Nandi and Sterlite Foundation as the Chief Minister requested him.

He also announced a 100 bedded state-of-the-art multi-speciality hospital at Jharsuguda will provide medical facility to the local people.

Chairman Vedanta group reiterated his earlier commitment to build a 1000 bedded super-specialty hospital at Puri.

It was also informed that the design and the engineering has been completed and construction is to begin soon.

In addition Mr Agarwal put forth his plans of setting up of a downstream Aluminium Park in collaboration with the government to promote as many as 600 small and medium scale industries at Jharsuguda. 

The project will generate large scale employment opportunities and additional economic activities in the region.

Currently the Vedanta Group’s investment commitments are in excess of Rs 50,000 crores, half of which has already been invested in various projects of Orissa.

Vedanta is presently generating a huge number of direct and indirect employment for approximately 25000 people, eighty percent of which belong to the state of Orissa.

After the meeting the CM, Mr Agarwal told reporters that all the ongoing projects of Vedanta would continue as per schedule in spite of the recent global recession.

He also assured that in his personal capacity he would make all possible efforts to complete the Vedanta University Project, a world class University at par with the Havard and Stanford University of U,S.A.

He has already committed personal contribution of Rs 5000 crore towards this project.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The NSC has transformed itself from the usual non-profit-earning PSU into a vibrant entity.

Private sector seed companies have, till now, had a virtual monopoly over the production and sale of seeds, mostly hybrid seeds, of high-value crops. This was chiefly because the public sector seed producers, besides being fewer in number, remained focused right from the beginning on the production of seeds of low-value but high-volume crops (basically cereals), where profits were low though the quantities to be handled were large. Besides, public sector units (PSUs) made little attempt to keep pace with time.

However, the much-needed change in the public seed sector is coming about now with the largest player, the National Seeds Corporation (NSC), adopting a corporate culture and deploying state-of-the-art technology to produce seeds even of high-value crops and hybrids.

Indeed, as could be expected, this change in the work culture has transformed the NSC from the usual non-profit-earning PSU into a vibrant entity striving to find a place among the mini-Ratnas, if not the Navratnas. The headquarters of the NSC and four of its regional units in Bhopal, Jaipur, Secunderabad and Bangalore, have already acquired the ISO 9001-2000 certificate and the remaining regional units are in the process of doing so.

… Indeed, the man behind this incredible transformation is the present chairman and managing director B B Pattanaik." I would be able to declare a much higher dividend for the current year, "asserts an enthusiastic Pattanaik. He has not only motivated the aging employees of this 45-year-old corporation for better performance but has also taken several new initiatives to be in a position to rub shoulders with the well-run private sector seed companies, many of which now have business tie-ups with the NSC.

… The NSC’s tissue culture unit with a capacity to churn out annually about two lakh test tube-raised plantlets for propagation of the banana is coming up in Bhubaneswar and may become operational by the next month. For research and development back-up, the NSC gets support from the vast agricultural research network of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the state agriculture universities. This helps the NSC to add, on an average, around 20 new varieties and hybrids to its product range every year.

The Top 7 in its list are:

1. Bangalore (population: 6.37 million )
2. Hyderabad (population: 6.2 million)
3. Chennai (population: 7.2 million)
4. Pune (population: 5.07 million)
5. Kolkata (population: 15.18 million)
6. Delhi (population: 18.36 million)
7. Bhubaneswar (population: 1.636 million)

About Bhubaneswar, it says:

Once famed for its Sun Temple, the capital of Orissa is fast emerging as a major player in the outsourcing industry. The city accounts for almost all of the IT revenue of Orissa and is one of the fastest growing regions in India in this sector.

The city is home to more than 30 engineering colleges. Although Orissa has a planned investment of $90 billion for the IT sector, the road to success is fraught with hindrances. Land acquisitions for some of these projects have been opposed by the local people as well as by environmentalists.

The first RTP is in Hyderabad. Both RTPs will have a relationship with the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) in Hyderabad. (New indian Express also reports on this.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

The city is all set to have one of the biggest aquariums in the country, spread over 332 square metre and housing as many as 140 varieties.

Deputy Director-General (Fisheries) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research Prof. S. Ayyappan would inaugurate iton Friday.

It has been built by Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA).

The research institute is describing it as one of the biggest ecosystem-based aquaria.

It will hold 140 varieties including 20 marine species and as many indigenous species in about 54 aquaria.

Entry fee has been priced at Rs 10 per adult, Rs 5 for child and Rs 3 for students (group of 20 or more).

The primary objective of the aquarium would be to create awareness among the public about aquatic fauna and flora.

It will aim at providing first hand information on ornamental fish and motivate farmers and entrepreneurs in ornamental fish farming and trade.

Some of the important fresh water varieties it would exhibit include Discus, Angel, Barbs, Danios, Tetras, Catfishes, Gouramies, and Cichlids.

Besides, some of the popular marine fishes in collection include Clown Fish,’ ‘Starfish,’ ‘Tang Fish,’ ‘Angel Fish,’ ‘Lion Fish and Anemones.

Importantly, the aquarium also has in possession a few pretty exotic fishes like Ghost Knife Fish of the Amazon, Texas and Flower Horn.

The following is from http://rc.orissa.gov.in/index3.asp?linkid=30&sublinkid=272.

ORISSA’S 11^th Five Year PLAN SIZE FIXED AT RS.32,225 CRORE

 AIMS AT 9% GROWTH

Addressing the 54^th meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) at Delhi, Chief Minister of Orissa Naveen Patnaik announced that the 11^th five year plan for Orissa has an outlay of Rs.32,225 crore and targeted 9% growth for the plan period. This was set against the achievement of 7.26% growth during the first four years vis-à-vis the target of 6.2% of the 10^th five year plan.

In his address, the Chief Minister, Orissa stated that tackling the challenging task of reduction of regional, social and gender disparities and achieving faster, broad-based and inclusive growth needed a three-pronged strategy that included:

(i)               Increasing flow of untied Central assistance to less developed states,

(ii)            Providing greater fiscal space to the states for mobilizing higher resources, and

(iii)          Helping states to reduce their debt burden by swapping high cost debt, including Small Savings debt, with low cost loans.

He impressed that a growth strategy that promotes employment has been rightly given prominence in the 11^th Plan.  Orissa has already put employment generation on a mission mode for achieving convergence of resources and activities under different programmes to generate more employment opportunities for unemployed people.  Development of small scale industries in clusters and ancillarization are also going to be given more attention during the 11^th Plan.

He also stressed that increasing irrigation potential and drought proofing were critical pre-requisites to enhance agricultural productivity.  With a view to increasing assured irrigation in Orissa, he urged Government of India to substantiality increase Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) funding for Orissa and to expand the scope of AIBP to include Lift Irrigation projects.  He further requested Government of India to significantly enhance allocations under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Revival Mission (JNNURM) and Urban Infrastructure Development Schemes for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) for providing basic infrastructure facilities in urban and semi-urban areas in Orissa.

The Chief Minister, Orissa further outlined several interventions that were urgently needed for expeditious and inclusive growth of backward states like Orissa.  Some such interventions included:

(i)               higher Central Assistance for infrastructure development in the areas of roads, ports and railways in Orissa and other backward states,

(ii)            enhancement of funding for the World Bank sponsored Orissa State Road Project from US $ 250 million to US $ 360 million and increased Central support for the proposed Ranchi-Vijayawada Highway,

(iii)          establishment of prestigious Central institutions like IIT, IIM and IIIT in Orissa to meet growing needs of skilled manpower for upcoming industries,

(iv)          exemption from income tax and central excise for 10 years for the KBK region on the lines of Special Category States in order to promote industrialization,

(v)             timely revision of royalty on coal and other minerals, on  ad valorem basis and  equitable share of export duty levied by Government of India on major minerals to the mineral rich states,

(vi)          just and adequate compensation for power producing states which bear the brunt of pollution and displacement, and

(vii)        expeditious coverage of all 30 districts under RGGVY and release of funds for the same.

The Chief Minister, Orissa also stressed that the mineral rich states needed to benefit from their natural endowment in a fair and efficient manner and that these states needed to be consulted in assigning mineral concessions.  He stated that value addition within the mineral bearing states needs to be given emphasis and hoped that Government of India shall fully address the concern of the mineral bearing states while finalizing the proposed mineral policy.  He further urged the Central Government to declare Orissa as a Special Category State.

Following is an excerpt from a news item in tathya.in.

The State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) has paved the way for the first shipyard project in Orissa. 

… Presenting the case Ashok Dalwai, Secretary Industries the project will provide jobs for 41,000 people. 

The Bharati Shipyard Limited (BSL), a major private shipyard and the Apeejay Surendra Group, an industrial conglomerate have joined hands to set up the-State-of-the-art shipbuilding yard and ship repair yard project at Dhamra in Orissa. 

The mega shipyard project will entail an investment of Rs.2200 crore in 3 phases. 

Easy availability of raw material like steel, large number of skilled, unskilled man power and above all the proactive government policies dotted with positive environment for investors are creating conducive atmosphere for a mega shipyard in the state.

The requirement of steel in shipbuilding and repairing has been projected as in the first phase it will be up to 75,000 MT per annum, while in second phase it will go up to 2,30,000 MT.

In the final phase the steel requirement will go up to 4, 50,000 MT said the source.

The proposed site has been identified near the Dhamra Port, where out of 1500 acres surveyed 1050 acre of land has been provisionally selected for the mega shipyard.

Milestones set up for the project envisages that Master Plan will be ready in the next year and construction of the shipyard will begin in mid of 2008. 

The Joint venture promoters feel that the project will complete its first phase construction in early 2009 to begin commercial production by middle of the year.

Odisha.in adds the following:

The company has also plans to set up an ITI neared to the project site to provide technical training to local youth to enable them to get related jobs in the project.

Following is an excerpt on this from a report in Pioneer.

The Vedanta group has been entrusted by the Beach Development Committee to illuminate the city beach. In wake of failure of Government and NGOs to provide weather sustainable lights in the five kilometre stretch of beach along the city’s coast even after spending about Rs 1 crore, the committee had requested the Vedanta University project officials to take up the work. At the Saturday meeting of the committee, the officials of Vedanta had agreed to the proposal.

Following are some excerpts from that article.

… Bhubaneswar already ranks very high on the software exports frontwith Rs 732 crore completed in 2006-07, Bhubaneswar was 9th in the pecking order among Indian cities. Says Vishal Dev, director, IT, government of Orissa, “Till last year, we were the largest city in the whole of Eastern India on software exports, before being overtaken by Kolkata.” And, now have ambitious plans to reach $1,000 mn in software exports by 2012.

t is also one of the few cities in the country that boasts of the presence of the Big Four of Indian software exports. While Infosys and Satyam have been present in the city for quite some time and have 3,000 and 1,000 people respectively, TCS, after starting last year, has recruited 300 people. Wipro, too, has started campus construction. Add to this, Genpact, IBM Daksh, and ICICI, which are starting their eastern region BPO hubs, and it becomes obvious why Bhubaneswar today commands respect as an IT/BPO destination. The picture would not be complete without mentioning the arrival of MindTree Consulting, Aricent, Contiloe Films as well as Perfectus, which plan a 5,000 seater IT/BPO unit.

The arrival of these leading players also indicates how Bhubaneswar has come of age on both infrastructure as well as manpower fronts. The city today boasts of four SEZs: the earliest one, the 350 acre Infocity is already full; the first phase of the DLF Infopark work is in progress, work is starting on an integrated IT park, known as Knowledge Park, while sanction has been given to the Mancheswara Industrial Estate (29 acres).

Manpower
Such little details prove that while the IT juggernaut is in motion, Bhubaneswar is totally conscious of the need to develop a social infrastructure conducive to fostering IT. That explains why the state ranks high in terms of providing manpower supply; that with forty-five engineering colleges and forty-three MCA colleges, it could do so, is a no-brainer. But, while earlier this supply was mainly migrating elsewhere, it is now getting populated in Bhubaneswar itself.

That fact that technical education is a major priority of the state government has definitely helped. While engineering colleges affiliated to nine of the universities in the state were earlier brought and standardized under the aegis of the Biju Patnaik University, the government is now setting up an IIIT, where it will start with an M Tech program in order to create a crop of new qualified faculty. Also on the anvil are plans to start NISER and a campus of IIT Kharagpur. The Vedanta Group and Sri Sri Ravishankara Vidya Mandir Trust are also setting up technical colleges in the city.

Others in the Game
While the larger companies in the city registered an overall growth of 58% in 2006-07, SMEs like JSS witnessed 120% growth. JSS Consultancy is a domestic BPO playerit handles Citibank for the entire eastern region, as well as other major clients like Tata Indicom, HSBC, Citi Financial, HDFC Standard Life, and Centurion Bank for Orissa.

Its not only about the local SMEs; domestic IT consumption is also on the rise in the city. Reasons are not too far to locate: while Orissa today boasts of steel plants like Jindal, Bhushan, and Neelachal, very soon it will also have Posco, Arcelor-Mittal, and Tata Steel, making it probably the global steel hub. Add to this, power plants like the Jindals and aluminum plants like NALCO, Hindalco, and Sterlite. Paradip Port and the airport in Bhubaneswar are being modernized while the East Coast HQ is finally coming up next month.

Rajesh Dora, MD, Printlink, one of Bhubaneswars largest resellers and SIs, agrees to this. He also informs that other than the steel sector, even the engineering colleges and institutions like OUAT and Institute of Physics are significant consumers of IT.

The Future Sunrise

The experts, too, have endorsed a bright future for Bhubaneswar. According to McKinsey, Orissas economy is poised to grow at 7.1% over the next 10-12 years, the highest in Eastern India. Morgan Stanley comments that Orissa shall emerge as a center for metals business in India and attract investments of up to $3040 bn over the next five years. Even if these predictions are partially met, the impact of IT would be enough to create waves in the Bay of Bengal. The CMIEs forecast that Orissa accounted for 15% of total investments in hand in the country in 2006, and the World Bank ranking Bhubaneswar 5th among cities in ease of doing business within India further endorses the seal of approval. An oft-neglected, but very crucial role in this IT growth of the city has been played by the government. While on the e-Governance front, the state has won awards for two consecutive years (for the Shishu locator program and the OCAC website), a proactive government with an urbane and suave CM at the helm has created a conducive environment for IT. The stability of the political regime too has helped. A confident Naveen Patnaik proudly proclaims, “Bhubaneswar, indeed, is the future sunrise of the IT industry.”

Following is an excerpt from Pioneer, which mentions what Orissa has requested.

The House Committee of the State Legislative Assembly would soon submit a memorandum to the Union Ministry of Railways demanding Rs 1,000 crore in the Railway Budget for 2008-09. In this connection, a delegation lead by Assembly Speaker Maheswar Mohanty would visit New Delhi on a possible date between November 10 to 17.

During their visit they would meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and submit the memorandum. The House Committee in its meeting on Monday approved the final draft of the memorandum. It may be noted that during 2006-07, the State demanded Rs 785 crore.

In its memorandum, the committee also recommends increase in allotment for ongoing projects, sanction of new railway lines, survey, and introduction of new trains, completion of sanctioned projects, electrification and doubling of lines.

For the expansion of Haridaspur-Paradeep (82 km) line, the committee demands Rs 150 crore to ensure expeditious completion of works. The Ministry of Railways has also been requested to allot Rs 100 crore for the Lanjigarh Road-Junagarha (56 km) line and ensure commissioning of the section between Lanjigarh to Bhawanipatna by December, 2008.

The Committee in its memorandum also demanded an allotment of Rs 100 crore for the Khurda Road-Bolangir (289 km) line and also of commissioning the section from 0-36 km.

On the Angul-Duburi-Sukinda road (90 km) project, the land acquisition process is yet to commence. The Ministry of Railways has been requested to allot Rs 50 crore for the project, the Committee said in its memorandum.

For the Talcher-Bimalagarh (154 km), the Committee demanded an allotment of Rs 50 crore for 2008-09. On the Daitari- Banspani Rail Link Project (155 km), the committee in its memorandum says the BG (Broad Gauge) rail link was commissioned in February,2007. However, residual works will have to be completed. The Ministry of Railways has been requested to allocate Rs 50 crore for this project. It also urged the Railway Ministry to take up gauge conversion works for Rupsa-Bangiriposi and Nuapada-Gunpur railway link.

In its memorandum, the committee also urged the Rail Ministry to start new lines connecting Jeypor-Malknagiri, Bargarha-Nuapda via Padamapur, conversion and extension of Nuapada-Gunupur BG raillink to Theruvali, Jaleswar-Digha, Puri-Konark, Talcher-Gopalpur, Rupsa-Bangiriposi to Gorumahisani, Badampahar to Keonjhar, Berhampur to Phulbani.

The Committee in its memorandum also urged the Ministry to take up survey works in Gopalpur-Rayagada, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road-Jajpur, Sambalpur-Berhampur, Bolangir-Nawapara, Bansapani to Bimalgarh, Lanjhigarha to Boudha via Charichhaka.

It also urged the Railway Ministry to take steps for doubling of the Sambalpur-Talcher BG Rail link, Daitari-Bansapani. The Ministry has also been requested to sanction electrification for Daitari-Banspani BG rail link, Haridaspur-Paradeep BG Rail link, Talcher- Sambalpur BG rail link and Sambalpur, Jharsuguda BG rail link.

I think Orissa is being very shortsighted in its requests. Let me elaborate on this. (See also http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/?p=529 and http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/?p=489 for more data points on this.)

1. The total IR budget in 2006-07 was 23,475 crores and in 2007-08 (1st year of 11th Five yr plan) total Ir budget was 31,000 crores. IR is planning to have a 251,000 crore budget for the 11th Five year plan.

2. In that context Orissa asked for 800 crores in 2006-07 and 830 crores in 2007-08.
The above news report says that we are asking 1000 crores for next year.

3. Based on (1), 220,000 crores will be the total IR budget for the next 4 years and next years budget would probably be 45,000-50,000 crores; almost double that of 2006-07. Thus we should at least ask for double of what we asked in 2006-07. I.e., we should ask for 1600 crores.

4. The Pioneer article has the laundry list of things that we want, and it adds up only to 1000 crores. So we have to be imaginative in what we ask. In this we must note that a big part of the 11th plan IR budget goes towards

(a) two freight corridors (neither passing through Orissa)

(b) high speed rail corridors (none passing through Orissa) and

(c) several metro rails (none in Orissa).
In addition we must note what can be sold to the PM and Rail M. (For example: Rail connectivity to KBK, adivasi areas and naxal areas can be sold if the CM makes a case for them. If every other metro area is going to have metro rail, we can at least sell commuter/sub-urban rail. Similarly, big rail stations like Vizag, which are not in the first list of world class stations, will try to be in the next list; so we must sell Rourkela to be in the next list of world class stations. etc.)
5. Hence, following are my suggestions that we should add:

(i) We should send a 1 year proposal as well as a 4-5 year proposal. The 4-5 year proposal will match the 11th five year plan. The 4-5 year proposal should mention clearly that by the end of year 4-5, the following lines should all be completed.
** Khurda-Balangir
** Gunupur-Theruvali
** Lanjigarh Rd – Bhawanipatna – Junagarh – Nabarangpur- Jeypore – Malkangiri – Bhadrachalam Rd (Andhra Pradesh)
** Talcher – Bimlagarh
** Bangiriposi -Gurumahishasini and/or Buramara-Chakulia.
** Badampahar-Keonjhar
in addition to the port connectivity lines of
** Haridaspur – Paradip
** Talcher – Sukinda Rd
** Bhadrakh Dhamara
and the tourism/education connectivity lines of
** Jaleswar – Digha
** Puri-Vedanta U – Konark

Its very important to get a commitment with respect to what should be done with respect to Orissa in the 11th plan.

(ii) We must ask for a rail factory, or two, possibly in PPP mode, to be established in a backward region of Orissa. (Last year they approved 2 in Bihar, one in Rae Bareli and one in Kerala)
(iii) Establishment of suburban-Rail infrastructure around Bhubaneswar with MEMUs and appropriate stations in the Bhubaneswar area to help the commuters without creating jams. The infrastructure is to encompass the following lines.

* Bhubaneswar-Khurda Rd – Puri – Vedanta U – Konark (Past Puri would be new)
* Bhubaneswar – Barang – Naraj-Dhenkanal (exists)
* Bhubaneswar-KhurdaRd – Khurda-Nayagarh (part of Khurda-Balangir)
* Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Paradeep (exists)
* Bhubaneswar-Khurda Rd – Balugaon-Berhampur (exists)
* Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Jajpur Rd-Bhadrakh (exists)
* Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Jakhapura-Daitari (exists)
* Bhubaneswar-Naraj-Salagaon (exists)
* Bhubaneswar-Khurda Rd – Khurda-Banki-Naraj (Khurda-Naraj will be new and will create a loop)

(iv) Include Rourkela in the next round of world class stations.
Finally, if the Orissa house is sending a delegation to the PM and Rail M; they should also visit the planning commission and ask for IIT and two central universities (KBK Central U and upgradation of Ravenshaw University.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Eleven writers will be conferred with the Rajdhani Book Fair Award-2007 at the eighth edition of the fair to begin at the Exhibition Ground here on December 1. The award will be presented to Oriya litterateurs in the field of novel, poetry, essay, short story, translation, play, religion, science, travelogue, satire and children’s literature, said organisers of the fair on Thursday. The book fair committee will also publish a 700-page catalogue on Oriya publications from 1804 to 2007, titled Oriya Pustak Prakashan Soochi, which will be sold at Rs 50. Like previous years, all informative books on Lord Jagannath will be available at the entrance. A host of publishers, distributors and booksellers from the State and outside are expected to participate in the 12-day event.

Following is from the PIB press release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=32088.

The Government of India has now extended the Mid Day Meal Scheme to the Upper Primary Stage of Education (classes VI to VIII) in 3479 Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) in 2007-08 and areas across the country from 2008-09. The programme has been extended as per State-wise list of EBBs attached in Annexure- A. The extension to the Upper Primary Stage in EBBs has already become effective from October 01, 2007. About 1.7 crore children at upper primary will be covered.

The Government of India has released the Central assistance to the respective States for extension of Mid-Day Meal programme to upper primary stage. A sum of Rs.7324 Crores was provided in the Budget 2007-08 for the MDM Programme, representing 37% increase over the budget provision for 2006-07. The Expenditure as on 30-09-2007 is Rs.2231.12 Crores (30% of BE) including Rs. 422.94 crores towards cooking cost for upper primary stage. In addition, 3,22,785 MTs of food grain has been allocated to States/UTs for extension of coverage to upper primary stage (Annexure-B).

The Calorific value of the mid day meal has been fixed for upper primary at 700 calories and 20 grams of protein. Foodgrains @ 150 grams per child/ school day for the upper primary stage would be provided.

The cooking cost of mid day meal for upper primary stage at Rs 2.50 per child/school day with the NER States contribution being a minimum of Rs 0.20 per child/school day and for all other States and UTs, the State contribution being Rs 0.50 per child/school day.

Transport Subsidy has been enhanced for eleven Special Category States (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir & Uttarakhand) from Rs. 100 per quintal to Rs. 125 per quintal.

The Central assistance to construct kitchen-cum-store in upper primary schools would be provided @ Rs 60,000 per unit, as in the case of primary stage besides, Central assistance for kitchen devices to upper primary schools would be @ Rs 5,000 per school as in the case of primary stage.

The name of Scheme has been changed from ‘National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education’ to ‘National Programme of Mid Day Meals in Schools’.

TCS has a software development center in Bhubaneswar. Following is an excerpt from a report in livemint regarding TCS’s plan to establish a training center in Bhubaneswar.

TCS has a training centre for science graduates at Chennai, where it plans to increase capacity to be able to train 3,000 at a time. Besides, it plans to open four more centres at Assam, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar and Bhubaneswar to have an additional capacity of up to 5,000 at an investment of Rs400 crore.

“Scaling up to 30,000 at 10 centres is not a problem for us,” said S. Ramadorai, chief executive officer and managing director, TCS.

TCS, which reported Rs5,640 crore in revenues in the September quarter, spends 2% of its revenue on employee training.

Earlier we mentioned the Shipyard proposal by Bharti shipyards and the Apeejay Surendra group. Following are some more details, excerpted from a Kalinga Times report.

Orissa is all set to have a shipbuilding factory at Charidiha near Dhamra mouth in Bhadrak district of the State. It will be the first such private sector venture in eastern India.

The Apeejay Surrendra Group and Bharati Shipyard Limited would set up the ultra-modern ship-manufacturing factory jointly with an investment of Rs 2,200 crore.

The factory will have both ship-manufacturing as well as repairing facilities. The project would create job opportunity for 41000 people directly and indirectly. …

Work on the project will commence in middle of 2008 and the same would be implemented in three phases to be completed by the end of 2013.

The growth taking place in the steel sector in Orissa would be of great helping for the shipbuilding factory.

In the first phase, 75000 tonnes of steel will be used for establishing the ship making factory. In the second phase, the project will require 2,30,000 tonnes of steel, and 4,50,000 tonnes in the third phase.

The government said that the company would also set up an industrial training centre at Dhamra area to train its prospective employees.

Dhamra has already been news as the Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL), a joint venture of L&T and Tata Steel, has already started groundwork for setting up of a deep port at the Dhamra mouth.

…

The Apeejay Surrendra Group has also expressed its willingness to set up a research and design centre and a Knowledge Park at Bhubaneswar, the government said.

The Knowledge Park would have a school as well as higher education on subjects such as business management, hotel management, fashion designing, food technology, and nutrition science and nautical science.

Following are excerpts from a report in the New Indian Express.

Bhubaneswar: … L V Prasad Eye Institute here on Wednesday opened three new specialised eye centres. They are ‘Centre for diabetic eye disease,’ ‘Centre for sight enhancement’ and ‘Eye trauma centre.’

… The ‘Centre for diabetic eye disease’ would play a critical role in attending to diabetic patients suffering from visual disability. It is estimated that about 5.7 million people in India alone suffer from ‘diabetic retinopathy.’

It is preventable and can be treated. All that a diabetic individual needs to do is consult a physician in such centre for annual retinal examination and early detection of diabetic retinopathy. Such a step would significantly reduce the risk of visual loss in diabetic individuals.

National Thermal Power Corporation has donated about Rs 2 crore for setting up the three centres. The ‘Centre for sight enhancement’, similarly, promises quality treatment for children suffering from low vision. Estimate suggests that about 2.70 lakh children in India suffer from this defect.

In fact, congenital conditions such as ‘hereditary macular degeneration,’ ‘congenital glaucoma’ and ‘congenital eye’ anomalies account for the majority of visual impairment seen in children.

With the opening of the ‘Eye trauma centre’, the hospital aims to provide a comprehensive one stop care to patients with eye injury. Over a period of time, the institute plans to extend this to a 24X7 service, as in most of the accident cases, one needs immediate treatment to salvage the vision.

On the occasion, L V Prasad Eye Institute director Dr T P Das said the institute is contemplating to set up a school for eye care professionals in the next five years.

The institute provides 25 percent of outpatient services and 40 percent surgeries free of cost.

This has been reported in Tathya.in, Kalinga Times, and Odisha.in so far. Odisha. in has the two letters.

• Letter to the PM
• Letter to the CM

We appeal to the readers with interest in Orissa to contact their local organization (Outside Orissa, the local Orissa/Oriya/Kalinga organization) and through them send a similar letter to the PM and CM at the earliest. The planning commission has been asked by the PM on September 14th to make the location decisions in two months. So time is running out on this.

Following is an excerpt from a New Indian Express report.

The Assembly Committee on Industry has suggested that dedicated industrial parks should be set up for micro, small and medium scale industries in Kalinga Nagar, Jharsuguda, Paradip, Rayagada, Angul and Dhenkanal in view of the large number of mega industries coming up in several industrial zones in the State.

In its latest report, the committee said such parks should be specially earmarked for ancillary and downstream industries. It observed that considering the importance of the small and medium enterprises in employment generation and economic growth of the State, priority attention should be given for the revival and promotion of these sectors.

Official sources maintained that till November, 2006, investment in these two sectors had touched Rs 2,652.8 crore with employment generation of 5.48 lakh. Cluster approach has been adopted for development of small scale industries and major clusters have been identified for development and marketing linkage with the assistance of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

The panel, however, observed that though 45 MoUs had been signed for establishment of steel plants in the State, progress has not been satisfactory. Of these, 20 companies have invested Rs 12,085 crore and started commercial production by December, 2006. These companies have created direct employment opportunities for 9,131 persons.

In the steel sector, investment has been estimated at Rs 1,86,499 crore with a total capacity of 73.43 million ton per annum. In the aluminium sector, two companies have signed MoUs with a proposed investment of Rs 25,000 crore.

Indian Oil Corporation is also setting up a refinery and petrochemical complex of 15 million ton capacity per annum with an investment of Rs 25,000 crore. Official sources said a chemical and petrochemical investment region is proposed to be set up at Paradip.

The committee has suggested that polytechnics should be established in all districts of the State and industrial training centres in all the block headquarters.

Besides, the 10 ITIs in the State should be upgraded gradually with 75 percent Central assistance, it added.

Following is a big excerpt from a Telegraph report.

Naveen Patnaik today insisted on the correction of regional imbalance in the country.

“National integration cannot be complete unless there is equitable growth,” he said, while participating in the deliberations of the sub-committee of National Integration Council at New Delhi today.

Historically, the eastern region has not been able to develop as fast as some of the other regions of the country. Enormous resources are required to improve the infrastructure of this region in the form of roads, railways, ports and power.

Without such infrastructure this region cannot attract the kind of investment that would be required for a holistic growth of the national economy, argued Patnaik.

“This may ultimately lead to marginalisation of these regions which would be detrimental to national integration,” he said.

The committee accepted his suggestion and agreed to include this as an agenda of the meeting of the National Integration Council that is going to take place shortly. Naveen also observed that it is equally important to develop human resource of the backward region for the people of those areas to reap the benefits of economic growth. He stressed the need for enrichment of the social capital of the states.

“The country should be prepared to invest in education, including technical education, health, sanitation and governance with special emphasis on the eastern region of the country,” he said.

Patnaik further offered to host the meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council at Bhubaneswar, which was accepted by Union home minister Shivraj Patil, who chaired the meeting today.