Bhubaneswar: NITI Aayog on Wednesday heaped praises on the Odisha government for managing the fiscal deficit below 5 per cent, besides increasing the state’s per capita income and improvement in agriculture and mining sectors.
During an interaction with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar further advised Odisha to switch to chemical-free agriculture and also improve mining production from 1 per cent to over 2 per cent.
He also proposed an SDG Monitoring Unit in Odisha.
Stating that every state has its own priorities and specificity, he said that the NITI Aayog is keen to partner with Odisha for developing a State Specific Development Blueprint.
Also Read: Per Capita Income Of Odisha Has Increased From 2011: NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman
The CM said that Odisha had made substantial improvement in the last two decades both in macroeconomic indicators and also in socio-economic indicators.
“Our development interventions have been successful in combating Left-Wing Extremism, mobilisation and economic empowerment of nearly 70 lakh women through Self Help Groups,” he said.
Naveen further said that the state had its own health assurance scheme for cashless treatment in empanelled hospitals with wider coverage to reduce out-of-pocket health expenditure. “We are the third-largest contributor to the PDS rice pool of the country. We have pioneered a conditional cash transfer system for pregnant women and lactating mothers,” he added.
The CM said that Odisha had invested heavily in infrastructure development and had become an attractive investment destination in the manufacturing and mining industries.
He also presented various long-standing and emergent development issues requiring the support of NITI Aayog and the Centre.
“The state is burdened with infrastructural gaps and vulnerability to recurring natural calamities. This requires a special dispensation from the Government of India to help Odisha to catch up with the frontline states,” he added.
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