No Special Category State Status To Odisha, Says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Bhubaneswar: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday ruled out special category status to Odisha and said such tag will not be granted to any state in future.

Sitharaman, who was on a two-day visit to Odisha, said this while responding to queries on the sidelines of the post Budget discussion in Bhubaneswar.

Stating that special category state status will not be accorded to Odisha, the Finance Minister said that such status will not be accorded to any other state in future as per the recommendations of the Finance Commission.

Telangana, which is the newest state of the country, has been granted the status after it was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, said Sitharaman.

Notably, Odisha has been seeking special category status for last many years by citing its vast backward regions and frequent occurrences of natural calamities like cyclones and floods.

A special category status is a classification given by the Centre to states having hilly terrains, strategic international borders and economic and infrastructural backwardness.

The Finance Minister said that the PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman (PM-VIKAS) Yojana announced in the Union Budget 2023 will greatly benefit the artisans of Odisha.

“All the artisans from Odisha will be greatly benefitted from the PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman (PM-VIKAS) Yojana. The artisans in paintings, pattachitra, stone sculpture and weaving will be benefitted from the announcement which has been made in the annual budget this year,” she said.