In Odisha, like everywhere else, the Opposition parties want to remove the 14-year-old BJD government led by Naveen Patnaik and occupy the space. But that aim is basically pinned on the individual and no joint effort is forthcoming. And a joint effort is also not required since most of the major Opposition parties such as the Congress and the BJP are no way different from BJD ideologically.
While Re1 a kg rice scheme has become a major issue in getting votes for the BJD, the Congress and the BJP are not against the scheme. They only want to grab the credit from Naveen Patnaik for such scheme.
Also, while the BJD demands from the Centre a special category status for Odisha leading to more central assistance, an unanimous resolution to that effect has been passed in the Assembly in which the members of the Congress and the BJP have signed. On the Polavaram issue, the BJD claims that the construction of such a dam, which is 80km from Odisha border, will harm the state since the accumulated water can submerge 22 tribal villages in the Malkangiri district. While the Central Water Commission and even the Supreme Court have rejected such a complaint, the Congress and the BJP covertly support BJD’s protest. The Opposition in Odisha is totally clueless and lacks vision. They have not articulated their ideas about what to do after coming to power. Merely replacing Naveen Patnaik from the seat of power cannot be a goal for the Opposition.
The confusion and the lack of idea are manifested in the support of the Posco project by the central leadership of the Congress and the BJP, while at the state they are opposed to it. But Odisha does require a real change. It requires a pro-active leader, who can really lead from the front by motivating the people of the state for ushering in a change for the better. And why Odisha requires a change could be ascertained from the position this state has acquires in the economic surveys conducted by various credible agencies.
In its report titled, ‘Evolving Composite Development Index of States’, the Dr. Raghuram Rajan Committee has placed Odisha on the lowest rung among the least developed states.
In December, a survey carried out by a weekly magazine on best performing states of India places Odisha at the 19th position in the overall development category. The survey shows Odisha occupying the 20th place in terms of governance.
While in Andhra Pradesh, Bengal and Jharkhand a hectare annually yields 31.48, 26.88 and 21.31 quintals of paddy, respectively, Odisha manages only 14.50 quintals. In paddy production, Odisha is behind states such as Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, Uttarakhand, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
In spite of having the best education infrastructure in the entire eastern India, the quality of education in the state is dismal. Not a single institution from the state figures among the country’s best list prepared by a news magazine.
The state government is always demanding more funds from the Centre, but it is often accused of not making proper utilisation of the funds. In reply to a question, state finance minister told an MLA in the Assembly that Rs 7,001.46 crore, Rs 6,423.14 crore and Rs. 8,439.58 crore had been refunded to the Centre between 2009 and 2012. This exposes the state government’s failure in implementing the schemes.
Way back in 2006, 17 irrigation projects were sanctioned by the Centre to be completed within three years. Till 2013, work did not start on 11 projects due to opposition to land acquisition, public protest and non-clearance by the forest & environment ministry.
Six projects are still under construction and have exceeded their three-year deadline. Nobody knows when those will be completed. That all sorts of clearances should be taken before the commencement of construction is not a priority for the government. Most unfortunately, the biggest steel manufacturer of the world Arcelor-Mittal, which had signed an MoU with the state government in 2006 to set up a Rs 4,000-crore steel plant in Keonjhar, has withdrawn a year back due to non-availability of land and non-cooperation of the state government.
Posco, the biggest FDI to have come to India, is having a second thought about its continuation in Odisha after mining lease licence was refused. The state government is not even able to reclaim its own land from encroachers in two villages in the Posco site. The Lanjigarh alumina factory of Vedanta has closed down for over a year now due to non-availability of bauxite, even though Odisha has the largest stock of the mineral in India.
Interestingly, in the recently concluded urban elections, the BJD posters spoke of providing rice at Re 1 a kilo to the poor and distribution of blankets, umbrellas and mosquito nets.
But to the rich and middle class, on whose houses these posters were pasted, these steps do not make any difference.
In these posters, the BJD did not have a single word about providing high-class infrastructure, resettlement of unauthorised colonies and introduction of metro rail between Bhubaneswar-Cuttack. Absence of the urban middle class in polling booths has made the BJD to turn a blind eye to their problems.
The Re 1 kg rice scheme has made the labour lazy and the farmers do not get farm hands at the time of cultivation. No doubt, farm production in Odisha is meagre. Efforts to raise agricultural produce and employment generation through tourism do not get importance.
Doubling agricultural production, rapid industrialisation, improving the quality of education, making Odisha a hub of skill development, building world class infrastructure, augmenting tourism infrastructure for employment generation and eradicating corruption are core issues that need to be addressed to pull Odisha out of its mess.
For that to happen, the state requires good governance and this can only come from a decisive, courageous and clean leader. The present government has become the representative of only the slum dwellers, while the educated middle class and the farmers are left in the lurch.
Perpetual poverty suits the present BJD government that prefers to achieve electoral success through the distribution of freebies. A government that banks on such an easy and cheap method to win elections can never bring any significant development to the state.
