Orissa
 |
Area |
1,55,707 sq km |
 |
State
Government Portal |
 |
Population |
36,804,660 |
|
Open Forum Partners
|
 |
Capital |
Bhubaneswar |
|
Important Contact Numbers |
 |
Principal
Languages |
Oriya |
|
Development Initiatives |
History
and Geography
Orissa, the land of Oriyas, was known as Kalinga
in ancient days. In the third century BC (261
BC), Ashoka the Mauryan emperor sent a powerful
force to conquer Kalinga, which offered stubborn
resistance. Kalinga was subdued but the carnage,
which followed, struck Ashoka with remorse.
After the death of Ashoka, Kalinga regained
its independence. In the second century BC,
it became a powerful country under Kharavela.
With the death of Kharavela, Orissa passed into
obscurity. In the fourth century AD, Samudragupta
invaded Orissa, which lay astride his path and
overcame resistance offered by five of its kings.
In 610 AD, Orissa came under the sway of King
Sasanka. After Sasanka’s death, Harsha
conquered Orissa.
Orissa had its own rulers (Ganga dynasty) in
the seventh century AD. In 795 AD, Mahasivagupta
Yajati II came to the throne and with him began
the most brilliant epoch in the history of Orissa.
He united Kalinga, Kangoda, Utkal and Koshala
in the imperial tradition of Kharavela. Under
the kings of Ganga dynasty, Orissa continued
to flourish. Narasingha Dev of this dynasty
is reputed to have built the unique Sun Temple
of Konark. From Mid-16th Century, Orissa was
ruled successively by five Muslim kings till
1592, when Akbar annexed it into the Mughal
Empire. With the decline of the Mughal Empire,
the Marathas occupied Orissa. They continued
to hold it till the British took over in 1803.
Orissa was made into a separate province on
1 April, 1936. After Independence, princely
states in and around Orissa surrendered their
sovereignty to the Government of India. By the
States Merger (Governor’s provinces) Order
1949, the princely states of Orissa were completely
merged with the state of Orissa in January 1949.
Although the state of Orissa had many ancient
names like Kalinga, Utkal and Udra, it is widely
known as the land of Lord Jagannath. Lord Jagannath
is intimately connected with the social, cultural
and religious life of Orissa. Jainism, Islam
and Christianity have considerable impact on
the people of Orissa in different periods.
Orissa is situated in the north-eastern part
of the Indian peninsula. It is bound by the
Bay of Bengal on the east, West Bengal on the
north-east, Jharkhand on the north, Chhattisgarh
on the west, and Andhra Pradesh on the south.
The state may be broadly divided into four geographical
regions-the northern plateau, central river
basin, eastern hills and coastal plains.
Agriculture
Agriculture occupies a vital place in the economy
of the state. It contributes 28 per cent of
the net domestic product of the state. 65 per
cent of the total work force directly or indirectly
engaged in agriculture. Rice is the principal
food grain and its production during 2004-05
was 65.37 lakh metric tonnes. Sugarcane cultivation
has been widely accepted by the farmers.
Priority has been accorded to Agriculture extension
through application of high-end Crop Production
Technologies, adoption of Integrated Nutrient
Management and Pest Management practices. 12.5
lakh grafts of various fruits, 10 lakh grafts
of cashew and 2.5 lakh vegetables mini kits
supplied to farmers. To promote onion crops
in the state, 300 quintals of quality onion
seeds distributed to cover 7,500 acres of land.
Under National Horticulture Mission, 2525 demonstrations
on rose, gladioli and marigold held to encourage
floriculture. A target of 60,000 demonstrations
set for the next year. To ensure minimum support
price to farmers a target of 20 lakh MTs of
rice set to be procured through Orissa State
Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd., PACs, MARKFED
& NAFED and millers under levy route. In
developing micro watersheds in drought prone
areas, 2413 micro-watersheds are being developed
with a treatable area of 13 hectares.
Irrigation and Power
Irrigation potential has been created through
major, medium, minor irrigation and water harvesting
project up to 2696.00 thousand hectares by the
end of year 2004-05. To drive more benefit and
smooth management of irrigation potential Government
has implemented Pani Panchayata Yojana and Biju
Krushak Bikash Yojana.
During 2005-06, six irrigation projects were
identified for completion with a targeted irrigation
potential of 12685 hectares, of which four projects
were already completed. During 2005-06, Orissa
Lift Irrigation Corporation (OLIC) completed
500 new LI Points under Biju Krushak Vikas Yojana
and created an additional irrigation potential
of 10,000 hectares. About 13,397 Pani Panchayats
formed in the State by January 2006 covering
an area of 10.40 lakh hectares. Out of these,
11,583 Pani Panchayats have taken over operation
and maintenance of irrigation system covering
an area of 7.81 lakh hectares.
The total installed capacity of power in states
sector during 2004-05 was 4,845.34 MW the power
available from all sources was 1,995.82 MW.
Out of 46,989 inhabited villages in the state
37,744 villages have been electrified till the
end of March 2005.
Under Minimum Need Programme (MNP), 4696 villages,
hamlets and dalit bastis were programmed to
be electrified. Of this, electrification of
2965 villages and hamlets completed by December
2005. Being a surplus state in electricity production,
surplus power to the tune of Rs. 420 crore was
sold to Power Trading Corporation and National
Vidyut Vyapar Nigam through GRIDCO by December
2006. 7 projects with estimated cost of Rs.
592 crore approved by Govt. of India for implementation
of Accelerated Power Development and Reforms
Programme (APDRP). Highly efficient Orissa Power
Generation Corporation (OPGC) paid a dividend
of Rs. 31.25 crore to the State Government during
2005-06 (Interim).
Industry
The Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation
Limited, Industrial Development Corporation
Limited and Orissa State Electronics Development
Corporation are the three nodal agencies for
promotion of large and medium industries in
the State. A number of mega-industrial projects
in sectors like steel, alumina/aluminia, oil
refining, fertilizers, etc. involving large
investment are in the pipeline. The state is
providing institutional and financial support
with various incentives and concessions for
promotion of small-scale village and cottage
industries. By the end of 2004-2005 about 83.075
small-scale industries were set up in the State.
POSCO, a South Korean steel giant, entered
into a MoU with Government of Orissa to set
up a steel plant having a production capacity
of 12 MTPA with an investment of about US $
12 billion. The flagship Aditya Birla Group
plans to setup a 1 MTPA Alumina refinery with
smelter. Orissa Mining Corporation set itself
a production target of 51.20 lakh tonnes of
minerals in 2005-06. This represents 33 per
cent increase over the previous year. Iron Ore
production slated to touch 43 lakh tonnes in
2005-06, representing an increase of 40 per
cent over the previous year.
To accelerate industrial development, employment
opportunities and economic growth a single window
clearance mechanism introduced by enacting Orissa
Industries (facilitation) Act, 2004 ensuring
time-bound clearance of investment proposals
and rationalisation of inspections. In order
to support massive investments, top priority
was accorded to improvement in infrastructural
facilities. For creating quality infrastructure
development in IT sector, an export promotion
industrial park set up at Bhubaneswar. In promoting
small and medium enterprises in the State, 2255
small industries were set up during 2005-06
with an investment of Rs. 123.23 crore providing
employment to approximately 10,308 persons.
Full medical care has been extended to the
industrial labourers and their family members
through a network of ESI hospitals and dispensaries.
Rs. 1,02,66,000 approved for payment for the
year 2005-06 towards reimbursement cost of treatment
of ESI beneficiaries from Revolving Corpus Fund.
Child labours employed in hazardous jobs were
released and admitted under National Child Labour
Project Scheme for being imparted formal education
and vocational training. 18 Child Labour Projects
are functioning in 18 districts of the State.
33,843 child labourers were admitted in special
schools run by National Child Labour Projects
and 64,885 child labourers were mainstreamed
to formal schooling system. Minimum Wages Payable
to unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly
skilled categories of workers increased. Under
the direct supervision of Chief Minister, State
Employment Mission in association with Directorate
of Technical Education and Training, launched
vocational training programmes for both educated
and semi-educated unemployed youth. 4225 candidates
are being trained for skilling and reskilling
in various market-friendly courses.
Information Technology
The State is making significant strides in Information
Technology sector. MOUs signed with TCS and
Wipro to set up Development Centres at Infocity
in Bhubaneswar. Other companies like Hexaware
Technologies & Mind Free Consulting are
keen to invest in the state. All these companies
are expected to directly employ about 5000 software
professonals by 2007-08 besides creating substantial
indirect employment. An e-procurement system
initiated jointly by Government of Orissa, National
Institute of Smart Governance (NISG) and National
Informatics Centre (NIC) to bring in a transparent
and efficient system of tendering and procurement.
State Wide Area Network (SWAN), a core e-Governance
infrastructure under implementation to connect
the State headquarters with all district headquarters,
Sub-Division headquarters, block headquarters
with a 2 mbps dedicated line. The Oriya language
pack under the programme "Technology Development
for Indian languages" to enable Oriya Language
computing completed. Project e-sishu aiming
at creating a database of the 3 pillars of education,
namely, children, teachers and school was taken
up by OPEPA and jointly being executed with
OCAC. This would help achieving our goal of
universalisation of primary education and ensuring
that no child of the state is left out of school.
Tourism
Acknowledging the importance of tourism promotion
in economic growth of the State, Media Management
Agencies and event managers were identified
to take up publicity and promotion professionally.
A new logo has been adopted to re-position and
re-brand Orissa as a vibrant tourist destination.
Various strategic tourism projects such as Peace
Park at Dhauli, infrastructure development in
Buddhist circuit comprising Lalitgiri, Udayagiri,
Ratnagiri & Langudi and tourism development
of Pipili were taken up. For promotion and marketing,
a slew of tourism fairs and festivals such as
Sreekhetra Utsav at Puri, Ekamra Utsav at Bhubaneswar,
Konark Festival at Konark being supported showcasing
the tourism and cultural potential of the State.
Orissa Tourism participated in travel-trade
shows like Buddhist festival at Bangkok, Leisure
Moscow at Moscow, WTM at London, PATA convention
at Kuala Lumpur, IATO at Kochi, TTF at Kolkata,
Road show at Raipur, etc. 373 guides were trained
to promote private sector participation in tourism
sector.
Fisheries and Animal Resources Development
Following the objectives set out in "State
Agriculture Policy" and by adopting new
scientific technology, emphasis was laid on
milk, fish & meat production. Total milk
production per day touches 36 lakh liters, up
by 3 lakh liters. All 30 districts of the state
are covered by Orissa Milk Federation (OMFED)
to promote diary farming. OMFED increased it's
milk procurement substantially to 2.70 lakh
liters per day. Under STEP programme, OMFED
is running 'Women Diary Projects' in 17 districts.
837 women diary cooperative societies comprising
60,287 women were also formed in the State.
Under RLTAP, Rs. 350 lakh was released in the
year 2005-06 for milk production and allied
activities in KBK districts. For scientific
pisciculture in reservoirs, a 'State Reservoir
Fishery Policy' was approved. Under RLTAP, 13
reservoirs having water spread area of 5709
hectares were taken up for pisciculture development
in KBK districts. During 2005-06, 101 reservoirs
were taken up under pisciculture through Fishermen
Cooperative Societies and Self-Help Groups.
Transport
During 2004-05 the total road length in the
state was 2,37,332 km. comprising 3,595 km National
Highway, 29 km state express highway, 5,102
km state highway, 3,189 km of major district
roads, 6,334 km of other district roads, 27,882
km rural roads, 20,314 km panchayat samiti roads,
1,39,942 km G.P. roads, 7,298 km forest roads,
17,282 km urban roads, 6,277 km irrigation roads
and 88 km GRIDCO roads.
Railways : By the end of 31 March 2004 the
state has 2,287 km railway route including 91
km of narrow gauge.
Aviation: The expansion and modernisation of
Bhubaneswar Airport is in progress. Direct link
is available from Bhubaneswar to places like
Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Nagpur, Mumbai and
Hyderabad. There are 13 air strips and 16 helipads
at different places of the State.
Ports: Paradeep is the only major port of the
State. Gopalpur has been developed as an all-weather
port.
Tourist Centres
Bhubaneswar is famous for the Lingaraj Temple,
while Puri is famous for the temple of Lord
Jagannath and its beautiful sea beach. Other
places of tourist interest in the State are
Konark, Nandankanan, Chilka Lake, Dhauli Buddhist
temple, Udaygiri-Khandagiri ancient caves, Ratnagiri,
Lalitgiri and Udaygiri Buddhist images and caves,
Saptasajya, Similipal National Park and Tiger
Project, Hirakund dam, Duduma Water Falls, Ushakothi
Wildlife Sanctuary, Gopalpur Sea beach, Hari
Shankar, Narusinghnath, Taratarini, Taptapani,
Bhitar Kanika, Bhimkunda, Kapilash, etc.
