Odisha: Analysing Some Facets of the State Development Strategy

DOI10.1177/0019556118820405
Date01 March 2019
AuthorPartha Pratim Mitra
Published date01 March 2019
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
65(1) 91–116, 2019
© 2019 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/0019556118820405
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1 Independent Researcher and former Civil Servant, New Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Partha Pratim Mitra, Independent Researcher and former Civil Servant, 37, Lake Avenue, Kolkata
700026, West Bengal, India.
E-mail: ppmitra56@gmail.com
Odisha: Analysing Some
Facets of the State
Development Strategy
Partha Pratim Mitra1
Abstract
The article examines whether there has been a sharp development focus in the
state towards the ten coastal districts of Odisha. Our analysis shows that many
of the coastal districts did inherently well in agriculture, but in the area of MSMEs,
the non-coastal districts have done relatively better than the coastal districts.
Marginalisation of labour was also strong in many coastal districts as compared
to the non-coastal districts. Since the coastal districts are primarily agricultural,
they did not gain significantly from the development strategy adopted by the state
of diversifying into industries and services. The state government has attempted
to shift its focus outside the coastal districts and also encourage large industries
in the power, metals and mineral sectors. Such a strategy has resulted in the
creation of certain growth centres in the non-coastal districts but did not have a
major impact in reducing the dependence of the population on agriculture.
Keywords
Development, diversif‌ication, labour, marginalisation
Introduction
Analysing the development strategy of an economy requires a reasonable data-
base to begin with. Odisha is one of the few states in India to have put its database
for 2016–2017 in public domain through its State Economic Survey. This article
attempts to use the database quite extensively along with other databases, which
are available in the public domain such as the Census of India, Labour Bureau,
NABARD and the State Level Bankers committee for Odisha.
The article tries to examine whether the development strategy of the state is
dependent on the ten coastal districts of eastern Odisha as compared to the central,
western, northern or the southern parts of the state or is the strategy much more
92 Indian Journal of Public Administration 65(1)
broad-based than it is considered to be. It examines these propositions based on
the data for different indicators published in various official publications.
The article is divided into five sections. The first section presents a review of
some of the existing literature on underdevelopment, backwardness and regional
disparities in the national context and links it up with the available literature for
Odisha to give a perspective to this article. The second section presents the aggre-
gate macroeconomic data for the state to see which sectors have grown during the
last decade and a half and captures the essence of the development process. Along
with the macro data, it also presents district-level data for indicators wherever
such data are available. The third section presents a sectoral overview concentrat-
ing on the agriculture, banking and medical sectors to capture the elements of
imbalances that may have come about in these sectors over a period of time. The
fourth section attempts to see the impact on workers and employment and also
inclusiveness of the development strategy. The final section attempts to sum up
and makes policy conclusions based on the analysis.
Review of Literature
A review of literature shows that the discourse on development strategies in India
in the context of underdevelopment and backwardness has been both at the
academic and the official levels, the latter following the concerns raised by the
former but focusing more on the policies that would be required to be put in
place to address the concerns. At the academic level, the discussion revolves
around the content of economic reform, role of institutions, relationship between
economic growth and living conditions, linking poverty reduction to growth,
changes that are required at the social level, particularly in the context of provid-
ing better access to education, health care and food security to the less privileged
sections of the society (Bhagwati & Panagariya, 2012; De Haan, 2004; Dreze &
Sen, 2013a, 2013b; Dubey & De Haan, 2005; Kumar, 2014; Mishra & Mishra,
2014; Pradhan, 2014).
At the official level, committees from time to time have gone into the issue of
addressing regional imbalances. Some of the important indicators followed by
these committees to determine backwardness have been poverty levels, extent of
infrastructure and communication network development, ratio of urban to rural
population, percentage of factory employment, gross cultivable area, gross value
of output of crops, population density, agricultural productivity, exploitation of
natural resources, human development indicators, which include wages in the agri-
culture sector, health and education parameters. Some important committees set
up from time to time, among others, are as follows: Committee on Dispersal of
Industries (1960), Inter-Ministry Study Group on Redressing Growing Regional
Imbalances set up during the Fourth Plan (1969–1974), Wanchoo Committee
on Regional Imbalances (1968), National Committee on the Development of
Backward Areas (NCDBA, 1978). Committee to Identify 100 Most Backward
and Poorest Districts in the Country (1997), Inter-Ministry Task Group on
Redressing Growing Regional Imbalances (2005) and the Committee for evolv-
ing a composite development index under Dr Raghuram Rajan, former Governor,
RBI (Ministry of Finance, 2013).

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