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Orissa
Area : 1,55,707 sq km
Population : 36,804,660
Capital : Bhubaneswar
Principal Languages : Oriya
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. |
