ODISHA

TheOdishagovernment will sign a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU) with J-PAL, a research centre, to improve gender-based outcomes in the state.

The PARTNERSHIP aims to accelerate gender by changing stereotypical attitudes and behaviours among schoolgoing adolescents.

The programme will focus on integrating the gender equity curriculum into the school syllabi for classes VI to X.

The purpose of the gender equity program is in synchronisation with the goal of the 5TSchool Transformationprogram, which aims to help children dream big and move forward with confidence to face all challenges in life.

The program will be implemented in the academic year 2022 and onwards. The curriculum will come as a supplementary textbook for social studies and its allied subjects this year.

The United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) on Saturday hoisted a multi-stakeholder interactive and consultation session on in Odisha on digital mode in which over 80 policymakers, Government actors, NGO partners, academicians and corporate houses deliberated together.

The objective was to feedback inputs from different sectors to make the WFP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 for Odisha more inclusive and effective.

Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra said, Government of Odisha is fully committed for reducing POVERTY and Malnutrition. There has been a significant reduction in rural poverty; and food security has improved to a great extent. The PARTNERSHIP between WFP and Odisha has been very effective since last two decades; and six more partnership agreements in new areas have been initiated in the last year alone.

He asked WFP to undertake more technological application for enhancing outreach of the food security net and improving access to food security, more particularly the for poor and vulnerable sections. He emphasised on aligning the strategic plan towards SDG targets and making it more outcome-oriented.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the mega loan distribution programme of Odisha Gramya Bank (OGB) for self-help groups under Mission Shakti. The chief minister handed over Rs 10 lakh loan each to five groups for the benefit of 2.68 lakh members. The rural banks have set a target to distribute loans amounting to Rs 1,001 crore for 26,722 SHGs under the state governments Women Empowerment programme Mission Shakti.

The chief minister said the banks should come forward to help the government in its Women Empowerment programme by extending loans to members of Mission Shakti. The has decided to create a revolving fund of Rs 1 crore for every district-level federation of the SHGs and Rs 50 lakh for block-level federation. It will help women get loans up to Rs 5 lakh without any interest, he added.

More than 39,000 eligible families from socio-economically weaker section in the state are yet to get houses underPradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin(PMAY-G), a written reply by Union minister of state for rural development, Niranjan Jyoti, inLok Sabhashows.

In reply to a query byBargarh MP Suresh Pujari, Jyoti told the Parliament that of the 41.72 lakh households enlisted in Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) list of 2011 inOdisha, 18.75 lakh were verified as eligible by the state under PMAY-G as on December 16.

The state is yet to sanction houses to 39,180 beneficiaries while 1,99,882 sanctioned houses are yet to be completed from the 18.75 lakh beneficiaries made available through SECC 2011. The state has sanctioned houses to 18.36 lakh. Out of this, houses of 16.75 lakh have been completed.

The Union minister said there is target to construct 2.95 crore houses under PMAY-G in the country to achieve the objective of Housing for All in rural areas. The beneficiaries have been identified based on the housing deprivation parameters prescribed under Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC)-2011.

Odishagovernment has created a separate entityJudicial Management Agency(JIMA) to deal with judicial infrastructure in the state.
It is a dedicated division established by the State Government in consultation with the Orissa High Court for the effective management of judicial infrastructure.

The idea of JIMA was mooted in the recent conference of chief justices held in April this year in New Delhi. The physical infrastructure such as the buildings of the court complexes and residential quarters of judges and staff form an important component of the judicial infrastructure.

In a bid to attract investments to Odisha’s textile sector, the state industries department has planned a meeting with representatives from the on October 25. Senior officials of the Centre and the state will also attend the meet.

The State Government has taken this initiative in order to participate in the Prime Minister’s Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel Parks (PM-MITRA) scheme under which seven textile parks across the country will be built in five years to draw foreign direct Investment in the sector. A sum of Rs 4,445 crore has already been approved for the scheme.

The state would submit a formal proposal, seeking to establish a mega textiles park in the state, after the Centre notifies the scheme, issuing detailed guidelines. “Considering Odisha’s huge potential for Growth of the textiles industry, the state has listed it as a focus sector,” said an industries department official.

The state plans to set up two textile parks with common facilities and Infrastructure to support the entire value chain and draw investment. Under the PM-MITRA scheme, the Centre has assured to provide a capital support of Rs 500 crore or 30 per cent of the project cost (whichever is highest) to develop common infrastructure in the proposed textiles park.

The size of the State economy has increased from ` 4 lakh crore in 2016-17 to `4.25 lakh crore in 2017-18 and `5 lakh crore in 2020-21 and nearly `6 lakh crore during the current financial year, sources said.

Similarly, the State Budget has also increased from `95,000 crore in 2016-17 to over `1 lakh crore in 2018-19 and `1.39 lakh crore in 2019-20 and `1.5 lakh crore in 2020-21.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the size of Annual Budget of Odisha in 2021-22 has increased by around 26% to `1.70 lakh crore. The public has also gone up even at a faster rate.

On September 17, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said the State economy is bouncing back from the adverse impacts of the pandemic and is back to track.

Investors are expanding their existing projects in Odisha in spite of the impact of Covid pandemic. We have attracted investments to the tune of over Rs 4.5 lakh crore since the pandemic, the CM said.

The State has been consistently generating surplus revenue and containing Fiscal Deficit within the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limit. The States GST collection in July this year also registered a 54% Growth over the corresponding period of the previous year.

In spite of the Covid-19 restrictions, the State recorded a growth of 72% in revenue collection till August 31 of the current financial year 2021-22. The State has collected revenue worth Rs 31,198.58 crore from various sources by the end of August while the collection during the same period of 2020-21 was Rs 18,149.38 crore.

The revenue generation from own-tax sources grew by 32.64 and the non-tax revenue increased by 130.44% by August 31. The expenditure of the State has also gone up by 27.72% by August 31. The total expenditure till end of August was Rs 40, 299 crore whereas the total expenditure up to the same period of last fiscal was Rs 33,769.84 crore.

Similarly, the debt stock of the State by the end of July 2021 stood at 17.6% against the FRBM limit of 25%.

The capital outlay is budgeted at Rs 25,788 crore, around 15% of the total budget of 2021-22, the sources said..

The plant with present production capacity of 15 million kgs will be developed as the largest tea packaging plant in the country as the company has planned to enhance its capacity to 50 million kgs. It is one of the most modern units with all the state-of-the-art technologies, said an official statement. The unit will cater to the needs of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Nadu,Telangana and Central India. It is being operated by Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited, an associate of Tata consumers and the second largest tea producer in India.

Lauding the role ofTata Groupin Odisha, he said it has been playing a vital role in the states industrial development. He also appreciated Tata Groups support to the State Government to handle the pandemic.