As the Naveen Patnaik government begins its fifth innings, it is time to reflect on some of the most critical issues confronting the government this time around. Earlier this month, as many as 14 districts of the state, including the pilgrim town of Puri and the capital city, were badly bruised by a furious cyclone. Thankfully, the government could limit the human casualties greatly by mounting an aggressive evacuation exercise. However, the loss to private property and public infrastructure was colossal. Nearly half of the state’s topography lost its green cover. Between Bhubaneswar and Puri alone, over two million trees were decimated. Unless proactive steps to expeditiously replenish the green loss are taken, people in the affected areas will face manifold difficulties. The economy of the state, even before Fani, was not in the pink of health. The state’s finances are in red. The government is already sitting over a debt load of over Rs 1 lakh crore. Mindless freebies given to the poor and the weaker sections of society that ran into thousands of crores deprived the state government of wherewithal to make fresh capital investment. Odisha is rich in mineral resources and has got an extensive coastline. It has enormous tourism potential. However, where it lacks is its infrastructure. In the absence of well-developed infrastructure, the state has failed to make the most of its natural endowments. However, its limited resources are spent on rolling out welfare measures, most of which are populist in nature. Now that people have returned the BJD government with a decisive mandate, the government must do well to think in terms of making long-term good of the state, instead of taking measures for short-term gains. Money spent on women’s empowerment in the form of grants to self-help groups may not be disputed. But they should be done in a transparent manner and be subject to scrutiny. Currently, a bulk of the money given to SHGs ends up in usurious use. Farmer issues have always occupied front page space in local dailies. With over 80 per cent of the state’s populace depending on farming for their livelihood, farmers’ interests can never be overemphasised here. The state government has been demanding minimum support price (MSP) of Rs2,900 for paddy. The Centre has not been so receptive to this idea. The state government cannot sit quiet leaving it to the Centre to look after its farmers’ interests. Given the wide acclaim it received, the government will continue its income support scheme KALIA to benefit the farming community as farmers and women have been traditional vote banks of the BJD. A large part of the state’s arable land still depends on monsoon rain. Irrigation has always been a weak area in the state. Despite tall claims by the government over years, enough has not been done to bolster the state’s irrigation infrastructure. While structural reforms in agriculture could remain on the top of the agenda, the government would do well to focus on implementing incremental policy changes and addressing gaps in the various sectors that would significantly boost the investment climate. The government in its last term had set itself a few targets such as building a chain of cold storages in the state and the potato mission, among other things. The government failed to achieve these targets. Cold storages need more attention than ever before with rising horticulture potential of the state. Food processing parks also need to be developed.
With limited resources, it is challenging to boost all areas. The government, thus, needs to push for policy changes that help boost areas with the maximum multiplier effect. While large-scale structural reforms can transform economies, incremental policy changes in the right direction have the potential to yield significant results. Shunning populist measures and replacing them with well thought-out and long-term policy moves are the need of the hour.
