A joint survey conducted by the US-India Policy Institute and the New Delhi-based Centre for Research and Debates in Development Policy has found that eight districts in Odisha are among the 50 most backward districts in the country. The survey report, released by Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Thursday, has listed Malkangiri, Boudh, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Nuapada, Nabarangpur, Gajapati and Kandhamal in the most backward districts category.

In terms of district-wise ranking in Odisha, Nuapada is the most backward with a rank of 589 followed by Malkangiri (588), Nabarangpur (575), Boudh (574), Mayurbhanj (564), Gajapati (552), Kandhamal (551) and Kalahandi (548). Taking the Human Development Index (HDI) into consideration, Boudh is the most poverty-stricken district of Odisha with 0.12 followed by Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj and Kalahandi with 0.15 HDI each.

In the field of education, Nuapada has the lowest rank among the State’s 30 districts with 0.26 HDI while Boudh and Gajapati come next in this category. As regards the health development scenario, Malkangiri has the lowest HDI with 0.13 followed by Nabarangpur (0.14), Rayagada (0.18) and Nuapada (0.19). The survey also revealed that none of the Odisha districts is in the top 100 developed districts in the country.

Khordha is the most developed and richest district in the State with 0.41 and ranks 104 among the 559 districts in the country while Cuttack is the second most developed district with a rank of 169. Six Odisha districts have found place between the 201 and 300 ranking list, they being Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapada, Angul, Jagatsinghpur and Dhenkanal.

Six other districts placed between 301 and 400 in the ranking are Puri, Bhadrak, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Baleswar and Nayagarh. According to the survey, gross disparity has been found as financial assistance has not been given to these districts as per their requirements.