The Budget Session of the 15th Assembly ended on Monday. It approved the Budget for the 2014-15 financial year by adopting the Odisha Appropriation Bill-2014.
The Bill to authorise payment and appropriation of the budgeted fund was moved by Finance Minister Pradeep Kumar Amat, which was passed in a voice vote after around six and a half hours of marathon discussion. The Budget had been presented by Amat on June 17 last. The demands for grants for all the departments were passed in the Assembly on Saturday last.
Initiating the debate on the Appropriation Bill, leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra slammed the State Government under Naveen Patnaik for lack of any vision or plan to eradicate poverty from Odisha. How can the Government eradicate poverty which does not know the number of poor population in the StateIJ he asked.
He regretted that while the Government had been claiming that many schemes were launched for alleviation of poverty, there is no definite statistics as to the number of poor families or BPl families in the State. Even the Economic Survey of Odisha being published annually had confused data as far as the status of poverty and number of poor population is concerned, he said, quoting the official statistics.
Mishra said that Education, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation departments were the main sectors whose development indicators depend on poverty eradication. However, the Government has utterly failed to develop the sectors, he said.
Mishra said that by distributing Re 1- a-kg rice, blankets, umbrellas, shoes and other gifts and sops, the Government can not imagine to eradicate poverty from the State. Along with the subsidised rice for short period, the Government should formulate and implement plans to make them self-sufficient by ensuring facilities to create assets of regular earning. Poverty would not be eradicated without bringing inclusive growth, he said.
Alleging that the education and health service system had been in disarray, Mishra said that thousands of posts of teachers in school and college levels and posts of doctors and paramedical staff remained vacant. As many as 75,000 posts of the teachers in primary level remained vacant, he said, adding that education is the most neglected sector in the State.
He also alleged that the State Government had utterly failed in expanding irrigation facilities during the last 14 years. The much publicized expansion of irrigation to 35 per cent of agriculture land in each block had been a hoax, while no major and medium irrigation projects were implemented during this regime, he lamented.