It’s an eye-opener for the State. Odisha lacks in the appetite to emerge as a knowledge hub in the country. Apart from resources crunch to invest in higher education, the State has been found poor in harnessing even the existing ‘knowledge resources’ to give its economy a sharp ‘knowledge push’.
According to 2014 Annual Status of Higher Education (ASHE) report by Deloitte for Union HRD Ministry and CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), Odisha has earned negative points in the indicators — educational, economic and knowledge direction —essential for a knowledge-driven economy. The result: Odisha figured in the ‘Knowledge Poverty’ club in the country. Among the BIMARU (Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh) States, Odisha fared poorer than UP, MP and Rajasthan. This bracketing of as ‘impoverished knowledge’ State seems a major setback.
Odisha scored a negative value of 0.42 and 0.49 in the indices of education and economy, respectively, which has analysed vital parameters like literacy rate, primary school teacher training rate, higher secondary pass-out rate, composite education development index, number of universities in top-100, real growth in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), population above poverty line, industry GDP growth rate, non-agro employment and employment rate.
Similarly, with only 7 start-ups, mere 62 CII members, 4 in-house Research and Development (R&D) in private sector accredited by DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) and only 26 State-run research institutes, Odisha could earn a high negative value of 0.47 in the knowledge direction index against 0.14 by MP and positive value of 1.23 by UP and 0.07 by Rajasthan. Start-ups numbers, report says, indicate the growing of young and fresh educated entrepreneurs with availability of resources. The number of CII members indicates companies resolve to join the network for sharing information and ideas and number of DSIR R&D programmes in private sector reflects the mindset to harness the benefits. The number of State Government run research institutes mirrors the State’s emphasis on augmenting knowledge ecosystem.
In educational parameters, Odisha lagged behind in indicators like higher secondary pass-out rate and number of universities in top 100 nationally. In all important economy indices, Odisha’s average real GSDP growth rate from 2004-05 to 2013- 2014 has been lower than all BIMARU States except UP.
Odisha fared poorer than Rajasthan and UP in proportion of population working in non-agro sector, finds the report. The report has found empirical evidence of a strong co-relation between education and economy that means sound education indices result in higher economic growth in individual States.
What startling the report finds in Odisha is the educational and economic strengths of the State comparatively have no pep-up outcome on its knowledge direction index - which shows Odisha has failed to utilise the available resources to give a ‘knowledge’ push to its economy. In contrast, a strong push-up effect has been noticed in all high ‘knowledge direction’ States like Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, TN, Karnataka, AP, Kerala, Haryana, WB and Punjab. Significantly, two BIMARU States, such as Rajasthan and UP, show up the country’s high knowledge direction. Especially, on Rajasthan, it says, superior knowledge definitely has superior economy - which CII experts feel a lesson for Odisha to learn.