The report of the Raghu Rajan Committee, which has ranked Odisha as the number one among the least developed States, has evoked mixed response in the State.
The ruling BJD dubbed the findings of the report as “lollypop”, with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who found the report virtually unacceptable, describing it as “unfortunate”. Patnaik even went on to announce that the fight for “special category status” would not be stopped under any circumstances.
However, the Opposition Congress and BJP, welcoming the report, said it would pave the way for Odisha to get the “special category status”.
The Raghuram Rajan Committee was set up by the Union Government following the Budget speech of Finance Minister P Chidambaram to identify the backward States for getting special assistance and amid demands for special category State status of Odisha and Bihar.
Chief Minister Patnaik was looking puzzled over the report which ranks Odisha as the least developed States among the ten bracketed ones followed by Bihar. Since the report was straight and remained within the mandate, there was no mention or recommendation for according any State as “special category,” which has been much politicized by Odisha and Bihar.
“We have been demanding special category status for the last 40 years. These include Central allocation on 90:10 basis and tax exemption for new investments,” the Chief Minister said.
In a similar vein, BJD vice-president and Panchayati Raj Minister Kalpataru Das said the “least backwardness” is a lollypop for Odisha.
This will not help the State to get the special category status, he said, adding while the Union Government at present was not able to ensure release of promised funds in time, there is little hope that the Odisha would ever get the special status. +On the other hand, senior BJP leader Biswabhushan Harichandan welcomed the report, stating that ranking Odisha the least backward would help getting the special category status. But, he said that the report has exposed the State Government’s false claim of achieving faster growth in the State during its rule.
leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh said that the report would pave the way for Odisha to go up and get the special category status. The State Government should not play politics over the panel’s report, he maintained.
Sources said the panel has ranked the 10 least developed States including Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The seven most developed States have been Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Haryana, according to the panel.