Union Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilisers and Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Jena on Thursday said that Odisha would gain more than Bihar in the 11-point criteria set by the expert committee headed by economist Raghuram Rajan to identify backward States.
“We are confident that Odisha will gain the most under the criteria set by expert committee,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik once again sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention for according Special Category State (SCS) status to Odisha. Patnaik’s letter came amid expectation that the Centre-appointed committee, headed by Raghuram Rajan, would soon submit its report on amending the criteria to determine a State’s backwardness for the special category status.