With Raghuram Rajan Committee report terming Odisha as the ‘least Developed State’ in the country, the ensuing visit of the United Kingdom’s Minister of State for International Development Alan Duncan to the State will assume greater importance.
Duncan along with q DFID team will be on a three-day tour of the State from October 14. He will meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who went to the UK in May last year to finalise the Odisha Girls Incentive Programme that aims to support ST and SC girls in Classes IX and X.
During his talks with the Chief Minister, Duncan is expected to assess the progress made by the State during last decade and to try to ascertain the Government’s future programmes.
The UK Minister will also meet Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra, Departmental Secretaries and Directors, who are getting DFID support.
In view of the Rajan report, Odisha expects some more grants from the DFID of the UK, as indicated by senior bureaucrats, who are involved in developmental projects liberally funded by this UK agency. “Future partnership with the UK on a long-term basis would be discussed during the visit of Duncan,” said a senior Secretary.
The DFID is quite active in Odisha and supporting various programmes including nutrition, safe drinking water, girls incentive, product market linkage, governance reform, horticulture development and marketing Initiative.
Duncan will be making field visits to Anganwadi Centres to have firsthand information about the nutritional programmes being carried out by the State Government with DFID support.
One of the most successful programmes of the State Government is Women Self-Help Group (WSHG). The UK Minister will meet members of some WSHGs who are spearheading economic activities to make them self-sustainable.
Udyan Fresh, a major initiative of the Odisha Government in Department of Agriculture through its State Horticulture Mission is a successful one. Duncan will visit some Udyan Fresh outlets which are the retail sales centres for fresh vegetables and other food products being directly procured from farmers eliminating middlemen.
Duncan will also be meeting ST and SC girls, who are the beneficiaries of the Odisha Girls Incentive Programme (OGIP). The Department of ST & SC Development is running the programme with the technical support from IPE Global. The OGIP aims to support parents for education of their children studying in Classes IX and X.
This programme is designed to minimise the incidence of dropout, especially in the transition from the elementary to the secondary education stage.
This also aims at improving participation of SC and ST students in Classes IX and X so that they perform better and have a better chance of progressing to the post-matric stage, said a senior official.