The Orissa government today refuted the charges of the Opposition that poverty level has gone up in the state during the last ten years rule of Naveen Patnaik. It also asserted that Orissa isn’t the poorest state in the country at present.
The per capita income of the state is more than seventeen states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh as per the report of the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC). Similarly, Orissa’s growth rate during the Tenth Five-year Plan at 9.5 percent was higher than the national growth rate of 7.7 percent during this period, said Parfulla Chandra Ghadai, state finance minister, in the state assembly today.
Replying to an adjournment motion on the issue in the House, he said, the Tenth Plan growth rate of 9.5 per cent is higher than 2.02 percent recorded in the 8th Plan and 5.3 percent in the 9th Plan. Hence, the state has made rapid strides during the last one decade, he asserted.
Earlier, while the state was dependent on the ways and means advance and overdraft from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for meeting its daily requirement, the developmental activities had come to a halt.
However, due to prudent fiscal management, the state finances have improved markedly. The revenue deficit has been wiped out entirely and the state is having surplus in its revenue account for last four years.
Outstanding debt stock, was 55.92 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2002-03, has declined to 27.27 percent in 2008-09. Similarly, the state plan outlay has increased from Rs 2553.27 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs 10,200 crore in 2010-11. Refuting the allegation that the state has become poorer during the last ten years, the finance minister said, the rate of poverty in the state was 47.15 percent in 1999-2000 which declined to 39.9 percent in 200-04. This is a reduction of 7.3 percent over this period. He said, the rate of poverty in Orissa, as per the estimates made by the Planning Commission, was 48.56 percent in 1993-94.
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