Limping amidst poverty, backwardness and unemployment, whither Odisha's economic model?

By Sudhansu R Das 

In spite of all the potential to become one of the prosperous states in India, Odisha is limping amid poverty, backwardness and unemployment. Alarming rise in atmospheric temperature, increase in crime rate, migration of Odias to outside states for livelihood, acute farm labor shortage,  crop diversity loss, wanton destruction of water bodies and growing intellectual apathy to economic, social and cultural problems hit the state hard.

The state needs industry, infrastructure and services sector but not too much of those sectors; over growth of industries and infrastructure will ruin the state to the point of no return. Maharashtra and the undivided Andhra Pradesh were two industrially advanced state but they rank first and second in farmer suicide.  Unemployment looms large in both the states.  These two states overlooked uniform growth of diverse sectors and suffered huge economic loss, income disparity and regional imbalance.

Each country in the world differs from one another, so also their economic potential, social and cultural needs.  Any attempt to make all look alike will create a hell out of heaven.  Japan and Denmark are not fools to develop cycle tracks connecting most parts of their country with dedicated cycle routes. Their needs and economic fabric are different from other countries. Many countries have strived hard to keep their pilgrim and tourist places as natural as possible; it generates revenue and employment. Israel, the country of nobel laureates, focuses on horticulture export to muscle their economy. China aggressively pursued industrialization and contaminated its natural capital. China wanted to amass wealth but actually it amassed huge losses due to the depletion of natural capital. As per the World Bank report China can’t repair its natural capital; the expenses will collapse the Chinese economy.   China in fact is sitting on a time bomb.  Every Indian state differs from one another and accordingly the economic planning should differ from one another.

Odisha is a coastal state and it can run its existing industries well and earn profit; its mining wealth needs to be protected from theft and over exploitation.  There have been reported incidents of theft of precious minerals in the last three decades and above.  The state has lost its precious community capital and revenue.  Leaders with courage and patriotism can bring the mining thieves into light; severe punishment for looting the community capital can prevent the mining theft.  There is no need to aggressively industrialise or urbanise the state; it is essential to protect and preserve the individual character of each city and town in the state; the expansion of any city should not erase the precious social capital the way it happened in Hyderabad,  Chennai and in all big Indian cities.  The small cities and towns in Odisha should be linked to village production centers; facilities to market the products of Odisha in other states and countries should be created. This will benefit the native Odias. The leaders should make Odisha self-sufficient in food production in the next three years.  Odisha desperately needs fast trains to reach Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore. 

The state’s economic landscape is dotted with agriculture, fishery, handicraft skills, tourism, and pilgrim sectors which are vibrant and can generate income and employment amid good governance. More of the industries amid an age of automation, AI and robots will not create many jobs but increase the pollution level.  The leaders of Odisha should stalk the village and hills to discover how the village and tribal artisan add incredibly high value to organic material available in nature. One Palm leaf painting is being sold at Rs 13 lakh in a Hyderabad Handicraft mall. The cost of the material used to make the painting is less than Rs 300.00; it needs nearly six months to make such a painting. There are scores of products which need the attention of honest, sincere and dedicated promoters. The state should crush the root of all heinous crimes in the state in an iron hand. No criminal from both inside and outside the state should make Odisha a happy hunting ground. The increase in crime rate has adversely affected the state’s economy and social life.

An economic model without diversity is like a time bomb. The western world has not understood it and ruined their diversity for mono sector growth. Their economy collapses every five years and it sustains with recapitalization and subsidy etc. It is an economic tragedy which haunts the world community. The vast agriculture fields in Europe are no longer productive due to their futile effort to industrialise agriculture with excess fertilizers and pesticides for more profit. Farmer’s suicide is very frequent in the European countries. Odisha needs strong leaders who can understand the present situation and steer Odisha to safety from a clear mess.