Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released a booklet, `80 years of Odisha Budget-A Commemorative Volume’, at Soochana Bhawan here Monday.
Lauding the state on making significant strides in education, health and infrastructure sectors, he said, “80 years is a long and phenomenal journey for the state. We have achieved many milestones during this period.”
The booklet details Odisha’s journey as an independent state and provides facts and figures narrating its development over the years.
Patnaik said, “This compilation is an effort to present the journey of Odisha in these 80 years. Odisha is the first state in the country to bring out such a compilation.”
“When Odisha became a state 80 years ago, the state budget was only Rs 1.77 crore, today, the budget is Rs 1, 20, 000 crore,” – read an excerpt from the booklet.
Stating that the compilation will be useful for scholars, researchers and policy makers, the CM added, “Budget is a mirror to the policies of the government.”
“In 2000, when we came to power the budget was Rs 14, 000 crore. Today, the budget is Rs 1, 20, 000 crore”, he stated.
The state, Patnaik said, came up with a separate Agriculture budget in 2013-14 and a separate Agriculture Cabinet in 2016 for focused attention to Agriculture sector. Nutrition sensitive agricultural interventions were brought into the improved agriculture activities.
Though the state has achieved many milestones during the long journey of 80 years but there is a growing aspiration among the people of the state.
Keeping in view the aspiration of the people there has to be a constant endeavour from all stakeholders to work together for a better future, the Chief Minister said.
Patnaik underlined that the 80 budgets presented since 1936 testify to the commitment of the governments to steer the state on the path of development.