Following is an excerpt from an article in Bihar Times.

… fund flow from the center to states takes place in one of the following four ways:

1. Proportionate Tax Devolution as specified by Finance Commission
2. Grant in aid  again following the Finance Commission formula
3. Central Investments (at sole discretion of federal government)
4. Loans (at discretion of federal & state government)

It is obvious from the above mechanism that federal government enjoys absolute discretion only in the matter of central investments. Central benevolence towards specific states can be decided only on the basis of the investments it is making there.

For a judicious assessment of UPA led central government it would be pertinent to consider a period starting from 1st April 2004 till date. A cursory look at the figures for the period under consideration, as exhibited in the following chart, has an interesting story to tell. Four states, viz. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, together make up for 50% of the central investments. In rupees terms, their share corresponds to one lac five thousand fifty five crores (INR 10,55,52,13,00,000) of the total central investments of two lac nine thousand and fifty crores (INR 20,90,47,34,00,000).  Further, a major chunk of this has been allocated to just two states that is Maharashtra at 16% and West Bengal at 15%. In contrast, Bihar got only 3.87% of the central investments. Madhya Pradesh (3%), Rajasthan (3%) and Orissa (2%) lagged further behind.

I am not sure how the above was calculated. But if the numbers are right then this should be brought to the notice of the Odisha government and leaders.  (Thanks to Kanhu Roul for the pointer.)

Recently unhappiness is brewing because of various trains bypassing Cuttack. See the following news item from Samaja.

I believe there is a easy solution to this: Develop the Naraj station to have express train stops and develop the accessibility of the Naraj station from the roads that goes from Naraj to Bidanasi side of Cuttack.

I wrote about it earlier in http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/1967. Following are some excerpts from that article.

Naraj Station lies across Kathjodi river about 1 km away from the bridge. It is about 2 kms from the proposed 2nd campus of Ravenshaw university, 3-4 km from Bidanasi-CDA and within 1 km from the proposed Sri Sri University. 

Several trains in the BBS (Bhubaneswar)-SBP (Sambalpur) line such as 2893 (BBS-BLGR superfast), 8304 (Puri-SBP Intercity), 8405 (Puri-ADI), 8507 (VSK-ASR) skip Cuttack and go via Naraj without stopping there. By developing the Naraj station a bit more, developing the road between the station and the bridge, and introducing stops at Naraj station people in Cuttack will be able to easily access these trains.

… Naraj is really very close to Cuttack; much close to Cuttack than Barang or the proposed station between Barang and Patia. Also, Naraj station is much closer to the newer parts of Cuttack (such as CDA and Bidanasi) than the Cuttack station. Also, a lot of development is planned near Naraj that includes the Sri Sri University, National Law University and 2nd campus of Ravenshaw University. …

There were some concerns regarding the overlap with the proposed New Barang station between Patia and Bhubaneswar. I think with the rate Cuttack-Bhubaneswar are is growing even if a major station in the form of a New Barang station comes up, it will be still a good idea to have a express stop station in Naraj.

In the not too far future the greater Bhubaneswar area would need five stations: Khurda Rd, Bhubaneswar, New Barang, Cuttack and Naraj. The following map shows the five stations and the distance between them.

• Odisha industrial policy and OIEPO.
• Odisha Tourism.
• Odisha geographical location and its bounties.
• Fast progress of Information Technology in Odisha.
• Power reform in Odisha.
• Mineral resources of Odisha.
• Cement and Sugar in Odisha.
• Private investment encouraged in health care in Odisha.
• Industrialization of Odisha.
• Steel and aluminum in Odisha.
• Power situation in Odisha.
• Getting approvals to set up industry in Odisha; SLSWC and HLC.
• Odisha transportation situation.
• New ports to come up in Odisha.
• 146 proposals cleared by state level single window clearance (SLSWC).

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

“Zensar has communicated that it is keen to start construction work on its development centre soon. The Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) has already given its in-principle approval to allot three acres of land to the software firm in the Infocity region of the city”, a top IT official told Business Standard.

Zensar Technologies plans to invest Rs 30-40 crore on its proposed software development centre. Initially, the centre would be run by a pool of 1,500 professionals but Zensar plans to make its Bhubaneswar centre the second biggest in the country after Pune where its centre is spread over 10 acres.

… Zensar has more than 4,000 employees in India and abroad. The company is rated among the top 25 software firms of the country by National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).

Meanwhile, other major IT investors have also renewed their commitment on their proposed projects in the city.

MindTree expects to kick off construction work on its Rs 200-crore development centre in the city by June this year. … its centre which would come up over 30 acres of land.

…  MindTree would initially recruit about 1,000 software professionals and eventually ramp up its headcount to 6000. Its development centre in Bhubaneswar will focus on R&D, consultancy and software development.

ICICI Bank, which had sought an extension of two years for its Rs 600-crore eastern regional hub, has been asked by the state IT department to start construction work by April.

ICICI bank’s eastern regional hub would have a built-up area of 1.5 million sq ft and it will have a pool of 15,000 employees in the long-run. The project is to be developed in phases over a period of six to seven years. Similarly, Genpact, which had announced a Global Delivery Centre in the city, has submitted a fresh building plan to the Bhubanewar Development Authority (BDA).

Genpact’s centre in the city will have a total built-up area of 7 lakh sq ft. Initially, Genpact would hire 500 people for running its operations and eventually, the headcount will be scaled up to 3,000.

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=59137.

The Ministry of Environment & Forests have identified 38 sites on a nation-wide basis as appropriate for planting of mangroves and their conservation and management. Of these, seven sites are in Orissa, They are Bhitarkanika, Mahanadi, Subernarekha, Devi-Kadua, Dhamra, Chilka and Mangrove Genetic Resources Centre (Kalibhanj-Dia). Proposals were received from State Forest Department, Govt. of Orissa for three sites viz. Bhitarkanika, Mahanadi and Devi-Kadua for which the Ministry sanctioned a sum of Rs. 123.29 lakhs.Rs. 83.406 lakhs has already been released during the current financial year.

Following is an excerpt from a Business Standard report.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to privatise 15 out of 40 non-operational airports across the country on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis to make them function again.

“Out of 40 non-operational airports, 15 have the potential to operate and we have planned to give the airports to private developers to operate it for a concession period,” said a top AAI official, who did not wish to be identified.

The airports to be given to private companies are in Rajasthan, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and north-eastern states. ..

As per the AAI page at http://www.aai.aero/allAirports/nonop_airports.jsp the non-operational AAI airport in Odisha is in Jharsuguda. This is the good news for Odisha. The slightly bad news is that the Chakulia airport in Jharkhand is probably also in that list. It is 67 kms from both Jamshedpur and Kharagpur and about 80 kms from Baripada. If that takes off the proposed airport in Rasgovindpur (in Mayurbhanj) will not happen soon. But overall from the tri-state perspective Chakulia is a better location.