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History and Geography
Orissa, the land of Oriyas, was known as Kalinga in ancient days. In the third century BC (261 BC), Ashoka the Mauryan emperor sent a powerful force to conquer Kalinga, which offered stubborn resistance. Kalinga was subdued but the carnage, which followed, struck Ashoka with remorse. After the death of Ashoka, Kalinga regained its independence. In the second century BC, it became a powerful country under Kharavela. With the death of Kharavela, Orissa passed into obscurity. In the fourth century AD, Samudragupta invaded Orissa, which lay astride his path and overcame resistance offered by five of its kings. In 610 AD, Orissa came under the sway of King Sasanka. After Sasanka’s death, Harsha conquered Orissa.
Orissa had its own rulers (Ganga dynasty) in the seventh century AD. In 795 AD, Mahasivagupta Yajati II came to the throne and with him began the most brilliant epoch in the history of Orissa. He united Kalinga, Kangoda, Utkal and Koshala in the imperial tradition of Kharavela. Under the kings of Ganga dynasty, Orissa continued to flourish. Narasingha Dev of this dynasty is reputed to have built the unique Sun Temple of Konark. From Mid-16th Century, Orissa was ruled successively by five Muslim kings till 1592, when Akbar annexed it into the Mughal Empire. With the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Marathas occupied Orissa. They continued to hold it till the British took over in 1803.
Orissa was made into a separate province on 1 April, 1936. After Independence, princely states in and around Orissa surrendered their sovereignty to the Government of India. By the States Merger (Governor’s provinces) Order 1949, the princely states of Orissa were completely merged with the state of Orissa in January 1949. Although the state of Orissa had many ancient names like Kalinga, Utkal and Udra, it is widely known as the land of Lord Jagannath. Lord Jagannath is intimately connected with the social, cultural and religious life of Orissa. Jainism, Islam and Christianity have considerable impact on the people of Orissa in different periods.
Orissa is situated in the north-eastern part of the Indian peninsula. It is bound by the Bay of Bengal on the east, West Bengal on the north-east, Jharkhand on the north, Chhattisgarh on the west, and Andhra Pradesh on the south. The state may be broadly divided into four geographical regions-the northern plateau, central river basin, eastern hills and coastal plains.
Agriculture
Agriculture occupies a vital place in the economy of the state. It contributes 28
per cent of the net domestic product of the state. 65 per cent of the total work
force directly or indirectly engaged in agriculture. Rice is the principal food
grain and its production during 2004-05 was 65.37 lakh metric tonnes. Sugarcane
cultivation has been widely accepted by the farmers.
Priority has been accorded to Agriculture extension through application
of high-end Crop Production Technologies, adoption of Integrated Nutrient
Management and Pest Management practices. 12.5 lakh grafts of various
fruits, 10 lakh grafts of cashew and 2.5 lakh vegetables mini kits supplied to
farmers. To promote onion crops in the state, 300 quintals of quality onion
seeds distributed to cover 7,500 acres of land. Under National Horticulture
Mission, 2525 demonstrations on rose, gladioli and marigold held to encourage
floriculture. A target of 60,000 demonstrations set for the next year. To ensure
minimum support price to farmers a target of 20 lakh MTs of rice set to be
procured through Orissa State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd., PACs,
MARKFED & NAFED and millers under levy route. In developing micro watersheds in drought prone areas, 2413 micro-watersheds are being developed
with a treatable area of 13 hectares.
Irrigation and Power
Irrigation potential has been created through major, medium, minor irrigation
and water harvesting project up to 2696.00 thousand hectares by the end of
year 2004-05. To drive more benefit and smooth management of irrigation
potential Government has implemented Pani Panchayata Yojana and Biju
Krushak Bikash Yojana.
During 2005-06, six irrigation projects were identified for completion
with a targeted irrigation potential of 12685 hectares, of which four projects
were already completed. During 2005-06, Orissa Lift Irrigation Corporation
(OLIC) completed 500 new LI Points under Biju Krushak Vikas Yojana and
created an additional irrigation potential of 10,000 hectares. About 13,397 Pani
Panchayats formed in the State by January 2006 covering an area of 10.40 lakh
hectares. Out of these, 11,583 Pani Panchayats have taken over operation and
maintenance of irrigation system covering an area of 7.81 lakh hectares.
The total installed capacity of power in states sector during 2004-05 was
4,845.34 MW the power available from all sources was 1,995.82 MW. Out of
46,989 inhabited villages in the state 37,744 villages have been electrified till
the end of March 2005.
Under Minimum Need Programme (MNP), 4696 villages, hamlets and
dalit bastis were programmed to be electrified. Of this, electrification of 2965
villages and hamlets completed by December 2005. Being a surplus state in
electricity production, surplus power to the tune of Rs. 420 crore was sold to
Power Trading Corporation and National Vidyut Vyapar Nigam through
GRIDCO by December 2006. 7 projects with estimated cost of Rs. 592 crore
approved by Govt. of India for implementation of Accelerated Power
Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP). Highly efficient Orissa Power
Generation Corporation (OPGC) paid a dividend of Rs. 31.25 crore to the State
Government during 2005-06 (Interim).
Industry
The Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation Limited, Industrial
Development Corporation Limited and Orissa State Electronics Development
Corporation are the three nodal agencies for promotion of large and medium
industries in the State. A number of mega-industrial projects in sectors like
steel, alumina/aluminia, oil refining, fertilizers, etc. involving large investment
are in the pipeline. The state is providing institutional and financial support
with various incentives and concessions for promotion of small-scale village
and cottage industries. By the end of 2004-2005 about 83.075 small-scale
industries were set up in the State.
POSCO, a South Korean steel giant, entered into a MoU with Government
of Orissa to set up a steel plant having a production capacity of 12 MTPA with
an investment of about US $ 12 billion. The flagship Aditya Birla Group plans to setup a 1 MTPA Alumina refinery with smelter. Orissa Mining Corporation
set itself a production target of 51.20 lakh tonnes of minerals in 2005-06. This
represents 33 per cent increase over the previous year. Iron Ore production
slated to touch 43 lakh tonnes in 2005-06, representing an increase of 40 per
cent over the previous year.
To accelerate industrial development, employment opportunities and
economic growth a single window clearance mechanism introduced by enacting
Orissa Industries (facilitation) Act, 2004 ensuring time-bound clearance of
investment proposals and rationalisation of inspections. In order to support
massive investments, top priority was accorded to improvement in
infrastructural facilities. For creating quality infrastructure development in IT
sector, an export promotion industrial park set up at Bhubaneswar. In promoting
small and medium enterprises in the State, 2255 small industries were set up
during 2005-06 with an investment of Rs. 123.23 crore providing employment
to approximately 10,308 persons.
Full medical care has been extended to the industrial labourers and their
family members through a network of ESI hospitals and dispensaries.
Rs. 1,02,66,000 approved for payment for the year 2005-06 towards
reimbursement cost of treatment of ESI beneficiaries from Revolving Corpus
Fund. Child labours employed in hazardous jobs were released and admitted
under National Child Labour Project Scheme for being imparted formal
education and vocational training. 18 Child Labour Projects are functioning in
18 districts of the State. 33,843 child labourers were admitted in special schools
run by National Child Labour Projects and 64,885 child labourers were
mainstreamed to formal schooling system. Minimum Wages Payable to
unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled categories of workers
increased. Under the direct supervision of Chief Minister, State Employment
Mission in association with Directorate of Technical Education and Training,
launched vocational training programmes for both educated and semi-educated
unemployed youth. 4225 candidates are being trained for skilling and reskilling
in various market-friendly courses.
Information Technology
The State is making significant strides in Information Technology sector.
MOUs signed with TCS and Wipro to set up Development Centres at Infocity
in Bhubaneswar. Other companies like Hexaware Technologies & Mind Free
Consulting are keen to invest in the state. All these companies are expected to
directly employ about 5000 software professonals by 2007-08 besides creating
substantial indirect employment. An e-procurement system initiated jointly by
Government of Orissa, National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG) and
National Informatics Centre (NIC) to bring in a transparent and efficient
system of tendering and procurement. State Wide Area Network (SWAN), a
core e-Governance infrastructure under implementation to connect the State
headquarters with all district headquarters, Sub-Division headquarters, block
headquarters with a 2 mbps dedicated line. The Oriya language pack under
the programme "Technology Development for Indian languages" to enable
Oriya Language computing completed. Project e-sishu aiming at creating a database of the 3 pillars of education, namely, children, teachers and school
was taken up by OPEPA and jointly being executed with OCAC. This would
help achieving our goal of universalisation of primary education and ensuring
that no child of the state is left out of school.
Tourism
Acknowledging the importance of tourism promotion in economic growth of
the State, Media Management Agencies and event managers were identified to
take up publicity and promotion professionally. A new logo has been adopted
to re-position and re-brand Orissa as a vibrant tourist destination. Various
strategic tourism projects such as Peace Park at Dhauli, infrastructure
development in Buddhist circuit comprising Lalitgiri, Udayagiri, Ratnagiri &
Langudi and tourism development of Pipili were taken up. For promotion and
marketing, a slew of tourism fairs and festivals such as Sreekhetra Utsav at
Puri, Ekamra Utsav at Bhubaneswar, Konark Festival at Konark being supported
showcasing the tourism and cultural potential of the State. Orissa Tourism
participated in travel-trade shows like Buddhist festival at Bangkok, Leisure
Moscow at Moscow, WTM at London, PATA convention at Kuala Lumpur,
IATO at Kochi, TTF at Kolkata, Road show at Raipur, etc. 373 guides were
trained to promote private sector participation in tourism sector.
Fisheries and Animal Resources Development
Following the objectives set out in "State Agriculture Policy" and by adopting
new scientific technology, emphasis was laid on milk, fish & meat production.
Total milk production per day touches 36 lakh liters, up by 3 lakh liters. All
30 districts of the state are covered by Orissa Milk Federation (OMFED) to
promote diary farming. OMFED increased it's milk procurement substantially
to 2.70 lakh liters per day. Under STEP programme, OMFED is running
'Women Diary Projects' in 17 districts. 837 women diary cooperative societies
comprising 60,287 women were also formed in the State.
Under RLTAP, Rs. 350 lakh was released in the year 2005-06 for milk
production and allied activities in KBK districts. For scientific pisciculture in
reservoirs, a 'State Reservoir Fishery Policy' was approved. Under RLTAP, 13
reservoirs having water spread area of 5709 hectares were taken up for
pisciculture development in KBK districts. During 2005-06, 101 reservoirs
were taken up under pisciculture through Fishermen Cooperative Societies
and Self-Help Groups.
Transport
During 2004-05 the total road length in the state was 2,37,332 km. comprising
3,595 km National Highway, 29 km state express highway, 5,102 km state
highway, 3,189 km of major district roads, 6,334 km of other district roads,
27,882 km rural roads, 20,314 km panchayat samiti roads, 1,39,942 km G.P.
roads, 7,298 km forest roads, 17,282 km urban roads, 6,277 km irrigation roads
and 88 km GRIDCO roads.
Railways : By the end of 31 March 2004 the state has 2,287 km railway route
including 91 km of narrow gauge.
Aviation: The expansion and modernisation of Bhubaneswar Airport is in
progress. Direct link is available from Bhubaneswar to places like Delhi,
Kolkata, Chennai, Nagpur, Mumbai and Hyderabad. There are 13 air strips
and 16 helipads at different places of the State.
Ports: Paradeep is the only major port of the State. Gopalpur has been
developed as an all-weather port.
Tourist Centres
Bhubaneswar is famous for the Lingaraj Temple, while Puri is famous for the temple of Lord Jagannath and its beautiful sea beach. Other places of tourist interest in the State are Konark, Nandankanan, Chilka Lake, Dhauli Buddhist temple, Udaygiri-Khandagiri ancient caves, Ratnagiri, Lalitgiri and Udaygiri Buddhist images and caves, Saptasajya, Similipal National Park and Tiger Project, Hirakund dam, Duduma Water Falls, Ushakothi Wildlife Sanctuary, Gopalpur Sea beach, Hari Shankar, Narusinghnath, Taratarini, Taptapani, Bhitar Kanika, Bhimkunda, Kapilash, etc.
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Sun Temple, Konark |
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