The Odisha Vikash Conclave-2020 was enriching with the evening session on “Development \prriorities in Odisha : Role of Civil Society” inviting eminent panelists. Initiating the deliberation, a brief overview of the day-long programme along with release of Odisha Development Report, 2020 and the outcomes of discussions on various thematic sessions were shared by Ms. Sneha Mishra, Secretary, AAINA. The esteemed panelists of the session, like Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik, Former Judge of Supreme Court; Dr. Rajesh Tandon, UNESCO Co-chair & Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, Prof. (Dr.) Amitabh Kundu, Distinguished Fellow, Research & Information System for Developing Countries; Dr. Bhagban Prakash, Former Senior Advisor, Election Commission of India, Shri Jagadananda, Convener of Odisha Development Initiative and Co-founder, CYSD, and Shri P K Sahoo, Co-founder of CYSD presented their valuable concrete suggestions on development priorities of Odisha focusing on role of civil society.

 “It is required to invest in building leadership among the tribals, youth and the women; engage with multi-national companies; have dialogue with them on how they can contribute to the development of the state. Also, Growth rate is impressive in Odisha, but the share of agriculture production to GSDP has gone down. Further, the state is lagging behind in the social sectors including health and education which is a matter of concern. The population growth rate is not so high in Odisha, but the death rate is high. There is need for increased relative pricing of rice.”

Dr. Rajesh Tandon

“Odisha seems to be in the development paradox as there are huge sources of water but irrigation coverage is low; soil is rich but productivity is less; there is political stability but development is not encouraging and inclusive; and being an agrarian state, its agriculture share to GSDP is not up to mark. Further, around 30000 civil society organizations are operating in Odisha, they need strong collaboration among each other to sort out varied issues of the State together.”

Dr. Bhagban Prakash

For the development of Odisha, drinking water, health & nutrition and education should be the priority areas. An increase in income of people is the need of the hour, so employability skills and entrepreneurial abilities require to be developed among the youth. Moreover, peace, harmony and fraternity should have to develop among the civil society organizations so that they can unitedly influence the legislature and the judiciary.

Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik

“The development priorities include both the hardware and the software components. While the government mechanism is good at dealing with the hardware component; the civil society is good at managing the software component including social mobilization and facilitating community actions. If both the actors join hands they can make the impossible possible. Therefore, collaboration among all the development partners is the need of the hour.”

Shri Jagadananda

There is need for collaboration and synergy building among the development actors through regular dialogue and discourse with utmost trust and solidarity. Equity and inclusiveness are the keys to development. Moreover, there is no substitute for volunteerism and voluntary action in development.

 

 

Shri Prafulla Kumar Sahoo