Naveen Patnaik emphasized that agriculture and allied sectors needed greater attention and stressed for liberal Central funding to raise agricultural productivity and improve skill levels of the rural population.

Speaking in the National Development Council held here on 24 July, Chief Minister stated that Odisha has been striving to achieve sustainable and inclusive higher economic growth, accelerated overall development and a faster rate of poverty reduction.

The State economy has grown at an average annual rate of 9.51 per cent during the Tenth Plan and at 8.73 per cent per annum in the first three years of the Eleventh Plan, at a faster rate than the national average, despite challenges posed by the “global economic slow-down”.

Chief Minister proposed for broadening the scope of Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) to include Lift Irrigation Projects in areas where flow irrigation was not possible.

Substantial augmentation of Central funding under AIBP and for addressing water logging & drainage congestion problems and command area development was also emphasized by him.

In addition, he asked the Centre to fund the Right to Education program on 90:10 basis.

He stressed the need to roll out more centrally funded schemes to address the issues of low urbanization including urban poverty, livelihood, health, housing and infrastructure.

Appropriate modifications in the guidelines for APDRP-II to extend its benefits to Odisha, was also demanded.

Immediate attention to address the issues of abnormal delays in allocation of coal blocks / coal linkage and environmental & forest clearances for new power projects was asked by Mr.Patnaik.

He urged to enact a separate Central Legislation or make suitable provisions in the existing Central Power Policies and Acts for allocating at least 25% free power by thermal power plants to the host state and for levying electricity duty at the point of generation rather than at the point of consumption to compensate for the cost of environmental degradation.

Allocation of 500 MW of power from the Central Un-allocated Share and NTPC Kaniha Stage-II to Odisha to address the current power deficit situation in the state, was demanded by the chief Minister.

He reminded the Centre for early approval of the 8-Year Perspective Plan of Rs.4,550 crore for KBK districts to expedite development of the KBK region.

Chief Minister reiterated demand for special assistance for the Odisha portion of the Vijayawada-Ranchi Highway passing through the tribal dominated districts.

Revision of guidelines for the Central flagship programmes to cover habitations of 100 or more population in tribal areas was figured in the demand list of Mr.Patnaik.