State needs aspirational blocks in line with aspirational districts: Study

ODISHA requires aspirational block programmes instead of regional development councils to address disparities between different areas and communities, including tribal and non-tribal populations, a new study by the economists of National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) has suggested.

- HEMANT KUMAR ROUT @ Bhubaneswar

The study follows the recent announcement of the state government to have two development councils, North Odisha and South Odisha, to address the regional disparity. It found that the state has 156 backward or very backward blocks out of its 314 blocks in 30 districts.

The NISER researchers drew a comparison between the findings of two commissions set up by the government - Regional Committee on the Constitutions of Separate Development Board in Odisha (RCCSDBO), 1994 and Regional Imbalance Enquiry Commission (RIEC), 2008 along with the recent multidimensional poverty estimates of NITI Aayog.