Draft Five Year Plan 1978-83 Orissa Volume I

Abstract

The Stale of Orissa came into existence in the year 1936. Before she fully realised her separate identity, she was faced with great strain on her economy due to Second world War and its aftermath With the merger of twenty four feudatory States Orissa assumed her present shape. When India embarked on economic planning in the year 1951 the economy of was in a miserable condition which presented the problems of cumulative economic backlog of serious proportions. The State had a feudal system of land laws characterised by absentee landlordism, hardly any irrigation, practically no power, no industries worth the name, an extremely inadequate system of railways and roads, unsatisfactory public health condition, absolutely merge facilities for the general education and total absence of technical education of any nature. The level of urbanisation was very low with the accompanying characteristics of absence of banks and business houses and lack of facility for modern financial anti commercial practices. No wonder capital was shy and entrepreneurial talent absent.