A New Odisha is taking shape: Mohan Charan Majhi

As the BJP govt completes one year in office, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi talks about his accomplishments and challenges along with the roadmap for Odisha's growth and development in the coming years, in an interview with Siba Mohanty & SN Agragami.
Your government has completed one year in office with a slogan, 'Barsa Ek, Uplapdhi Anek'. What is the biggest upalabdhi (achievement) of your government in the last 12 months ?
June 12 was a historic day in the political history of Odisha. People changed the government of 24 years and gave us a mandate to take Odisha in the path of development in all fields. Out of the 21 promises made by us, our government has fulfilled 11 promises, which is more than half. The results are for all to see. Let me give you one example. In Subhadra Yojana, we had promised to give a voucher of Rs 50,000 to women and have already provided Rs 10,000 to nearly 1 crore women in two half-yearly installments. This is not a cash dole to create vote-bank. Our aim is women empowerment. We have got ground reports, and you will be pleasantly surprised that 90 per cent of beneficiaries have utilised the money in a gainful manner.
On the path of fulfilling the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have increased the number of Lakhpati Didis from just three lakh to 16.6 lakh in one year and achieved the first position in the country. The prime minister himself has praised the achievement of Odisha in the NITI Aayog meeting.
Our second priority was the farmer. Within one hour of taking oath, in the first cabinet meeting we approved input assistance of Rs 800 per quintal over and above the MSP, which has already reached 17 lakh farmers. For the youth, we have provided 28,000 jobs. Nearly 30,000 youths have also got jobs in private sector.
The previous government had organised three Make-in-Odisha conclaves. But in only one Utkarsh Odisha conclave organised by our government on January 28 and 29, we generated more proposals and signed more MoUs than all the previous three combined. We received proposals of Rs 17 lakh crore, signed MoUs of Rs 13 lakh crore with employment opportunities for 13 lakh youths of the state.
The government has gained the confidence of people by doing all this work. We are committed to take Odisha to greater heights economically, socially and politically. We have fulfilled many promises during the year, which is why the slogan 'Barsha Ek, Upalabdhi Anek'. A New Odisha is taking shape.

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