Purvodaya for eastern revival

From the solar chakras of Konark to the teascented breezes of Darjeeling, from Nalanda's phoenix-like resurgence to the Brahmaputra's life-giving pulse, eastern India ascends not as a lone star but as the lodestar in India's competitiveness odyssey.

- AMIT KAPOOR & SHEEN ZUTSHI

Budget 2024 amplifies this strategic pivot through the Purvodaya initiative, a plan for the all-round development of the eastern part of India. It recognises that unlocking the East's diverse factor endowments - from Odisha's mineral wealth to Andhra's coastal corridors, from Bihar's agricultural heartland to Jharkhand's industrial potential, and from West Bengal's dynamic services sector to its strategic trade gateways is paramount for charting India's course towards becoming a developed country by 2047.

― Eastern states collectively hold a substantial portion of India's natural resources, including around 80 per cent of the country's iron ore and 100 per cent of its coking coal, along with significant reserves of chromite, bauxite, and dolomite. Their strategic advantages include major ports such as Paradip, Haldia, Vizag, and Kolkata, which account for over 30 per cent of India's major port capacity, as well as three major national waterways and robust road and rail connectivity to most parts of the country. Despite these strengths, these states contributed only around 17.26 per cent to India's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022-23. This is because these states significantly lag behind other Indian states in both economic development and social progress.