Odisha govt., Centre face off over implementation of another Central scheme

BJD-BJP tussle over Centrally-sponsored schemes in Odisha. BJD resists PM SHRI, Ayushman Bharat schemes; BJD says its own initiatives better. BJD says Centre trying to gain mileage; BJP says BJD blocking holistic development. BJD also spending ₹6,500 cr on Bhubaneswar Metro Project without Centre's help. BJD-BJP tussle over Centrally-sponsored schemes in Odisha continues.

The Odisha government’s reluctance to implement the Centrally-sponsored PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme has set the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) regime and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) Union government on a collision course.

Launched on September 7, 2022, the scheme aims to establish over 14,500 schools across the country and 6,207 schools have been identified in the first phase. The BJD government is yet to respond to two letters from Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over the past three months, urging him to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry for the implementation of the scheme in the State.

This is the second such instance as the BJD government has shown no inclination to implement Ayushman Bharat, a flagship Central scheme aimed at achieving universal health coverage, despite repeated letters and requests from Union Ministers.

According to BJD insiders, PM SHRI is a “small” scheme compared with the State government’s “massive” project that has so far spent ₹3,411 crore to transform 6,872 high schools under its much vaunted 5T (teamwork, technology, transparency, transformation, and time limit) initiative. The government is now eyeing similar interventions in colleges.

It has also set up 315 schools in 314 blocks of the State under the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya (OAV) initiative, which aims at providing qualitative and affordable education in English-medium. All OAVs are equipped with modern education technology and students are taught by highly skilled teachers. The OAVs have all the elements that the PM SHRI intended to implement, the BJD said.

“At a time the Naveen Patnaik government is being praised for its school transformation initiative, the Narendra Modi government is trying to gain mileage through the PM SHRIscheme. The NDA government came to power in 2014, but has taken nine years to focus on education,” a BJD spokesperson said.

The State BJP unit countered that the BJD government has become a stumbling block in the implementation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans to bring modern education to the country. “The State government is least concerned about holistic development of the education sector. The main objective behind its every plan and programme is to win praise,” State BJP spokesperson Pruthiraj Harichandan said.