Odisha provided forest rights titles to 4.11 lakh people: CM

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said Odisha has provided forest rights titles to 4.11 lakh individuals, the highest in the country, and it is firmly on the path of equitable and inclusive growth.

"Our state has acquired the number one position in the country by providing forest rights titles to more than 4.11 lakh individuals and about 6000 community right titles," Patnaik said in the state Assembly.

The chief minister was replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address to the Assembly on the opening day of the budget session.

Odisha is also the first state in the country to have brought a legislation for providing land rights to poor slum dwellers in urban areas of Notified Area Councils (NAC) and municipalities and property rights in municipal corporations, he said.

Stating that Odisha is home to 62 tribal communities, Patnaik said the state government has constituted Special Development Councils in nine tribal dominated districts to empower these communities.

Describing Odisha as a food surplus state, he said it is the third largest contributor to the country's public distribution system.

The farm sector that provides livelihood to more than 70 per cent of state's population is the top most priority of the government, Patnaik said.

We are the only state in the country to have doubled farmers' income in real terms, over a decade, he said.

He said projects for creating additional irrigation facility in about 3 lakh hectares of land have been taken up in 2017-18.

The state government has constructed more than 15.50 lakh pucca houses for the rural poor, Patnaik said.