Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday raised the special category state (SCS) status for the state at the National Development Council meeting held in New Delhi, thus making implicitly clear that his party, the BJD, is likely to make it a major issue in the 2014 polls.
“Orissa be declared as a special category state since it has high concentration of Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste population; is one of the poorest major states; has very adverse socio-economic human development indicators and its per capita income is still 2/3rd of the national average. The state satisfies all criteria for getting SCS status except having an international boundary which should not act as a limiting factor,” the chief minister demanded while delivering his speech.