BHUBANESWAR: After the resounding success of Orissa modernising government initiative (OMGI), the State Government is seriously planning to start the second phase reforms programme with financial assistance from the Department for International Development (DFID). A proposal for introduction of Orissa Modernising Economy, Governance and Administration (OMEGA) is under active consideration of the Government. A high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary discussed the proposed second generation reforms programme. The second phase aims at achieving inclusive growth, generate investable resources, employment generation in non-farm sector, improve pro-poor service delivery mechanism and augmenting private sector investment in infrastructure and skill enhancement. A decade after initiating the power sector reforms in 1995, the State Government launched OGMI with a broad objective to bring transparency and accountability, citizen’s charter, comprehensive amendment of rules of business and secretariat instructions, simplification of land acquisition, litigation management system, district modernising plan, tracking public distribution system, tax reforms and management information system on property tax. The public sector reforms programme was taken up in a time-bound manner with DFID assistance under which sick PSUs were privatised. Introduction of value added tax (VAT) replacing the age-old sales tax and commercial tax has significantly improved the revenue collection. The Government is now planning to strengthen the resource generation system by introducing goods and services tax in place of VAT. The most significant achievement of VAT was the manifold increase in registration of traders. Though the department is experiencing a rapid increase in trader registration, the large number of vacancies in the sales tax and commercial tax department is the most disturbing factor. The issue was raised in the Monsoon Session of the Assembly by the Congress. The DFID has extended 3.1 million pound assistance to the department in the first phase during 1999-2000 to 2004-05 to improve tax collection and build readiness for VAT. After the first phase, the State’s economy has grown at an average rate of 8.73 per cent which is higher than the national average. BHUBANESWAR: After the resounding success of Orissa modernising government initiative (OMGI), the State Government is seriously planning to start the second phase reforms programme with financial assistance from the Department for International Development (DFID). A proposal for introduction of Orissa Modernising Economy, Governance and Administration (OMEGA) is under active consideration of the Government. A high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary discussed the proposed second generation reforms programme. The second phase aims at achieving inclusive growth, generate investable resources, employment generation in non-farm sector, improve pro-poor service delivery mechanism and augmenting private sector investment in infrastructure and skill enhancement. A decade after initiating the power sector reforms in 1995, the State Government launched OGMI with a broad objective to bring transparency and accountability, citizen’s charter, comprehensive amendment of rules of business and secretariat instructions, simplification of land acquisition, litigation management system, district modernising plan, tracking public distribution system, tax reforms and management information system on property tax. The public sector reforms programme was taken up in a time-bound manner with DFID assistance under which sick PSUs were privatised. Introduction of value added tax (VAT) replacing the age-old sales tax and commercial tax has significantly improved the revenue collection. The Government is now planning to strengthen the resource generation system by introducing goods and services tax in place of VAT. The most significant achievement of VAT was the manifold increase in registration of traders. Though the department is experiencing a rapid increase in trader registration, the large number of vacancies in the sales tax and commercial tax department is the most disturbing factor. The issue was raised in the Monsoon Session of the Assembly by the Congress. The DFID has extended 3.1 million pound assistance to the department in the first phase during 1999-2000 to 2004-05 to improve tax collection and build readiness for VAT. After the first phase, the State’s economy has grown at an average rate of 8.73 per cent which is higher than the national average.
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