Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has constituted an 11-member Chief Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (CM-EAC) to provide data-driven policy inputs on economic growth, public finance, investment, employment and sustainable development, an official notification said.
The council has been set up with the objective of strengthening evidence-based policymaking and fiscal prudence as the state pursues its vision of becoming a USD 500 billion economy by 2036 under ‘Samruddha Odisha’ and a USD 1.5 trillion economy by 2047 under ‘Viksit Odisha’.
According to the Finance Department notification, the CM-EAC will function as an independent advisory body and provide forward-looking recommendations to the chief minister on economic and developmental issues.
The panel comprises seven expert members, while the chief secretary and development commissioner-cum-additional chief secretary will be ex-officio administrative members. The principal secretary of the Finance Department will serve as the member-secretary.
The expert members will have a tenure of two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
The council will examine global, national and state-level macroeconomic developments and their likely implications for Odisha. It will also advise on policy reforms and emerging areas including artificial intelligence, the digital economy, green energy transition, blue economy, climate resilience and technology-driven governance.
Its mandate will further include recommending measures to promote sustainable and inclusive growth, industrialisation, investment, employment and the state’s competitiveness.
The CM-EAC will also advise on expansion of the non-farm economy, MSME development, industrial clusters, skill development and human capital enhancement, the notification said.
The council will meet at least once every six months and may invite domain experts, government officials, academics, industry representatives and other organisations for deliberations on specific issues.
Among the expert members named in the notification are former chief secretary Dr Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, former Paradip Port Authority chairman Santosh Kumar Mohapatra, and Arbind Modi, former senior economist in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (Tax).
