HAAN JI, BOHUT ZYADA LOG AA RAHE HAIN (Yes, a lot of people are coming),” said my cab driver Dillip as we drove from Bhubaneswar airport to my hotel. Occasionally, he glanced at his mobile phone with some concern. “My navigation system has gone haywire. Maybe jammers are on because the prime minister and the president are visiting Bhubaneswar,” he said, not without a hint of self-importance.
Bhubaneswar’s hoteliers and cab drivers are elated―not to mention airlines flying in and out of the city. Delhi–Bhubaneswar airfares have skyrocketed, hotel rates have soared and accommodation is scarce. For cab drivers, business is booming.
It is the peak of the tourist season, further amplified by the arrival of more than 3,000 international delegates for the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), celebrated from January 8 to 10 this year. Along with domestic participants, the flagship event saw a total footfall of around 7,000. The event, held annually around January 9, commemorates Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa in 1915.
Odisha’s capital city looked sparkling clean, adorned with decorative lights on trees and billboards featuring posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Significantly, this was the first time Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was held in eastern India.
The event showcased Odisha’s improving investment climate, bolstered by a conducive law-and-order situation and increasing interest from industries and corporates. Among other outcomes, it highlighted the potential for NRI investment in the state.
The choice of New Jersey-based Ravi Kumar S., CEO of software giant Cognizant, to deliver the thanksgiving address on the event’s final day underscored the importance of Odia expats in the state’s development. Kumar, honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman this year, announced plans to establish Cognizant’s largest campus in India in Odisha.
Meanwhile, Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, along with an entourage of ministers and officials, is scheduled to visit Odisha on January 17 and 18 to explore investment opportunities and collaboration.
Notably, speeches by dignitaries and panel discussions during Pravasi Bharatiya Divas revolved around two key themes―‘Purvodaya’ and the Act East Policy (AEP). This narrative arguably began on September 22, 2020, when Odisha’s Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar asked in Parliament whether Odisha, with its historical and maritime connections to the region, was uniquely positioned to contribute to the AEP. The response from then junior foreign minister V. Muraleedharan was notable. He said the AEP would benefit all states of India, particularly those in the eastern and northeastern states, by promoting economic cooperation, cultural ties and strategic relationships with Indo-Pacific countries through bilateral, regional and multilateral engagement. This included enhancing connectivity in its broadest sense―political, economic, cultural and people-to-people relations.
Three years later, on July 23, 2023, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the ‘Purvodaya’ (‘Rising East’) plan during her Budget speech. This initiative aims at the holistic development of five eastern states―Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. However, developing infrastructure connectivity through the northeast, especially via Manipur to Myanmar, has encountered significant challenges. Insurgency in large parts of Manipur and Nagaland, along with political turmoil in Myanmar, has hampered the AEP.
The situation in Myanmar worsened after the military coup in February 2021. The coup invalidated the November 2020 general election, plunging the country into civil war, with vast regions controlled by pro-democracy fighters and ethnic armed groups. Complicating matters further, ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in May 2023, resulting in administrative paralysis. These developments have significantly hindered the AEP, prompting a rethink of its approach.
For instance, the long-delayed India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway remains incomplete as some sections fall under areas controlled by ethnic armies in Myanmar. Similarly, work on the India-Myanmar Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project has been disrupted, with the region around the Sittwe port falling to the ethnic Arakan Army.
Security concerns have led to the dismantling of the free movement regime between India and Myanmar, while New Delhi’s plan to fence the 1,650km India–Myanmar border raises further questions about the AEP’s feasibility. Given these challenges, Odisha has emerged as a focal point for the AEP and the Purvodaya plan. Kumar Sanjay Singh, a historian from Delhi University and an observer of northeastern developments, remarked, “With the political turmoil in Myanmar showing no signs of resolution, Odisha, with its civilisational and maritime connections, is uniquely positioned to strengthen the AEP.”
Odisha has also been shedding its image as a poverty-stricken state. In recent years, the state has witnessed remarkable growth, with its gross state domestic product expected to grow by 10.57 per cent in 2023–24. The state is rapidly transitioning from an agrarian economy to one driven by industry and services. If the vibrant discussions during Pravasi Bharatiya Divas are anything to go by, Odisha is poised to emerge as a hub for industry, services, trade and culture in the near future.