Charudutta Panigrahi, Gurugram, 11 March 2023
Odisha needs a plan that links culture, health, the creative industries and education which would encourage economic growth and draw new talent from universities. In 2023 the creative sector should begin to outperform the rest of the state’s economy in both growth and job creation. It’s that typically underrated but hugely potential cache, encompassing advertising, architecture, craft, design, fashion, film, television and radio, IT, software, music, the performing and visual arts, publishing, museums, galleries and libraries. There is this untapped potential to generate wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. At this stage, with hardly thirteen years to complete 100 years, Odisha needs balanced growth.
What a dream welcome to 2023 for Odisha? It started with Men’s Hockey World Cup. The mega global event bolstered Odisha’s image as one capable of organizing and conducting events at large scale to complement India’s superpower pitch and fervour. This reflected cooperative federalism in true spirit. Rourkela became home to the country’s biggest hockey stadium, and this was a fitting tribute to the unmatchable hockey prowess of our indigenous communities, not only in Sundergarh but the entire country. Odisha after the world cup has emerged as an indelible marquee dot in the global sports map. It is poised to be the country’s sports hub. From here the Odisha soft power narrative should be further raised. Sports has been one of the priority sectors for the state in the last decade and the budget has grown significantly between 2010 and 2022, almost 14X. The youth population in Odisha is at an all-time high with nearly 36% population aged 14–34. This is a coveted demographic dividend for the state and holds promise to propel the state into a higher growth orbit. Sports will motivate youths towards a health conscious, inspirational & purposeful future. 2023 will give them a chance closer home to realise the effect of sports and allied career opportunities too. The sports industry has the potential to contribute about 1-2% of the SGDP in Odisha. The ecosystem includes sports infrastructure, sports events, sports hospitality, training, manufacturing and retail of sports goods. The economic benefit of sports is much smaller in comparison to the social development it ushers in. Hypertension and diabetes have assumed epidemic proportions in Odisha with long-term impact on health and well-being of the population. Over 25 per cent men and 22 per cent women aged above 15 years have high BP. Around 6 per cent men and 5 per cent women have severely elevated BP. Hypertension is almost getting uncontrollable. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension and diabetes are lifelong illnesses that adversely affect the quality of life and severely debilitates productivity and individual creativity. In 2023, Odisha has to make physical education a common practice in schools, colleges and social clubs. This, over a period of time, will provide cognitive content to develop motor skills, knowledge, and behavior for physical activity and physical fitness. The fundamental to Odisha’s growth will be the ability and confidence to be physically active for a lifetime. What is the point of being a sports hub, without able people in the state itself?
In 2023, we pledge to make health a key part of all our economic-growth discussions. Being the sports hub of the country would mean first taking care of the health and culture of the state. Fewer people should die prematurely, so that the working-age population will increase. When people are healthier, absences from work due to sickness will decline, and workers are less distracted by their own sick conditions or those of their families and acquaintances. Fewer workers will retire early due to health conditions. Consumption of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis in Odisha is much higher than the national average.Tobacco consumption among 15 plus age groups is alarmingly high at 38.41%. Similarly in alcohol consumption, Odisha records 16.13%. In cannabis usage, Odisha is in the red zone.
The recent Make in Odisha conclave has generated investment intents of Rs 10.5 trillion with an employment potential for 10,37,701 people. Odisha is the blessed land and possesses bountiful resources to attract investments. What are investments? They are capital put in the state to reap higher returns. But what about our people? What about our culture? With little effort we can attract huge investments to Odisha, because nowhere else in the country there is such concentration of high-quality minerals which will help build future economy of the country and enrich the corporates. But with sustained, dedicated and painstaking efforts we will be able to keep our pristine and valued culture intact. Industrial investors have queued up because they foresee super normal profits. But Odisha’s sole dependency on rental economy will paralyse the people and erode the culture of the state. Only industry led growth will skew our human development. Have we ever sensitized the industries on Odisha’s culture? This goes beyond writing a cheque for an Odissi program in Rabindra Mandap. Have the mega conglomerates partnered in any research work in culture? Is there any PPP (Public Private Partnerships) in restoring and preserving art and artefacts? Do a miniscule percentage of the billions which have come and are on the anvil, go to the institutions like the Govt. College of Art and Craft, Khallikote, which is one of the leading Visual Art Institutions in the country or to Balasore Art and Crafts College? Has any CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) fund of any of the extraction companies sponsored our young artistes or offered fellowships in national and global institutions? Upcoming artists like Laxmipriya Panigrahi, Digbijayee Khatua, Pinaki Mohanty, Sibdas Sengupta, Julius Das, Suryakant Swain, Ceramist Saroj Rout, young film makers, and many more need handholding and international exposure. All the FDIs are flowing into the state. Can they not support our creative talents for global nurturing?
Art and culture are the permanent treasure. Its fast depletion is making us poorer every year. In 2023, culture-based explanations for economic development will have to make an imminent comeback in Odisha. Cultural activism and concomitant creativity in general population can make us richer in 2023. GDP is grossly incomplete without arts and culture. GDP is outdated. Economists are increasingly turning to culture to answer questions about people’s financial behaviour and what shapes them. Culture is the foundational power of a state or a race. We continue to invest more in physical capital, finance or in technology and the economy has grown. But this doesn’t explain the variety of growth across the districts. To know the diversity of growth, we need to go to deeper causes which relate to how a district or a village has developed or not. The youth are exposed to low grade entertainment which is blatantly salacious and misogynistic. This rules public behaviour. The youths are eons away from culture and heritage of Odisha.
Investment in the arts will help in wider economic growth because a lot of it is experimental – identical to R&D in science. Hence, public arts funding/promotion is very important economically as well as culturally. With a progressive and groundbreaking NEP 2020, what we do in schools and higher education institutions will have a knock-on impact on both arts and creative industries. In the Board of Management of University of Culture there are hardly any artistes or culture practitioners. Administrators can administer but who will create? So, there is no research work. Without research culture will be stagnant and wistful. That is the present situation in Odisha. Culture has stopped its fluidity, centuries ago – every discourse is a reminder of the past and only the past. Why should the present generation be drawn to the culture? Where is the throbbing life in culture, which should be present in our language, our conduct, our family fabrics, our film dialogues? Culture should permeate to every sphere, every moment of day-to-day life.
Many arts organisations need to diversify their portfolios, to be more commercial and more enterprising. Hordes of Business Schools, Engineering colleges, technical institutes rarely encourage the students to do internships within the state with the creative sector. The students can help the arts organisations collaborate with companies on the more commercial side, add value to offer core culture organisations a blueprint towards greater sustainability. Working with digital companies, for example, can open a lot of avenues for theseorganisations. For example, they can advertise differently to reach a target audience.
Odia society needs centring: In these tumultuous times, when the pace of change has overwhelmed all of us, art has the strength of bringing us back to our senses and centre us. It’s about how much we experience art or are opportune to experience which makes the difference towards fostering an aesthetic, creative and ‘refined’ civilisation.
Steps to Make in Odisha, Culturally in 2023
- Start asking questions in 2023 – Are public institutions like the University of Culture or the Odissi Research Centre accountable for their performance or not? Can we have a performance report for public knowledge because public is funding these institutions?
- The state should mandate the extraction industry (because they are resource plenty and need to value Odisha creative acumen) to support making of a “Creative Industries Mapping Document”. The aims would be to raise awareness of the industries, the contribution they made to the economy, and the issues they face.
- It should be made involuntary for the industry to promote local art, culture and artistes. This should be driven by the District Collectorate. Civil society organisations like FIDR, Utsha Foundation, and other organisations can work with the industry in collating, curating art forms, prioritise them and plan their development.
- The civil society should imbibe the message: you need to study the art of science and the science of art; you need both if you’re going to be successful.
- Like One District One Product, Odisha in 2023 should start One District One Creative Centre. Senior artistes of the state should be given responsibilities of mentoring young artistes. Officers should not meddle as this is not a generalist’s job.
- Art events, discussions, consultations should be managed and chaired by artistes and not administrators.
- Artwork to be created and promoted in districts and regions: The Kalinga Art Gallery and five Regional Art Galleries is a commendable drive by the State and Lalit Kala Academy. But this should not be limited to only government initiative. The local citizens should be actively and formally involved as Art committees and task force in their areas. The five Regional Art Galleries are located in Chhatrapur (Ganjam), Puri, Balasore, Sambalpur and Koraput.
- Public libraries: Odisha, the repository of unparalleled heritage should also be made the capital of soft power in the country. It needs conscious effort from all including you and I. A public library offers information and educational resources to a community. There are other modes in seeking information, but the public library should not be disregarded and be ignored of its existence. Because it is not only a library but a community centre which imbibes a sense of discipline and belongingness, intergenerational. We need to think about large scale digitisation of libraries to suit the changing and contemporary requirements.
Richness does not mean only economic growth. That is a by-product. GDP is passe, outmoded. Economic growth merely means the size of the state’s economy and doesn’t reflect the state’s welfare.
The real evolution shows in the culture and its internalization. If that does not advance, I continue to be miserably poor, trillions or no trillions in the economy.
Cultural poverty is more ruinous than economic poverty. Wish 2023 will accelerate Make in Odisha but culturally too.