In the 2021 central budget there was a mention that the central government plans to designate 9 higher education hubs in the country. Following is an excerpt from https://www.universityworldnews.com/post...2075752727 about this. 

Quote:Government proposes nine higher education hub cities
Shuriah Niazi  12 February 2021

The Indian government plans higher education hubs in nine cities, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced during her budget speech last week.

Sitharaman unveiled a proposal to set up formal ‘umbrella structures’ to capitalise on ‘research synergies’ between research institutions, universities and colleges, while also maintaining internal autonomy of institutions.

Nine cities will have a ‘higher education cluster’ each, for better collaboration among institutions and assisting collective development without limiting their individual autonomy, Sitharaman said in her address to parliament.

Sitharaman named the southern city of Hyderabad in Telangana state as an example, with 40 major institutions. 
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Although the other clusters have not been named, experts said in addition to Hyderabad they are likely in Delhi, Bangalore and Pune.

Better coordination

Sitharaman said higher education clusters would ensure better coordination, resource sharing, and collaboration for teaching and learning, as well as research and development. It will allow good private and public universities in a particular city to collaborate and encourage partnerships across institutions.
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Under the budget, the government is proposing ‘Glue Grants’ – a reference to large scale collaborative project awards in the United States to enable consortia of multidisciplinary research teams to solve major medical and biomedical problems – to create the umbrella structures for the clusters, the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the government of India said in its commentary on the budget.

University leaders said they were waiting for more details so that the intention and purpose of establishing university clusters could become clearer.

But moves are already underway to set up science and technology (S&T) clusters in some states, spearheaded by the PSA.

“The PSA office is leading this initiative and has planned to support six clusters – Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Delhi, Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Pune – with a seed grant,” Ashok Ganguli, deputy director for strategy and planning at IIT Delhi, told University World News.

“Four mega-city S&T clusters are being planned in Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune, based on the large number of institutions and knowledge resources and industries available in these regions,” Ganguli said, adding that the ultimate aim is to bring knowledge partners “out of silos” and transfer intellectual resources and laboratory research to solve societal problems through industry collaborations and start-ups.

Ganguli said the concept of S&T city clusters is to “leverage the strength” of each academic institution in a region to connect among themselves, to promote academia-industry efforts to develop products, processes and platforms, to target burgeoning issues of the city and the region, and to engage with local authorities, state and central government agencies to solve specific issues on the ground.

Chetan Singai ... told University World News that higher education clusters would not be the same as S&T clusters as the latter focus on innovation and links with industry and government agencies, rather than higher education.

“But it should be possible for S&T clusters and higher education clusters to come together.

... acknowledged there would be some “horsetrading” between state governments and the central government over the allocation of the nine clusters.
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University World News Asia Editor Yojana Sharma contributed to this article.

Following is an excerpt from https://www.financialexpress.com/lifesty...a/2212958/ .

Quote:The revival of Asia’s largest Sericulture Farm in Odisha
Updated: Mar 15, 2021 3:36 PM

India is the second-largest producer of silk yarn in the world after China. In 2017-20, the Indian government allocated Rs 2161.68 crore under its Central Sector Scheme 'Silk Samagra' to promote silk production.

By Dr Yatharth Kachiar

... In collaboration with the TATA Steel Foundation, the district administration in Jajpur (Odisha) is reviving Asia’s largest sericulture farm at Sukinda. ... 
A small district in Odisha, Jajpur is also home to Gopalpur Tassar Fabrics, one of the country’s leading Tassar producing centres. The famous Gopalpur Tassar fabrics, known for their artistic hand spun and hand reeled yarns, received Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the central government in 2009. After its revival, the Sukinda sericulture farm spread in an area of 298 hectare will act as a demonstration park and leading sericulture hub in the country. It will have world-class spinning and reeling facilities, a cocoon bank, and a high-quality plantation for silkworm rearing, as per the district officials. Advanced technology such as geofencing and drone technology is being used to ensure proper demarcation, monitoring, tracking, and capturing of plantation activity in a phase-wise manner.
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(The author is an independent researcher. She is also a Doctorate from JNU, New Delhi. Twitter: @YKachiar . Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Financial Express Online.)

Following is an excerpt from https://tathya.in/?p=5599 .

Quote:More Odisha Routes In UDAN 4.1
By Tathya Correspondent - March 14, 2021

Bhubaneswar: Odisha will be greatly benefitted with the proposed Special Bidding under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik(UDAN) as several Routes in the State have been proposed for the bidding in UDAN 4.1.

These routes are Bhubaneswar to Utkela, Utkela to Bhubaneswar, Utkela to Raipur, Raipur to Utkela, Jeypore to Vishakhapatnam, Vishakhapatnam to Jeypore, Bhubaneswar to Amarda Road, Amarda Roda to Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar to Rangeilunda, Rangeilunda to Bhubaneswar.
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In case of Odisha, the State Government has requested for Bhubaneswar-Amarda Road and Bhubaneswar-Rangeilunda, officials say.

So both are being included in the UDAN 4.1 Bidding, said a senior official.
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The Bid Document is uploaded on the Central Procurement portal of the National Informatics Centre inviting the bids from interested airlines.

The bidding process is expected to be completed by 6 weeks.

This is a very timely demand. 

Following is from https://odishabytes.com/sports-cities-bh...ympic-bid/ .

Quote:Sports Cities: Bhubaneswar 3rd Among Top 5 Picks To Host Global Events; 4th For Olympic Bid

FEATURED BHUBANESWAR SPORT
By OB Bureau Last updated Mar 10, 2021

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha capital figures among five top cities with the required infrastructure to host international sporting events in India.

The Sports Cities of India 2021 study has put Bhubaneswar at the third spot with a score of 7.2 after Delhi and Mumbai, which have emerged as the top cities with a score of 7.9.
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For Olympic bid, Bhubaneswar has been ranked fourth after Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

In the last decade, Bhubaneswar has hosted 14 international and national events, with an average of two major events every year.

After the astounding success of the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup, Odisha (Bhubaneswar and Rourkela) will be hosting the event for the second consecutive time in 2023.

Bhubaneswar will also be hosting FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

Besides, Odisha supports three professional sports league teams—Kalinga Lancers, Odisha FC and Indian Arrows.

The Kalinga Sports Complex has 10 high-performance centres for athletics, football, badminton, hockey, swimming, sports climbing, sports science and sports management.
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The findings are based on a survey of 50 respondents, including sports professionals, associations, the government, academics, clubs, infrastructure developers, sports media, leagues, and event and sports management agencies.

Following is an excerpt from https://tathya.in/?p=5414 .

Quote:New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) today signed an agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop Paradip Plastic Park.

The MoU was signed on a hybrid mode, in the presence of, Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha and Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan and other dignitaries.
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As part of the MoU signing, to attract investments in downstream polymer industries at Paradip Plastic Park, IndianOil announced a Special Strategic Incentives scheme. An incentive of Rs 2000/MT on Polypropylene granules from Paradip Refinery shall be offered to the manufacturing units located in the Paradip Plastic Park till 31.3.2030. It is estimated that around 26 units will come up at the plastic Park with an estimated investment of 500 Crores and is likely to generate direct and indirect employment of 6,000.

Following is an excerpt from https://tathya.in/?p=5417 .

Quote:... Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to set up a ‘Cultural Corridor’, a one-of-its-kind initiative, in the city to promote Odisha’s rich and diverse art and culture.
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the stretch from Rama Devi Women’s University to Rupali Square along Janpath – the city’s prime business corridor – will be converted into the Cultural Corridor, where special kiosks will be put up along the stretch to showcase and sell famous items or indigenous products from different places or districts of the state, such as Koraput Coffee, Kandhamal Turmeric (Haldi), applique handicraft of Pipili  etc. to give a glimpse of the state’s unique culture while strolling on Janpath.

Following is from https://tathya.in/?p=5265 .

Quote:Odisha Top Performer In Accessibility Index
By Tathya Correspondent - March 5, 2021

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NCAER is a New Delhi based think tank on Economics. Odisha has emerged as the top performer in Accessibility Index by securing 86.54 marks out of 100 designated for various components like ease of access, comprehensive information, design & navigation and help/faq in all websites of Revenue & Disaster Management Department. In the words of NCAER,

“The efforts of the States/UTs in digitizing and uploading land-related data will fructify only if the records and associated services are easily accessible and provide the facility of trouble-free transactions to all citizens.”
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Similarly, Odisha has secured rank 3 in Land Record and Services Index in which Odisha has scored 77.2 whereas, the top performer in this category i.e. Madhya Pradesh is only 3 points ahead of Odisha.
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Odisha has digitized 100% of its records in both textual and spatial records. It is pertinent to note that, out of four sensitivity analysis conducted by NCAER for N-LRSI, Odisha has been placed as the second best performer in three sensitivity analysis.