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Odisha

One of the greatest wars in the recorded history of ancient India was fought in Kalinga, present day Odisha when the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka invaded and defeated the reigning monarch from the Nanda dynasty. The resulting carnage famously moved Ashoka to renounce war and all forms of violence and convert to Buddhism. The present day state of Odisha has a varying topography, with a plateau in the north, with a line of hills or Ghats in the east, a central tract of plateaus and basins, and costal plains in the northeast, south-west and the centre of the state. About three-fifths of the state’s population works in agriculture and the state is foremost in the country in the production of chromite, bauxite, manganese ore, graphite and nickel ore.

State capital
Bhubaneshwar https://www.odisha.gov.in/
Population
41,947,358 https://www.odisha.gov.in/
Largest city
Brahmapur (Berhampur) https://www.odishatourism.gov.in/brahmapur
Official language
Odia https://www.odisha.gov.in/

Chief Minister

Mohan Charan Majhi
  • Biju Janata Dal
  • Indian National Congress
  • Bharatiya Janata Party
  • Communist Party Of India (Marxist)
  • Independents
  • Bharatiya Janata Party
  • Indian National Congress
147 Total Seats

Vidhan Sabha

21 Total Seats

Lok Sabha

LSE Research, Commentary and Analysis

  • The glittering prizes: career incentives and bureaucrat performance: Bertrand, Marianne, Burgess, Robin, Chawla, Arunish and Xu, Guo (2019)

    Economics, Government

    — Review of Economic Studies
  • Improving maternal health through social accountability: a case study from Orissa, India: Campbell, Catherine, Papp, Susan A. and Gogoi, Aparajita (2013)

    Gender, Health

    — Global Public Health
  • On the desecration of Nehru’s ‘temples’: Bhilai and Rourkela compared: Struempell, Christian and Parry, Jonathan (2008)

    Modernity

    — Economic and Political Weekly
  • MNREGA: populist leaky bucket or anti-poverty success?: Mookherjee, Dilip (2014)

    Unemployment, Welfare

    — International Growth Centre Blog
  • Can social accountability initiatives improve maternal health in India?: Papp, Susan A., Gogoi, Aparajita and Campbell, Catherine (2013)

    Health

    — South Asia @ LSE
  • Crop insurance for adaptation to climate change in India: Swain, Mamata (2014)

    Agriculture, Environment

    — Asia Research Centre (ARC), The London School of Economics & Political Science
  • Mind the gap: temporal trends in inequalities in infant and child mortality in India (1992–2016): Bhatia, Mrigesh, Ranjan, M., Dixit, P. and Dwivedi, L.K. (2018)

    Health

    — SSM - Population Health

State Facts & Figures

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