Odisha's VK Pandian says a welfare state must spend on health, education, food security

VK Pandian, chairman of Odisha's 5T, is widely seen as chief minister Naveen Patnaik's successor.

Governments have to spend on key heads to move the public "to the next level", VK Pandian, Chairman of Odisha's 5T, has said.

The former bureaucrat who now spearheads the Odisha government's 5T – teamwork, technology, transparency, transformation, and time limit – model is widely seen as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's successor. Speaking at News18's Rising Bharat Summit on March 19 in New Delhi, Pandian elaborated on the transformation undertaken by Patnaik in the state when asked to comment on the freebie debate.

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"There are some things which are responsibilities of a welfare state – health, education, food security for the vulnerable. Even the United States takes care of health, education…you have public schools and hospitals," Pandian said.

"What the Chief Minister has done is (ask) why there should be a quality difference between a public school and private school. He invested in public schools and transformed them," he added.

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According to Pandian, the Odisha government has transformed the 8,620 public high schools in the state and brought them on par, if not better than, with their private counterparts, with facilities such as 'smart-boards' instead of blackboards, modern laboratories, libraries, and e-libraries.

"70-80 percent of children will always be dependent on public schools. So he (Patnaik) transformed the public schools… He also transformed government hospitals (and made them) as good as or better than private hospitals. So this is where he spends money. Health, education, food security – these are things which any government should do for its population."

"If you want to take the state to the next level, 70 percent of the population who are dependent on public institutions should have the best access to public institutions. When you do that, you actually empower the people and make them dream big. That's when a state goes forward," he added.

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