The Odisha Cabinet on Tuesday, 14 July approved 13 key proposals spanning seven departments — including Rural Development, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development (F&ARD), Cooperation, and Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) — at its 44th meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at Lok Seva Bhawan, Bhubaneswar. The decisions mark a significant push to extend and fund rural infrastructure, agricultural marketing reform, and agri-enterprise development across the state.

Rural Infrastructure: Seven Schemes Extended

Chief Secretary Anu Garg, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said seven of the 13 proposals originated from the Rural Development Department and are directly tied to rural infrastructure expansion. The Cabinet extended the Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY) and a clutch of allied programmes for the next five years, with fresh financial allocations approved for each.

The schemes granted extension include the MMSY – Missing Link Scheme, MMSY – Improvement to Existing RD Roads, MMSY – Connecting Unconnected Villages in Difficult Areas (CUVDA), MMSY – Transferred Roads Improvement Programme (TRIP), and the Setu Bandhan Yojana for rural bridges. Garg said the push under MMSY reflects the government's resolve to ensure that power, water, and roads reach every village and hamlet in Odisha.

₹11,800 Crore for Bridges; ₹600 Crore for Bridge-cum-Weir Structures

The Cabinet extended the Setu Bandha Yojana with an outlay of ₹11,800 crore for the construction of new bridges and the completion of 3,167 ongoing bridge projects across the state. Separately, ₹600 crore has been sanctioned under the Bridge-cum-Weir Scheme for constructing 670 bridge-cum-weir structures, which are designed to improve rural connectivity while also aiding water conservation — a dual-purpose intervention in a state that faces both flood and drought cycles.

Mukhya Mantri Krushi Udyog Yojana Gets Fresh Mandate

The Cabinet also approved the continuation of the Mukhya Mantri Krushi Udyog Yojana, an agri-enterprise promotion scheme offering capital investment subsidies to eligible agricultural entrepreneurs. With a total outlay of approximately ₹2,500 crore, the scheme aims to create 8,500 commercial agri-enterprise projects over the next five years across agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry, and allied sectors.

Garg noted that the scheme has already generated measurable results in sectors such as mushroom cultivation and poultry, and is expected to generate significant employment in rural Odisha going forward.

New Agricultural Marketing Law: 'One State, One Market'

In a structural reform to the state's farm economy, the Cabinet approved a new legislation replacing the Odisha Agricultural Produce Markets Act (OAPM Act), 1956. The new law introduces the concept of 'One State, One Market', enabling farmers to sell their produce anywhere in Odisha without restrictions imposed by notified market areas.

The legislation also promotes electronic trading, integration with digital marketplaces, greater participation of food processing industries, and improved price discovery for both farmers and buyers. This comes amid a broader national push — mirroring earlier central farm law debates — to liberalise agricultural markets and reduce intermediary dependence, though Odisha's approach is framed as a state-level reform rather than a federal mandate.

What Comes Next

With financial allocations now in place, implementing departments are expected to begin ground-level execution under the extended MMSY and Setu Bandha Yojana in the coming weeks. The new agricultural marketing law will require formal legislative enactment before it takes effect. Odisha's rural development trajectory over the next five years will be closely watched, given the scale of commitments made at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.