Bhubaneswar:BJD leader V K Pandian on Sunday claimed that Odisha is "much ahead" of Gujarat is various parameters, in a rebuttal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise that the BJP would make the eastern state "number one" in the country if voted to power after the assembly polls.
Pandian, a bureaucrat-turned-politician, shared statistics, comparing various indices of Gujarat and Odisha, with a comment, "Look who wants to make Odisha number one." "It is ironic that even after two-and-half decades of BJP rule in Gujarat, the situation as compared to Odisha is quite dismal. In terms of malnutrition (children under 5 years who are underweight), the rate is 30 per cent in Odisha whereas it is 40 per cent in Gujarat," he said in a statement.
Quoting NHFS-5 (National Health Family Survey) data, Pandian said the prevalence of anaemia among women was 65 per cent in Odisha, while it was 69 per cent in Gujarat, whereas 64 per cent of children in Odisha were anaemic, but the percentage was 80 in Gujarat. The BJD leader said Odisha fared much better than Gujarat in terms of immunisation, with 90 per cent of children having been vaccinated, compared to only 76.3 per cent in the western state.