State / UT
Odisha
Odisha is a state on India's eastern seaboard, constituted on 1 April 1936 as the first province of British India carved out on a linguistic basis, and continued as a state of the Republic after 1947. It holds about 42 million people (2011 Census), 21 Lok Sabha seats and a 147-member unicameral Legislative Assembly, with a projected GSDP of roughly Rs 10.63 lakh crore in 2025-26. Its structural distinctiveness is mineral geology and tribal constitutional status: the state sits on a large share of India's iron ore, bauxite, chromite and coal reserves, while Scheduled Tribes are 22.1% of its population and much of the mineral belt lies in Fifth Schedule areas where gram sabha consent governs land use. A 485-km coastline on the Bay of Bengal has also made cyclone administration a permanent function of the state government rather than an episodic one.
Updated
- Capital
- Bhubaneswar (Cuttack until 1948)
- Formed
- 1 April 1936 as a separate province; a state of the Republic from 1950
- Legislature
- Unicameral — Odisha Legislative Assembly, 147 seats (33 ST, 24 SC reserved)
- Lok Sabha seats
- 21
- Rajya Sabha seats
- 10
- Population (2011 Census)
- 41,974,218 (11th largest; ~3% of India)
- Scheduled Tribes
- 22.1% of population
- Area
- 155,707 sq km
- Districts
- 30
- Coastline
- 485 km on the Bay of Bengal
- High Court
- Orissa High Court, seated at Cuttack
- GSDP (2025-26 BE)
- Rs 10.63 lakh crore (current prices)
Role
Odisha is a state of the Union governed under the ordinary constitutional scheme: a Governor appointed by the Centre, a Chief Minister and council of ministers responsible to a 147-member unicameral Legislative Assembly, and no legislative council. It sends 21 members to the Lok Sabha and 10 to the Rajya Sabha, a modest bloc that has rarely been decisive in forming Union governments but has given the state’s dominant party a recurring role as an unaligned vote in Parliament. Its 42 million people (2011 Census) are about 3% of India, and its projected GSDP of Rs 10.63 lakh crore for 2025-26 places it in the middle of the state economies. The state runs the standard State List machinery — police, prisons, land and land revenue, agriculture, public health and school education — but the weight of its administration falls disproportionately on two functions that most states do not carry at this intensity: mineral leasing and royalty administration over one of India’s densest ore belts, and cyclone response along 485 km of Bay of Bengal coast.
What is structurally distinctive is the collision between that mineral geology and the state’s tribal constitutional status. Scheduled Tribes are 22.1% of the population, the third-largest ST population of any state, and much of the iron ore, bauxite and chromite lies under Fifth Schedule areas where the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and the Forest Rights Act give village assemblies statutory standing over land diversion. The Supreme Court’s 2013 Niyamgiri reference, in which gram sabhas rejected a bauxite project and the Union environment ministry then withheld clearance, made that standing operative rather than nominal, and it remains the reference point for how mineral development and tribal consent are reconciled in the state. Odisha’s relationship with the Centre runs along three further seams: a revenue base tilted toward central transfers and mineral royalties rather than a broad own-tax base; the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal, constituted in March 2018 to adjudicate river-sharing against Chhattisgarh; and, since June 2024, a state government sharing a party with the Union for the first time in decades, after 24 years in which a regional party governed Bhubaneswar and negotiated with Delhi at arm’s length.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- official
Odisha constituted as a separate province
Odisha was separated from the Bihar and Orissa Province and constituted as a province in its own right — the first province of British India created on a linguistic basis. The Assembly's own historical record dates the state's institutional existence from this day.
- reference
First Provincial Assembly convened
The first Odisha Provincial Assembly was established under the Government of India Act, 1935, giving the new province an elected legislative chamber for the first time.
- reference
Capital moved from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar
The seat of government shifted to a purpose-planned capital at Bhubaneswar, separating the administrative capital from Cuttack, the colonial-era commercial and judicial centre. The Orissa High Court remains at Cuttack.
- reference
Legislative Assembly constituted under the Constitution
The Odisha Legislative Assembly was formally constituted as the unicameral state legislature of the Republic, succeeding the provincial bodies. Odisha has never had a legislative council.
- reference
Super Cyclone strikes the coast
The 1999 super cyclone made landfall on the Odisha coast and became the reference event for the state's disaster administration. Cyclone Phailin (2013) and Cyclone Fani (2019) followed on the same coastline; each shaped evacuation and relief machinery as a standing state function.
- reference
Supreme Court refers Niyamgiri bauxite mining to gram sabhas
In Odisha Mining Corporation v. Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Supreme Court directed that the fate of bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills be decided by the affected village assemblies. Between July and August 2013 more than 100 gram sabhas rejected the project, and the environment ministry declined clearance. The ruling established gram sabha consent under the Forest Rights Act as a live constraint on mineral development in Fifth Schedule areas.
- reference
Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal constituted
The Centre constituted a tribunal under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, on the direction of the Supreme Court, to adjudicate the sharing of Mahanadi waters between Odisha and Chhattisgarh — the state's principal inter-state federal dispute.
- reference
First single-party BJP majority ends 24 years of BJD government
In the assembly election held 13 May to 1 June 2024, the BJP won 78 of 147 seats against the BJD's 51 and the Congress's 14, ending the Biju Janata Dal's 24-year hold on the state government. The 17th Assembly was constituted on 11 June 2024 and a new council of ministers was sworn in on 12 June 2024. Odisha's long-standing pattern of a regional party governing the state while negotiating separately with the Union gave way to a government sharing a party with the Centre.
- reference
2025-26 budget puts GSDP at Rs 10.63 lakh crore
The state budgeted total expenditure of Rs 2,66,800 crore (excluding debt repayment), 9% above the previous year, against a projected GSDP of Rs 10.63 lakh crore, with a fiscal deficit target of 3.2% of GSDP. Receipts excluding borrowings were estimated at Rs 2,32,600 crore.
Frequently asked
- What is Odisha?
- Odisha is a state on India's eastern seaboard, constituted on 1 April 1936 as the first province of British India carved out on a linguistic basis, and continued as a state of the Republic after 1947. It holds about 42 million people (2011 Census), 21 Lok Sabha seats and a 147-member unicameral Legislative Assembly, with a projected GSDP of roughly Rs 10.63 lakh crore in 2025-26. Its structural distinctiveness is mineral geology and tribal constitutional status: the state sits on a large share of India's iron ore, bauxite, chromite and coal reserves, while Scheduled Tribes are 22.1% of its population and much of the mineral belt lies in Fifth Schedule areas where gram sabha consent governs land use. A 485-km coastline on the Bay of Bengal has also made cyclone administration a permanent function of the state government rather than an episodic one.
- When was Odisha established?
- Odisha was established 1936-04-01.
- What does Odisha do?
- Its remit covers State List subjects: law and order, police, prisons, land and land revenue, agriculture, public health, and school education, Mineral administration: leasing, auctions and royalty collection over one of India's densest ore belts, and the District Mineral Foundation regime funded from it, Fifth Schedule and PESA administration in Scheduled Areas, including Forest Rights Act gram sabha consent over land diversion, Disaster management along a 485-km cyclone-exposed coast, run through a standing state disaster authority rather than ad hoc relief, Fiscal management of a state heavily weighted toward central transfers and mineral revenue rather than a broad own-tax base.
- What is the latest on Odisha?
- As of 2026-07-17: 2025-26 budget puts GSDP at Rs 10.63 lakh crore. The state budgeted total expenditure of Rs 2,66,800 crore (excluding debt repayment), 9% above the previous year, against a projected GSDP of Rs 10.63 lakh crore, with a fiscal deficit target of 3.2% of GSDP. Receipts excluding borrowings were estimated at Rs 2,32,600 crore.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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State government's official portal — profile, departments, services.
odisha.gov.in/
- Odisha Legislative Assembly legislation
House composition, members, budget speeches, rules and proceedings.
assembly.odisha.gov.in/
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Electoral rolls, constituency data and election administration under the ECI.
ceoodisha.nic.in/
- Finance Department, Government of Odisha department
Fiscal policy, monthly fiscal reports and finance publications.
finance.odisha.gov.in/
- Odisha Budget portal data
Annual budget documents and demands for grants.
budget.odisha.gov.in/
- PRS — Odisha Budget Analysis reports
Independent analysis of state expenditure, receipts and deficit.
prsindia.org/budgets/states/odisha-budget-analysis-2025-26
- Orissa High Court other
The state's High Court, seated at Cuttack rather than the capital.
orissahighcourt.nic.in/