Odisha Cabinet Approves Rs 315 Crore Funding For NUA-O Initiative
Pradeep Kumar Panda
Darshan Samikhya, Bhubaneswar
The Odisha Cabinet led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved funding for the NUA-O initiative under the scheme of the Integrated Youth Development Programme (IYDP). The programme budget of Rs 315 Cr is approved to further empower the youth to realise their true potential.
The Government of Odisha has recently introduced a pioneering youth empowerment initiative called “Nua-O,” symbolizing ‘New Odisha’ and heralding a transformative era for youth empowerment across the state. This innovative program is currently being rolled out statewide to ensure that the young population is not only fully enabled, motivated and engaged but also empowered to realize their full potential.
Within the program initiatives, there is a focus on promoting sports, cultural & literary activities, and social work specifically tailored for youth within the educational sphere. The programme also includes organizing sports competitions designed for youth from diverse backgrounds, hosting ‘NUA-O’ district fests, and arranging creative competitions that engage youth in progressive endeavours through digital platforms.
Continuing with the ethos envisioned under ‘Nua-O,’ the government is committed to expanding program activities. This includes organizing district and state-level sports competitions to broaden sports outreach at the grassroots level. The initiative also aims to increase student participation in district-level “Nua-O” Fest events and introduce Nua-O scholarships for students.
The innovative program initiatives are poised to pave the way for numerous best practices in youth welfare and development in the State.
The Odisha government has announced to provide scholarships to students of general degree and post graduate courses under Nua-O scheme. Scholarship will be given to students enrolled in general degree & PG programs in state universities, government and non-government aided colleges, including aided Sanskrit colleges under the Higher Education department.
Minimum scholarship amount for male students will be Rs 9,000 per year, while female students will get Rs 10,000 each annually. The students belonging to eligible SC/ST and Nirman Shramik families will get Rs 10,000 (Male) and Rs 11,000 (Female) per annum.
The students whose parents are Income Tax payee or permanent government employees are not eligible for scholarship under the scheme. The Nua-O scholarships for current academic year will be deposited in the bank accounts of the eligible students from February 20 onwards and completed this month itself.
A Nua-O corpus fund of Rs 300 core will be constituted from the coming academic year. Students who will excel in academic and different co-curricular activities will get higher amount as scholarship from this corpus fund.
The Nua-O Magic Smart Cards will be given to all eligible students by August 2024, providing additional benefits like bus/train travel, free wi-fi, access to online courses, skill development, coaching programs etc based on performance and participation in various academic and extracurricular activities.
This will be a new era of student empowerment by Hon’ble Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik towards realising his vision of Nabin Odisha. He motivated to students to dream big and work hard to realise it. It is expected that about 4.5 lakhs UG students and about 32,000 PG students will benefit from this Nua-O Scholarships scheme of the state government.
Odisha recently launched the SWAYAM scheme, which aims to provide financial help to ration cardholders and interest-free loans to unemployed youngsters. The scheme focuses on both urban and rural regions, and provides interest-free bank loans of up to Rs 1 lakh to young entrepreneurs and unemployed citizens. The project will cost Rs 1 lakh, with the borrower paying a 5% margin. Thus, the recipient could get an interest-free loan of Rs 95,000/- from the banks.
The bank will charge the normal rate of interest applicable to similar central or state government schemes. However, the state government would bear the whole interest burden of the loan via interest subvention.
The objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to urban youth, in the age group of 18-35 years and upto 40 years for Special Category (SC, ST, PwD, Transgender) for setting up gainful self-employment ventures / micro-enterprises, suited to their skills, training, aptitude and local conditions through easy access of credit through banks with interest subsidy. The underemployed or unemployed urban youth is encouraged to set up small enterprises relating to manufacturing, service, and petty business for which there is considerable local demand.
Government of Odisha is coming up with Youth Budget, first of its kind in country, to empower youth in all aspects. NUA-O Initiative, Scholarship, Magic Smart Card and Swayam scheme are steps towards empowering youth with a vision of New Odisha Empowered Odisha.