BHUBANESWAR, 26/02/24 ( PRATYUSHA BUREAU): As per direction of Chief Minister Sh. Naveen Patnaik, Chairman 5T and Nabin Odisha Sh. Kartik Pandian visited Sambalpur, Angul and Deogarh District today. He attended the Nua-O Scholarship Distribution Programme in these districts where he interacted with the students from *57 colleges* of Sambalpur, Angul and Deogarh District and informed the students about the Nua -O Scholarship under which all eligible PG and UG Students from State govt. Universities, Govt Colleges, non-Govt aided and unaided Colleges will be benefitted. The scholarship amount for General and OBC male and female students is Rs. 9,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively whereas for SC/ST and Nirman Shramik male and female students it is 10,000 and Rs 11,000 respectively. Sh. Pandian informed that *13,423* students from *21* colleges of *Sambalpur* district; *11,265* students from *25* colleges of *Angul* district and *3,424* students from *11* colleges of *Deogarh* district will get their scholarship amount in their bank accounts today. With this, *Rs. 28.00 Crores* sanctioned for *28,112* nos. of students from these three districts. He distributed Nua-O Scholarship Sanction Orders to the students. He conveyed the message of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who wished the students all the best for their future and said that this initiative would help to achieve the dream of Nua Odisha. Sh Pandian said that the decade of 2024-34 will be the era of the youth, who will be empowered by the state government to achieve the goal of Nua Odisha. Like the empowerment initiatives for women through Mission Shakti, in the next 10 years major interventions for youth engagement, empowerment and development will be implemented. Already the process as started through the college transformation projects across the state. In this context, the NuaO program has been launched last year and has been a major success and as a next step the Nua-O scholarship program has been launched. Sh Kartik Pandian said that the government’s next major initiative will be to cover *all the students* through the launching of the futuristic *Nabin Odisha Magic Card*, a points- system based smart card which will engage and empower the youth and enable them towards academic development, personality development, skill development and employment. It will create a platform for the youth to aspire and achieve their dreams. It will be encouraging and empowering the youth by providing physical and digital access to resources which will help them in their career growth and personality development. This card will be a *“Passport to Prosperity”*. Based on points earned through various activities and parameters the cards will be upgraded to *Silver, Gold and Platinum level. The Cards will be allotted and upgraded based on the performance of student in terms of attendance, discipline, academic performance, participation in extracurricular activities, sports, online courses, personality development courses etc. Every involvement of the student will be measured, honoured and valued.
