Odisha cabinet approves Rs 284 crore free textbook scheme

BHUBANESWAR: The state cabinet approved a five-year scheme to provide free textbooks to students of classes IX and X in government and government-aided secondary schools with an estimated outlay of Rs 284.07 crore.

The initiative will benefit around 28.7 lakh students. It aims to reduce the financial burden on economically-weaker families, improve enrolment in government schools, curb dropouts and facilitate the transition from elementary to secondary education, said chief secretary Anu Garg in her post-cabinet briefing.

The School and Mass Education department will ensure that textbooks reach schools before the start of each academic session, she added.

In another decision, the cabinet approved a Rs 1,360 crore corpus fund scheme for the Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (OSCMF) and Odisha State Seeds Corporation Ltd (OSSC) for four years, from 2026-27 to 2029-30. Of the total corpus, Rs 960 crore has been earmarked for OSCMF and Rs 400 crore for OSSC.

The scheme will provide interest-free revolving funds to the two state agencies to facilitate advance procurement and pre-positioning of agricultural inputs. It will also enable timely settlement of payments to seed growers and suppliers, ensuring uninterrupted availability of fertilisers and quality seeds to farmers at affordable prices.

The chief secretary said that the cabinet also approved the award of work to Krystal Integrated Services Ltd for setting up a disaster recovery-cum-data centre at the south campus of Dharanidhar University in Keonjhar.

The project, costing Rs 176.83 crore, will provide a geographically separate backup facility for the Odisha State Data Centre (OSDC) in Bhubaneswar. It is intended to ensure continuity of critical government digital services during disasters, cyber attacks or major disruptions.

The project includes capital expenditure of Rs 154 crore and operational expenditure of Rs 22.83 crore for five years. Of the total cost, Rs 162.83 crore will be met from the Fifth State Finance Commission grant-in-aid with the balance coming from the Odisha Computer Application Centre’s state data centre maintenance budget.

The project is scheduled for completion within nine months followed by five years of operation and maintenance support, Garg said.

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