Bhubaneswar: BJD leader and 5T Chairman V K Pandian on Thursday said that Chief Minister wants to build a new and empowered Odisha through the youth by 2034.
“He is calling 2024 to 2034 the decade of the youth. Keeping a buffer of two years before the golden jubilee celebrations for state formation, which is 2034, he wants to build a new Odisha, empowered Odisha through the youth. He wants to empower the youth of Odisha and make them globally competitive. For this purpose, he has decided to set aside Rs 10,000 crore every year for them. No state has ever done a youth budget…,” he told the media.
Pandian said that Bill Gates was “left zapped” when he mentioned to him about the youth budget. “He said no country has done this. There have climate, gender and even farmer projects but nothing for youth.”
Elaborating on the major components of youth budget, the BJD leader said the budget will be utilised to get world-class higher education facilities and best of institutions to Odisha. “We are planning to make Skilled in Odisha a huge brand globally. So, skill development, and then get investments to the state in new world technology, new world economy, information technology, manufacturing and services which will help generate jobs for the youth,” he said.
Pandian further said the task of transforming the entire education system of the state, including professional colleges and technical institutions, has already begun. “We will make these globally competitive,” he said.
On the third component, he said that Odisha is the only state which will be providing scholarship to 98% of the students who are pursuing higher education, including diploma and ITI. “No state has crossed 15-20%. And these are based on caste and economic condition. Here also, socio-economic factor is taken into consideration but it is more a universal scholarship under which Rs 14,000 will be given to girls and Rs 12,000 for boys,” he added.
