‘Nua-O’ Scholarship Discontinued, New Scheme For Needy Students In Offing: Odisha Min

Bhubaneswar: The Mohan Majhi government has discontinued Nutana Unnata Abhilasha (NUA) Odisha (Nua-O) scholarship, financial assistance scheme for UG, PG students introduced by the previous BJD regime earlier this year, Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj informed on Friday.

Reply to a question by MLA Chakramani Kanhar in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, Suryabanshi Suraj said that there is no budgetary provision for ‘Nua-O’ from this year. “The state government is preparing a new scheme – Financial Assistance to UG & PG Students – from this year to help students deprived of higher studies,” he added.

The High Education Minister further said that the ‘Mukhya Mantri Medhabi Chhatra Protschahana’ scheme encompasses various scholarships, including e-Medhabruti, Vyasakabi Fakir Mohan Bhasabruti Scholarship and Gopabandhu Sikhya Sahayata scheme The e-Medhabruti scheme offers scholarships for undergraduate (UG) merit, postgraduate (PG) merit, and technical and professional merit to help financially poor and meritorious students, he added.

In February, former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched NUA-O Scholarship for students in state’s higher education institutions under the administrative control of Higher Education department. Under this initiative, undergraduate and postgraduate students were to receive an annual scholarship of Rs 9,000 (boys) and Rs 10,000 (girls). Similarly, SC and ST students and children of construction workers were to receive Rs 10,000 (boys) and Rs 11,000 (girls) respectively, annually. It has made an outlay of Rs 3,701.08 crore over a period of five years from 2023-24 to 2027-28.