NUA-O Scholarships Distributed In Odisha, CM To Launch Magic Smart Card Portal On March 5 & Hand Over To Students On Aug 15

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the revolutionary Nua-O scholarship scheme for students on Monday. As per his instruction, 5T and Nabin Odisha Chairman V K Pandian participated in the launching of scholarships programme in Sambalpur, Angul and Deogarh districts.

Speaking on the occasion, Pandian said that the Chief Minister will launch a portal for online registration for Nua-O Magic Smart Cards for eligible students in the state on March 5 to provide several facilities, 5T and Nabin Odisha Chairman V K Pandian announced on Monday.

After the CM launches the Magic Smart Card scheme on March 5, eligible students of Plus III and PG classes will be able to get themselves registered in order to get a host of facilities, he said.

The Magic Smart Cards would be distributed to all eligible students on August 15 after scrutiny, verification and completion of all formalities, Pandian said.

Pandian attended the Nua-O Scholarship distribution programme in these three districts where he interacted with the students from 57 colleges of Sambalpur, Angul and Deogarh. Under the scheme all eligible PG and UG students from state government 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.

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 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.

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. Their academic achievements, creativity, sports achievements, social/community work, etc. will be recognised and appreciated through this points-system.

These cards can provide access to various facilities like – Bus/Train/Flights concession; access to Phone/ Data recharge and Wi-Fi ; e-libraries; Online Academic courses ; Personality development courses and workshops ; Coaching Centres and Tuition classes; Skill Development courses ; Career counselling; Language courses including Odia and English; “Earn While You Learn” opportunities; Volunteering opportunities; Access to stadiums during the national and international tournaments; Access to Journals and Seminars; Access to tourist places, Museums, etc.

This card will also provide Job and Placement opportunities through sharing of this data with the potential recruiting companies-A LinkedIn type platform for the students to interact with the industry and will integrate with the Start Up ecosystem to encourage the students to aspire to be entrepreneurs and also to provide priority loans for the students under various schemes like Swayam etc. Government will actively engage with the private sector to provide more benefits to the students through these smart cards.

The Government will take further inputs from the students and teachers on the various activities which can be included in this points-system. The Card will be completely technology driven and will be a revolutionary concept towards youth engagement and empowerment.