Business
Odisha to give free books to 28.7 lakh students
Hindustan Times··3d ago
Odisha approved free textbooks for about 28.7 lakh class 9 and 10 students in government and aided schools, Chief Secretary Anu Garg said Tuesday in Bhubaneswar. The five-year scheme from 2025-26 costs ₹284.07 crore. Ministers also cleared a ₹500 crore urban drainage programme and a ₹176 crore Keonjhar disaster recovery data centre among 16 proposals.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Class 9 and 10 students outside existing SC and ST textbook schemes gain free books.
- Urban local bodies and block headquarters can access the ₹500 crore drainage fund.
- Keonjhar's centre backs up Bhubaneswar data if earthquakes or cyclones disrupt services.
What's Happening
- The textbook move follows errors found in 55 supplied textbooks with over 1,600 mistakes.
- Garg said printing and distribution will follow competitive Odisha financial rules.
- A ₹105 crore Tel river storage tender was approved for drought-prone Bolangir.
State data centre backup
- Bhubaneswar hosts critical government applications and citizen service platforms.
- Keonjhar and Bhubaneswar sit in different seismic zones, Garg told reporters.
- ₹162.83 crore of the data-centre cost comes from Fifth State Finance Commission grants.
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