CM launches free laptop scheme for meritorious plus two students

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik distributing laptop
to meritorious student 

Bhubaneswar: The state government on Wednesday launched its much awaited free laptop scheme for the meritorious plus two students at Jayadev Bhawan here.

Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik as the chief guest launched this mega scheme project distributing free laptops to as many as 20 meritorious plus two students of the city.

The CM said “I am delighted that the first phase of distribution of laptops begins today and in next two to three months, all the eligible students will receive their new laptops.”

The provision of free laptops to students taken by his government will help in bridging the digital divide among students. The Government has taken a number of initiatives to close the gap in digital divide with an active e-governance policy to enhance service delivery efficiency, Pattnaik continued adding, “For this we have a state wide area network to connect all districts with state headquarters named as e-District programme and also launched Jana Seva kendras where services are being provided through electronic mode.”

As many as 15,235 +2 pass students, including 3,057 from the scheduled caste (SC) and 2,031 from the scheduled tribe (ST) category will receive laptops free of cost in first phase under Biju Yuva Sashakti Karana Yojana for which a committee had been appointed to set a benchmark for selection of the meritorious students informed Higher Education Minister Badrinarayan Patra. “The committee has finalised the merit list picking students from Science, Commerce and Arts streams from all districts having passed the annual examination, 2013 conducted by the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE),” Patra said adding that the list is available on the official website of Higher Education department.

The list revealed that Khurda district tops with maximum 2,500 numbers of meritorious students followed by Cuttack with 1,789 students.

Similarly, while 1,470 number of +2 pass students have been chosen from Ganjam district alone, the number of such students stands at 1,224 from Balasore district.

The state government recently announced that it would start distributing free laptops to meritorious students, who have passed the +2 examinations. This in line with the commitment made by chief minister Naveen Patnaik while unveiling the state youth policy in April this year.

PC manufacturer Acer has bagged the Rs 30-crore contract for supply of the laptops priced at Rs 20,343 per unit.

Anuj Anshuman, a student of BJB College here after receiving laptop said this initiative from the state government will encourage the newcomers greatly and will increase competition level among students. It is a proud moment for us to be a part of it, he added.

Among others, Information and Technology Minister Pratap Keshari Deb, MP Prasanna Kumar Patasani, Principal Secretary of Higher Education Gagan Kumar Dhal, MLA Bhagirathi Badajena and Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena were present on the occasion.