Bhubaneswar: Reinforcing its commitment to agriculture and farmer welfare, the Odisha government has prioritized not only farmers’ livelihoods but also the education of their children. The CM-KISAN Yojana, an initiative under the Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Department, is playing a crucial role in financially empowering the farming community. A key component of this initiative, the “Krushi Vidya Nidhi” Yojana, provides scholarship assistance to the sons and daughters of CM-KISAN beneficiaries for pursuing higher education.
Under this scheme, annual tuition and hostel fees are covered for students enrolling in technical and professional courses, including medical, engineering, nursing, diploma engineering, agriculture and allied courses, BBA, and BCA across government, private, and national-level educational institutions.
For students in government institutions, the scheme fully covers actual course fees. In the case of private institutions, financial assistance is provided with a fixed annual cap—₹60,000 per year for B.Tech Engineering, ₹66,000 for M.Tech, ₹65,000 for MBA, ₹37,950 for medical education (4-5 years), ₹35,000 for B.Pharma, ₹19,450 for nursing, ₹58,000 for a two-year medical course, and ₹60,000 for architecture courses. The support continues until the completion of the course.
In the current academic year, a total of 13,923 students have benefited from this scheme. Among them, 592 are pursuing medical degrees, 4,592 in engineering, 4,574 in polytechnic, 1,417 in nursing, 510 in MCA, and 174 in agriculture and allied sectors. Notably, 55 students from prestigious institutions such as NITs and IIMs have also availed the benefits. The Odisha government has disbursed ₹53.57 crore under this initiative, with payments directly transferred to students’ Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.