Odisha: Cabinet Clears Proposal for Setting of Odia Asmita Bhawan

 Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet headed by chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday approved five proposals, including setting up a corpus fund for Odia Asmita.

 Briefing reporters after the meeting, CM Majhi informed that in order to revive Odia Asmita (pride) and promotion and preservation of culture, art and heritage, the Cabinet has decided to create a corpus fund of Rs 200 crore.

“The Cabinet approved a proposal to set up Odia Asmita Bhawan, palm leaf manuscript museum, Odia Translation Akademy, development of Paika Rebellion Memorial, e-library and Odia chair at national and international universities. Similarly, it cleared the proposal to make efforts to accord international status to Cuttack’s Bali Yatra and provide financial assistance for training in Odissi music and dance,” said CM Majhi.

A detailed guideline will be prepared and a committee comprising experts will be formed. The corpus fund will be increased in future, said Majhi.

The Odisha Cabinet also announced a hike in the daily minimum wages of workers in various categories.

As per the decision, the minimum wage for unskilled workers has been increased from Rs 352 to Rs 450, from Rs 392 to Rs 500 for semi-skilled workers, from Rs 442 to Rs 500 for skilled workers and from Rs 502 to Rs 600 for high-skilled workers.

The state Cabinet also approved a proposal to include medium, large and urban farmers in the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Nidhi scheme.

“Because of the previous government’s (Naveen Patnaik government), many farmers were deprived of the benefits of PM Kisan Nidhi scheme. Now, nearly five to six lakh farmers will be added to the PM Kisan Nidhi scheme,” said the CM.

Apart from this, the Cabinet also approved the proposal of the school and mass education department to recruit over 18,000 junior teachers in primary and upper primary schools as per the latest High Court orders.