The Odisha Government-led by Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday launched ‘Mission Suvidya’ – a scheme which provides qualitative shifts in the accommodation facilities given to the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students across the Odisha state, said an official statement.
For the development of SC-ST Departments, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik signed agreements with three agencies – Akshara Foundation (AF), Quality Council of India (QCI) and TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited) to guarantee fundamental facilities such as toilets, well-equipped kitchens and drinking water supply in Dalit and tribal Students’ Hostels.
The Odisha Government runs 6500 SC-ST hostels, serving over 5.7 lakh students as per the reports. The collaboration of the Odisha government with these agencies will be fruitful with their part in the scheme as follows:
Akshara Foundation (AF) – It will work towards improving learning outcomes.
Quality Council of India (QCI) – It will assess and evaluate the quality of services provided at the SC-ST hostels to achieve an ISO certificate, which means the hostel will soon have all the requirements for standardization and quality assurance.
TRIFED (Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited) – It will provide market linkage to the products manufactured by the tribal artisans and entrepreneurs.
During the launch, CM Naveen Patnaik expressed his happiness and released two illustrative booklets on ‘Bathudi’ and ‘Gandhia’ tribal communities.