Bhubaneswar, April 4 In a landmark decision, the Odisha government on Saturday enhanced the reservation for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students and introduced a quota for the Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC) in medical and technical education.
The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi here.
"While the quota for ST students is raised from 12 per cent to 22.50 per cent, it has been enhanced from 8 per cent to 16.25 per cent for SCs. The state government has introduced an 11.25 per cent quota for OBC students, who are known as SEBC in Odisha," Majhi told reporters after the meeting.
He said this new reservation system will be implemented across universities, their affiliated colleges and educational institutions, ITIs and polytechnics in the state in the fields of engineering, technology, management, computer applications, medicine, surgery, dental, nursing, pharmacy, allied health sciences, psychiatry, ayurveda, homeopathy, agriculture and allied sciences, architecture, planning and cinematic arts.
This new reservation system will also be implemented in awarding certificates, diplomas and degrees at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in any other courses notified by the state government from time to time, a document released by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.
Majhi pointed out that even though the ST population in the state is more than 22 per cent, for a long time, the reservation for them in technical, professional, medical and allied courses was only 12 per cent. "Therefore, we have raised it according to their proportion in the population," the chief minister said.
He clarified that of the state's total 2,421 undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats, ST students could secure only 290 seats, based on the 12 per cent quota. However, after raising their quota to 22.5 per cent, 545 ST students will now be able to secure medical seats.
Similarly, there are more than 17 per cent SCs in the state, but only 8 per cent reservation for them. Earlier, only 193 SC students could get seats under the reserved category. Now, the number of quota seats will increase to 393.
Of the total 44,579 engineering seats in the state, the number for STs will increase from 5,349 to 10,030. It will increase from 3,566 to 7,244 for SCs and for the first time, 515 seats will be reserved for SEBC students. Earlier, the number of reserved seats for SEBC students was zero, Majhi said.
"This step of ours will be a strong means towards building a prosperous Odisha," he said.
In another major decision, the CM said, Odisha will introduce a new scheme -- 'Mukhyamantri Annapurna Yojana' -- for the financial year 2026-27 under which beneficiaries will be provided with an additional 5 kg of rice every month free of cost.
"The state government has decided to distribute the additional rice quota to the beneficiaries under the 'National Food Security Act' (NFSA) and 'State Food Security Scheme' (SFSS) through a new scheme 'Mukhyamantri Annapurna Yojana' for the financial year 2026-27," he said.
Currently, 3,22,89,692 members of 97,97,572 families in the state are benefiting from the National Food Security Act, while 5,62,737 members of 2,98,725 families are benefiting from the State Food Security Scheme. All these beneficiaries will now get the benefits of the new scheme.
The cabinet also approved 14 other proposals of different departments.