Cabinet Decisions / Odisha Cabinet clears 13 proposals; College students to get free Wi-Fi

Bhubaneswar, Nov 9: The Odisha Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, on Monday approved 13 proposals across 10 departments during its 49th meeting, with major decisions relating to paddy procurement and digital connectivity in higher education institutions, officials said.

Among the key approvals was the State's Food and Paddy Procurement Policy for the 2026-27 Kharif Marketing Season, aimed at ensuring transparent procurement at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), timely payment to farmers and uninterrupted rice supply under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Paddy Procurement Policy

The State government has set a target of procuring 78 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy during the season. Farmers will receive Rs3,100 per quintal, including MSP and input assistance.

To ensure transparency, payments will be transferred directly to farmers' bank accounts through Aadhaar and NPCI-linked systems within 24 to 48 hours. The procurement process will continue from November 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027.

Free Internet for Students

In a significant boost to digital education, the Cabinet approved the implementation of the flagship scheme, "Odisha ShikshaNet - Empowering Students Through Free Wi-Fi Internet Access in Colleges and Universities", with an estimated expenditure of Rs393.62 crore over three years from 2026-27 to 2028-29.

The scheme will provide free, secure and high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity to 601 government and aided colleges across Odisha. The decision follows the successful implementation of the initiative in 130 colleges during the pilot phase.

Under the scheme, every authenticated student will receive up to 1GB of free internet data per day within the campus for academic, research and skill-development purposes.

Bridging the Digital Divide

The project includes Wi-Fi infrastructure, bandwidth provisioning, network management, cyber security measures and operation and maintenance support. A centralized monitoring dashboard will ensure service quality, network security and optimum utilisation.
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The internet facility will support access to e-books, digital libraries, virtual classrooms, SWAYAM and other MOOCs, research databases, competitive examination resources and e-governance platforms such as SAMS, HRMS and scholarship portals.

The government expects more than six lakh students and faculty members in government and aided higher education institutions to benefit from the initiative. Officials said the programme would particularly help students from rural, remote and economically weaker backgrounds while contributing to the State's digital education ecosystem in line with NEP 2020, Digital India and Odisha Vision 2036.