Odisha to provide Subsidised Rice to SC, ST Residential Schools

Bhubaneswar, Oct 3: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that the state government would provide subsidized rice to the students of residential schools run by Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) department.

He said that his government would bear the expenditure to provide subsidised rice to these schools, while launching digitized ration cards to beneficiaries under National Food Security Act (NFSA) at a function here on Friday.

He said that the state government has been providing rice at 1 a kg since 2008 to poor people of the state  and it would also provide the same to these residential schools run by ST, SC department. Speaking about the ration cards and food security, Patnaik said that the BJD government focuses women empowerment in the state. NFSA ration cards were being issued in the name of elder women members in Odisha, he added.