The Odisha state government has changed the guidelines for the KALIA scholarship initiative. This was done to accommodate more students pursuing technical and professional courses at private colleges in Odisha and premier institutes outside the state, reports The New Indian Express.

The Agriculture Department stated that under the revised norms, the KALIA scholarship is available to students enrolled in professional and technical courses at private institutions in the state that have an All India Survey on Higher Education code. 

In addition, the scheme covers students enrolling in technical and professional programmes at prestigious universities including the National Institutes of Technology (NIT), Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Indian Agricultural Research Institutes (ICAR-IRAI), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), National Institutes of Science Education and Research (NISER), Indian Veterinary Research Institutes (IVRI), Central Institutes of Fisheries Education (CIFE), and National Dairy Research Institutes (NDRI), both inside and outside the state.

The KALIA scholarship aims to provide financial assistance to children of the beneficiaries of the Krushak Assistance For Livelihood And Income Augmentation (KALIA) Scheme, that is, small and marginal farmers, sharecroppers, and landless agricultural workers.

The scheme also covers professional and technical postgraduate (PG) and PhD degrees in addition to the currently offered courses. For PG courses, the maximum duration is two years, and for PhD courses, it is four years. Only postgraduate courses offered by state government universities are eligible for PhD credit.

Professional courses such as Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA), Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Computer Application (MCA) have been added to the currently approved educational programmes.

Scholarship funds will be disbursed in line with the authorised rate to students enrolled in both private and premier institutions, the Agriculture Department said. However, it added that private institutions outside the state are not permitted to apply.