Rs 20 crore corpus fund alotted for 'Mo College' initiative in Odisha

The Odisha government has set modalities for the implementation of ‘Mo College Abhiyan’ to connect the alumni with alma mater on the lines of the ‘Mo School’ initiative in the State. All-State universities, Government and aided colleges in the State will be covered by ‘Mo College Abhiyan’, which will be constituted and registered as a society. It will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the State Government.

While a corpus fund of Rs 20 crore will be constituted and kept as allocated in the budget of Higher Education department, funds for implementation of the initiative will be managed primarily from two sources - contribution from donors and State Government. As part of the programme, former students of universities and colleges besides individuals will contribute and State Government will take steps for manifold development of the institutions with double the amount of contribution.

An official of Higher Education department said the Government’s matching share will be drawn from corpus fund and credited to the society only after receipt of donor’s contribution. “Contributions in the form of materials can also be received by colleges directly from donors. But, the case of materials or services donated, there will be no matching contribution from the Government,” he clarified.

It has been decided to launch a web portal to connect colleges and universities with their alumni. The contributions for ‘Mo College’ will be collected online through the web portal. Though there is no lower or upper limit for contribution, the donors will have to furnish information like Aadhaar or PAN number. The State Government will, however, meet the financial requirements of the society like salaries, remuneration, allowances, vehicles charges, contingencies and other expenses in accordance with regulations.

However, there will be an upper cap of Rs 50 lakh on the contribution of the Government for a college within a year. In cases, where the donors seek to contribute more than Rs 20 lakh in a single trance, the governing body will determine the modalities of transfer and use the fund in consultation with the donor concerned.

Activities like motivational programmes, value education and career counselling will be undertaken under the initiative besides involving alumni for their voluntary services for betterment of the college eco-system. The Government had made the announcement to take up the initiative in July.