Patnaik distributes free laptops to meritorious students

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik distributed free laptops to meritorious students for the 2019-20 academic session, officials said.

Patnaik handed over the devices on Friday to 10 deserving class 12 students, under the 'Biju Sashaktikaran Yojana'.

The students were shortlisted at the district level by a selection committee constituted by the state government, Higher Education Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said.

A total of 9,491 meritorious students from the General category and 5,509 of them from the SC/ST categories were selected for distribution of the laptops, he said.

Since 2013, the Odisha government has been providing 15,000 laptops each year to meritorious class 12 students. So far, 90,203 students have been covered under the scheme, the officials said.