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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 1299
ANSWERED ON- 11/02/2026
Odisha-based localized digital content creation
1299 Smt. Sulata Deo:
Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Ministry will fund Odisha-based localized digital content creation including
e-books, video lectures and quizzes for school students; and ;
(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
(SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)
(a) & (b): Education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and majority of the schools
come under the purview of the respective State and UT Government. Under Centrally Sponsored
Scheme of Samagra Shiksha, State Government is supported based on annual plans prepared by the
State based on their requirements and priority and this is reflected in their respective Annual Work
Plan and Budget (AWP&B) Proposals which are then appraised and approved by the Project
Approval Board (PAB) in the Department of School Education & Literacy in consultation with the
State as per the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme, and physical and financial progress
of the State for the interventions approved. The Ministry of Education provides financial support to
States and UTs under various digital education initiatives to facilitate the creation and nationwide
dissemination of digital educational content including Odisha. Under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme,
the Project Approval Board (PAB) has approved an amount of Rs. 89.5 lakhs for Vidya Samiksha
Kendra and DIKSHA for the development of digital content. As informed by the State Govt. of
Odisha, DIKSHA platform facilitates videos, worksheets, assessments and helps teachers access
content and training under one roof. The content broadcast under Shiksha Darpan on DD1 is uploaded
on DIKSHA.
The State of Odisha has been allocated 5 DTH TV channels (Ch No. 138 to 142) under PM e-vidya
channels to offer high quality education content in Odia/local regional languages. In keeping with the
recommendation of the NEP 2020, 117 Indian Language Primers have been released with a focus on
enabling young learners and adults to access education in their mother tongue, including 15 primers
(Desia, Kuwi, Gadaba (Gutob), Juang, Kui, Kisan, Santhali (Odia), Savara (Sora), Gondi-Odia
Primer, Ho-Odia Primer, Odia Primer, Kandha (Khond) Primer, Malto Primer, Munda Primer, Parji
(Durua) Primer) for Odisha. Odisha is one of the participants on DIKSHA and has 5.89 lakh registered
users with Learning sessions of 24.28 Cr+ and 271.02 Cr+ Learning minutes. The State has uploaded
12,673 e-content on DIKSHA that can be accessed by all students including those in rural and tribal
areas of Odisha.
The Rashtriya e-Pustakalaya, a free app by Gov. of India has a treasure of more than 6000 non-
academic books aimed at developing reading habits in youth. It has 112 books in Odia language
besides books in 23 languages.*****