Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana (Education Assistance), Odisha

What is Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana?

Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana is the education assistance scheme of the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, run by the Labour & ESI Department, Government of Odisha. It pays an annual grant towards the schooling and higher education of the children of registered construction workers, so that a mason's, helper's or bar-bender's child can continue studying without the family cutting into daily wages.

The Board itself was constituted on 3 January 2004 under section 18 of the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and was reconstituted several times since, most recently in 2020. The Labour Commissioner, Odisha is its Member Secretary and Chief Executive Officer. Its money comes from the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Fund under rule 263 of the Orissa BOCW Rules, 2002, built from the cess collected on construction projects plus a small annual contribution from each registered worker.

The scheme's benefit structure sits in rule 275 of those Rules as substituted by the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers' (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Amendment Rules, 2019, notified as S.R.O. No. 187/2019 in the Odisha Gazette on 30 May 2019. That is the authoritative source for the amounts below.

How much does Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana pay?

Two additions sit on top of that table:

• A girl child receives 20 per cent more than the standard amount at every level from Class 8 upward. A girl in a professional degree course therefore draws Rs 48,000 rather than Rs 40,000.
• A one-time cash award of Rs 10,000 goes to any child of a registered worker who secures 90 per cent or above in Class 10.

Assistance reaches the student through Direct Benefit Transfer, which is why the bank passbook copy is a mandatory upload.

Who is eligible for the education assistance?

Your child can receive assistance if:

• You are a building or other construction worker registered with the Odisha BOCW Welfare Board, and the registration has run continuously for at least one year before the application.
• Your annual contribution of Rs 50 to the Board fund is paid and up to date.
• The child is studying from Class 6 upward if a girl, or Class 8 upward for all children, in one of the classes or courses listed above.
• The child maintains 50 per cent of the annual attendance, certified by the institution.
• The claim is for one of at most two children in your family.

Your child is not eligible if:

• You are not registered with the Board. Working on a construction site is not by itself enough; registration is the gateway to every Board benefit.
• Your registration has lapsed. Default in contribution for three continuous years ends membership of the fund. Membership may be resumed on payment of arrears with the Secretary's permission, but not more than twice; beyond that you must register afresh as a new beneficiary and cannot re-draw a benefit you already availed in the earlier registration.
• You are claiming for a third child. Assistance is capped at two children.
• Both spouses are registered and both are claiming for the same child; only one of them is eligible.
• The student is a boy in Class 6 or 7, which the rule covers only for a girl child.
• The course is a professional degree in a private college. Rule 275 limits the Rs 40,000 slab to government colleges.

How does a construction worker get registered first?

Registration is the precondition, so it is worth setting out. Under rule 265 as amended in 2019, an application for registration is supported by:

• A certificate of employment from the employer showing the duration of employment. Where that is not available, a certificate from a registered trade union working for construction workers of the area, or from an Inspector appointed under the Act, or a self-certification by the worker giving full details of sites, employer and days worked.
• A receipt for the registration fee of Rs 20 in cash.
• A nomination in Form XXXI.
• A copy of the Elector's Photo ID Card (EPIC).
• A copy of the first page of the bank passbook with IFSC code.
• A copy of the Aadhaar card.

The Registering Officer then issues an identity card in Form XXVIII, with space for an employment diary recording work done and days worked, which the employer authenticates. Thereafter the worker pays Rs 50 per year to the fund, which may be remitted in advance at any point in the financial year.

How to apply for Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana

1. Check that the parent's registration is live and the annual contribution is paid. Ask the Registering Officer or District Labour Office for a current contribution receipt before you start.
2. Collect the attendance certificate from the school or college, confirming at least 50 per cent annual attendance, along with the last marksheet and the institution identity card.
3. Register on the Odisha State Scholarship Portal at scholarship.odisha.gov.in. Registration is one-time and Aadhaar-authenticated: enter the Aadhaar number, confirm the OTP sent to the Aadhaar-linked mobile, and the user ID and password arrive by SMS and email. Name, gender and date of birth are pulled from Aadhaar and cannot be edited later.
4. Log in and select the Labour & ESI Department as the department and Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana as the scheme.
5. Fill the student, academic, eligibility and bank sections, entering the parent's Board registration number exactly as printed on the identity card. The portal lets you save and resume until you submit.
6. Upload the documents: parent's Board identity card or registration proof, contribution proof, attendance certificate, Aadhaar, last marksheet, bank passbook copy, institution identity card and photograph.
7. Submit, then print the form and hand it with originals to your institution's scholarship nodal officer, who verifies and forwards it. The application locks on submission.

How do I check my application status?

Use Know Your Status on scholarship.odisha.gov.in, entering the Aadhaar number or application number and confirming with the OTP. The screen shows whether the institution has forwarded the application, whether the department has sanctioned it, and whether the DBT payment has been released.

If you spot a mistake after submitting, tell the institution's nodal officer. The institution can revert the application, which reopens it in your login for correction and resubmission. Filing a second application instead usually gets both rejected as duplicates.

Board-side questions — a lapsed registration, a missing contribution receipt, a name spelt differently on the identity card: belong to the District Labour Office, not to the scholarship helpdesk.

Why applications get rejected

• Parent's registration less than one year old at the date of application.
• Annual contribution unpaid, or a receipt for the wrong year.
• Attendance below 50 per cent, or no attendance certificate from the institution.
• Third child in the family already drawing the benefit.
• Both parents claiming for the same child.
• Professional course in a private college claimed under the Rs 40,000 slab.
• Name mismatch between the parent's Board identity card and the student's records.
• Application submitted but never forwarded by the institution before the deadline.
• Bank account in the parent's name rather than the student's, which stalls the DBT credit.

Key dates, other Board benefits and grievance route

The cycle currently listed on the Odisha State Scholarship Portal carries a last date of 31 October 2026 for Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana. The window reopens each academic year, and any extension is published in the Announcement section on the portal home page, so recheck there before assuming the date has passed.

Education assistance is only one of the Board's benefits. A registered worker who has completed a year of registration can also claim maternity benefit of Rs 10,000 per child for up to two children, marriage assistance of Rs 50,000 for her own marriage or for up to two unmarried daughters above 18, funeral assistance of Rs 5,000 to the nominee, death benefit payable within 60 days of the application, financial assistance up to Rs 3,00,000 for treatment of major ailments such as brain, heart, kidney and cancer conditions, insulin dependence and thalassaemia-cum-sickle cell, up to Rs 4,000 for working tools and Rs 1,000 for safety equipment, and up to Rs 4,000 for a bicycle. Pension runs separately under Nirman Shramik Pension Yojana, and rural housing under Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana.

For problems with the online form, call the Sanjog Helpline on 155335 or 1800-345-6770, 9 AM to 5 PM on government working days. The Board itself can be reached at the OB&OCWW Board office, Unit-3, Kharavel Nagar, Bhubaneswar, on 0674-3120552 or at obocwwboard@yahoo.com. Written grievances can be filed at janasunani.odisha.gov.in.

Applying is free at every step. The registration fee is Rs 20 and the annual contribution Rs 50, both paid to the Board through the Registering Officer against a receipt: no agent or facilitator may charge anything else, and the 2019 Rules allow blacklisting of facilitators found making fake registrations.