Central University of South Bihar's biotechnology students organised freshers' day to welcome the new batch on Friday. Songs and dances were performed, poems and acts presented but the highlight was the crowning of Ms Fresher and Mr Fresher.

The first-year students took part in the show with great gusto, and at the end of the programme the judges declared Saima Firdaus Ms Fresher and Abhay Pandit Mr Fresher for their brilliant performance in all the competitions.

Rizwanul Haque, head of the Centre for Biological Science, started the freshers' day with a speech, congratulating the third-year students of putting up the show. 'It's always good to maintain a balance between studies and extra-curricular activities, and this freshers' party is a highly commendable event,' he said. All the teachers of the centre also attended the programme.

Asma Siddiqui, MSc third-year student, anchored the event in which first-semester student Ashutosh played the harmonium and sang ghazal while Saraswati presented a song-and-dance routine. Ankit, one of the new students, said: 'Such functions help in bonding as we get a chance to know each other.'

Feminism history

The history department of Patna University organised a lecture on 'Colonialism, nationalism and feminism: Aspects of Indian feminist historiography' on Friday to mark the centenary year celebrations.

Historian Ratneshwar Mishra, former head of department in LN Mithila University, Darbhanga, delivered the lecture. Nihar Nandan Prasad Singh presided over the function while Padamlata Thakur, the head of department at Patna University, welcomed the guests to the programme.

Mishra said while the role and status of women as a subject of study is a rather late development in India, the origin of gender as an issue could be traced to the colonial encounter and the 19th century social reform movement resulting from it. He alluded to a number of writers like Geraldine Forbes and Madhu Kishwar who looked at history from a feminist perspective.

Educationist N.K. Choudhary, convener of the Patna University alumni association, highlighted the works of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, a pathbreaker in women education.

Surbhi, a history student, said: 'The lecture series was very enlightening as we came to know about women who had played a key role in the historical development of the country.'

Regional politics

Tim Winter, research professor at the Alfred Deakin Institute, in Melbourne, delivered the second lecture in the Deakin-Nalanda Annual lecture series on 'The new uses of history: Silk Road, monsoons and Asian regional politics' in Rajgir on September 11.

The talk focused on a new imagining of Asia through the Silk Road (the ancient network of trade routes), and the implications of heritage on regionalism, trade and exchange and in building foundations for cross-border trade and regional security practices.

Winter's lecture emphasised that by reclaiming the heritage of the Silk Road, the Asian region could play an important role in the cultural and economic life of the global community along with political, economic and cultural transformation of Asia and Africa over the coming days.

Before his lecture, Nalanda University's School of Historical Studies and the Deakin University of Australia held a workshop on 'New border crossings: heritage and history in the vanguard of new connections' at the Rajgir International Convention Centre.

Four academics from Nalanda University and three from Deakin University presented their papers at the programme.

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