Cadets of BJB College at a training camp in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

The air-wing cadets of BJB College once again raised the institution’s flag high after six of them were selected to participate in the All-India Vayu Sainik Camp held in Bangalore.

The cadets underwent rigorous training in two phases for 20 days for activities such as flying, firing, skeet shooting, aero-modelling and mass drill at the state’s only NCC Air Squadron in Bhubaneswar and made it to the final 29 who represented the state in the all India camp. About 150 cadets had earlier participated in the training camp from four different colleges of the city.

Later, Deputy Director Gen. Cmde L.K. Agarwala felicitated them at a tea party.

HR conclave

Selected members of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences hockey team in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), Bhubaneswar, organised a human resource conclave on the ‘Return on investment (RoI) in human capital’.

The institute’s strategic management group conclave coordinated the conclave. The panel members included Devabrata Bhattacharya, senior manager (HR), Apollo Hospitals and Sonalika Misra, HR, TATA AIG Insurance, Orissa. Bhattacharya stressed on value-added services where RoI could not be computed, but could help create a congenial working environment. “The role of HR is to coordinate various workforces together to see that the end result is acquired along with healing the patient,” he said. Speaking at the meet, Misra stressed on value-added analysis. He also said people should perform and deliver. “Performers matter more to the organisation. Underachievers never come to the force,” she said. Both speakers pointed out that RoI was the key criteria for their expected salary. However, it ultimately boiled down to one thing, which was how much could they contribute in terms of value. They also debated upon other aspects such as how firms identify the resources and capabilities in order to calculate the RoI, how to tackle poaching of people, how to handle value-added analysis and the approach taken by companies in this regard. This event served as a platform for the students to get into the experiential and intellectual insights as part of their preparations for a professional career.

KISS hockey

The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) achieved a rare feat after 16 members of the institute’s hockey team were selected to participate at the state-level Women’s Sports Festival in Hockey 2010-11, which was held in Rourkela on November 12 and 13. In a letter to college officials, the district sport officer of Khurda had said that the entire Khurda hockey squad would comprise players from KISS. The name of the selected players were Albina Munda, Sangeeta Kerketa, Nirmala Kahara, Binodini Nayak, Mamata Murmu, Jasomati Kunkal, Pinki Tirki, Mukti Oram, Anita Bhuyan, Juliani Munda, Midlen Munda, Ranjita Bhuyan, Sabita Munda, Salima Oram and Sushilahana Munda.

Unity camp

Students attend a conclave held in Indian Institute of Planning and Management. Telegraph picture

The inaugural function of the state level National Integration Camp was held on November 16 at the Institute of Business and Computer Studies (IBCS) of the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) University. Governor M.C. Bhandare, along with an Olympian and former captain of the Indian hockey team, inaugurated the event. About 150 young men and women will participate in the six-day camp, which will be jointly organised by the university and the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) of the ministry of youth affairs. The camp aims is to provide an opportunity to the participants from different parts of the country to “live, interact and learn together in an environment of mutual love and respect and inculcate the spirit of national integration and communal harmony”. Participants from six states — Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and Orissa — attended the camp. Such camps are regularly organised in various states across the country to enable and equip the youth to take up the cause of building the nation, fight linguistic chauvinism, religious fundamentalism and political assertion of sub-nationalism. Issues such as empowerment of women and threats to society will be discussed in the presence of eminent persons from various fields of expertise. Two programmes — “Feel India” and “Knit India Exhibition” — will be the highlights of the camp. The former will aim to provide the participants with an opportunity to know and get a feel about other states, while the latter will be an exhibition about a particular state highlighting its history, art, culture and places of tourist interest.

Imparting skills

The construction skills training centre of the Sri Sri University in Bidyadharpur, Cuttack, was inaugurated on Wednesday by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of the Art of Living fame. Established by the university in collaboration with Larsen and Toubro, the centre will provide vocational training to about 50 students in every batch. The course will be spread over 90 days. Orphans, school dropouts or those who are below the poverty line, especially from the rural belts of the state, will be trained here. This 90-day residential programme, which has been designed by engineering company Larsen and Toubro, has been created to provide employment to such students and to integrate them into the mainstream. Lodging, boarding, academic and other allied expenses will be borne by the centre. Besides technical training, free training in Art of Living, meditation, pranayam and Sudarshan Kriya will be imparted to the students in order to build their character, mental development and overall well being.

US delegation

Participants from Jammu and Kashmir at the National Integration Camp. Telegraph picture

After Obama’s first visit to India, a 13-member delegation from the Washington State Trade Relation Action Committee (Wasitrac) visited the C.V. Raman College of Engineering on November 14. The objective of the visit was to find a common ground in the areas of higher education, clean energy, trade and commerce and infrastructure building in order to establish a symbiotic business and cultural relationship. The high-level delegates included US representative Congressman Jim McDermott, Washington State Lt. Governor Brad Owen Tay Yoshitani, CEO of Port of Seattle, Diane Adachi from the University of Washington, Mary O’Keefee from North Seattle Community College, minister of higher education Debi Prasad Mishra, commissioner-cum-secretary of the higher education department Madhu Sudan Padhi and advisors, secretaries, from the state government along with Wasitrac co-chairman Debadutta Dash. The dignitaries took a tour of the college campus. They also visited the recently inaugurated Bosch-Rexroth Centre of Excellence. Chairman of the institution, Sanjib Kumar Rout, briefed the delegates about the ongoing activities of the college and updated the gathering about the forthcoming initiatives to be taken by the college to support the immediate growth of the state, especially the global climate change requirements. The delegates identified various areas of mutual interest and expertise and committed to work on various e-learning training courses, workshops, student and faculty exchange programmes and collaborative research.