Students and teachers of IIT Bhubaneswar celebrated India’s 70th Independence Day on its Argul campus with a flag-hoisting ceremony. This was followed by performances by the students of local villages adopted by the institute. Institute director R.V. Rajakumar hoisted the Tricolour. He called upon the students to harness their inherent potential, not be complacent and emulate great personalities.

He also encouraged them to take to entrepreneurship rather than being job seekers. The schoolchildren performed folk dances and skits, sang songs on patriotic themes. Rajakumar also felicitated the winners of inter-college academic and sports competitions. The students and faculty members also took part in a plantation drive on the campus. 

Azaadi 70

The Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University celebrated Azaadi 70 fortnight by organising various events to mark India’s Independence Day.

The programme kicked off on August 9 with the students celebrating Quit India Day by holding a march of NCC Cadets, who saluted the sacrifice of the freedom fighters. This was followed by patriotic songs dedicated to the victims of Jallianwala Bagh.

Groups of students, accompanied by faculty members, visited the birthplaces of freedom fighters nearby, including Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Utkal Mani Gopabandhu Dash and others and interacted with local youths about the sacrifice they made. On Independence Day, 70 students created an Azaadi 70 human pyramid.

Deans of different institutions conducted essay writing, quiz and debate competitions on the lives and history of the icons of the freedom struggle. Members of Srishti Club, the varsity’s art wing, conducted a painting competition.

There was also a midnight mashaal michhil — a candlelight procession by students across the varsity’s different campuses.

Orientation

The Ravenshaw University held an orientation programme for its new batch of students on August 11. The programme was conducted to introduce the students to the varsity’s rules and activities. A booklet containing its brief history, rules and information regarding examinations was also provided to the students. The students also welcomed the initiative by the authorities to help them understand the basic facilities available. A documentary movie on Ravenshaw was also shown on the occasion and the faculty members gave an insight into the placement cell and other facilities available on campus.  

Welcome freshers

Senior students of Asian School of Business Management organised Akanksha - a welcome ceremony for freshers. Students, teaching and non-teaching staff members attended the event. A number of ice-breaking activities and management games were conducted for the new batch, aimed at acclimatising them into the new environment and giving them an insight into the institute, its faculty members and department heads. The new students are undergoing a two-week induction programme at present, which is focussed on academic orientation and also balancing work and life. Several corporate leaders will address the students during the course of the programme. The academic programmes for the new PGDM and BBA batches were inaugurated by State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur managing director Jyoti Ghosh.

Aurobindo’s dream

The Central University of Odisha organised a distinguished lecture on Swaraj and the Divided Republic: Sri Aurobindo’s Dream of a New India in collaboration with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Sunabeda, at Bhanjamandap on Wednesday. 

Academic Makarand R. Paranjape, a professor of English at the Centre for English Studies, School of Language, Literature, and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, delivered the lecture as chief speaker. 

Paranjape focused on Aurobindo’s dream for a united nation on the ground of its diversity. While delivering his lecture, he said: “Uniformity is not unity. It’s reducing the individuality and each one has a unique gift and it is only unique for that person and without unity we can’t have progress.” 

“Swaraj means to control inner self and if you have self mastery you will have mastery on the world,” he said. He also had some advice for the students. He said: “People can’t gain knowledge only by reading books, knowledge comes from experience.”

Women’s college

The first college exclusively for girls in Kandhamal’s Daringbadi block — Pramila Devi Women’s College — threw its doors open last week. “This college will cater to the needs of girls and encourage women’s education in this backward block,” said Debaki Nayak and Sasmita Singh, two students from the first batch. 

“We only have Plus Two classes at present and 53 students have joined in the first year,” principal Madhusmita Mallick said.

The college is located at Burjubadi near Shiv Temple Square.

There were three colleges, including Rushimala College (both Plus Two and Plus Three in commerce and arts) at Brahmanigaon, Dr B.R. Ambedkar College (Plus Two) in Daringibadi and Kalam College (Plus Two) at Simonbadi earlier. Fifty per cent of students in these colleges are girls. 

Training workshop

The Ignou study centre of Gangadhar Meher University, in association with the Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar, organised a workshop and training programme for its academic counsellors of study centres in western Odisha recently. Around 50 counsellors from the centres took part in the workshop. 

Varsity vice-chancellor Sudhansu Sekhar Rath inaugurated the workshop as chief guest and urged the counsellors to work effectively for dissemination of true knowledge to the distant learners. Ignou’s regional director Abhilash Nayak and assistant director S. Mohanty trained the counsellors. The co-ordinator of the varsity’s Ignou study centre Manas Ranjan Pujari co-ordinated the programme.