The NSS (National Service Scheme) bureau of the Utkal University has been awarded the Prakruti Mitra Prize for the year 2017 by the department of forest and environment for its outstanding contribution in the field of nature conservation, plantation, cleanliness, sanitation, use of toilets, wildlife protection, use of renewable energy, health camps, smart city, blood donation, body and organ donation, dental camps, control of dengue, capacity building training, population 
control, etc. 

The award was conferred at a state-level event at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5. Utkal University NSS programme co-ordinator Manoranjan Mohanty received the certificate along with a cash prize of Rs 10,000 on behalf of the students.

Eco meet

People’s Cultural Centre, a voluntary organisation, recently organised a state-level youth convention on environment and ecology. A number of students from various colleges and varsities across the state attended the event. 

They pledged for massive plantation, protecting forests, campaigning against use of plastics, promoting organic kitchen garden, conserving rain water, making bird nests, observing various days relating to environment and create awareness among general public, youths, children and community people. A number of prominent personalities from the field interacted with the youth delegates.

Young writer 

Supratim Ghosh Dastidar, an alumnus of Ravenshaw University, has published a book titled Sirens of the Nimbus. This is the third book by Supratim. In his collection, there are four poetic prose and a long poem named The Story of a Poem. The book is available on various online shopping sites and bookstores. Teachers and students from the varsity have congratulated the young writer on his stint. 

Chess festival

Vietnam grandmaster Nguyen Duc Hoa emerged champion in the category-A of the 10th KIIT International Chess Festival, which concluded at KIIT campus on Friday. Seventh seeded Nguyen defeated local grandmaster Debasish Das in the tenth and final round. 

Nguyen bagged the title with 8.5 points, while Debasish emerged runners-up in the category by scoring eight points. The champion received the trophy along with cash award of Rs 2 lakh, while runners-up title holder got the trophy with cash award of Rs 1 lakh. Indian grandmaster Diptyan Ghose, Ukrainian grandmaster Tukhaev Adam and Indian grandmaster Grover Sahaj secured eight points each and claimed the third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

MTech at IIT

IIT Bhubaneswar will offer two-year MTech programme in computer science and engineering from the July 2018 academic session. The course is aimed at developing manpower for meeting cyber security challenges. Those taking admission in the course are expected to meet challenges from malwares such as the recent attack by ransomware WannaCry and make the digital world safer. The course will have sub-specialisations in networking, cyber security and forensics besides data analytics and machine intelligence. The institute will take 20 students in the two sub-specialisations. This year, the institute will start MTech in two new streams of water resources and environmental engineering with an intake capacity of 12 students, raising the total number of MTech seats to around 160.

Relocation protest

Students of North Odisha University and the degree colleges that are affiliated to the university in Baripada had launched an indefinite strike protesting against the decision to relocate the departments of English, Sanskrit, Santhali and Odia to new “off-campus” in Keonjhar. 

On June 5, the students locked the entry points of the university and did not allow any faculty member and non-teaching staff to enter the campus. 

They demanded that all the four departments should function from the main campus at Takatpur and sought a written assurance from the vice-chancellor and registrar of the university in this regard. 

The officials of the varsity have assured the students to look into the matter, after which the strike was called off.