A child rights centre aimed at safeguarding and protecting the rights of juveniles has been inaugurated at the National Law University, Odisha (NLUO) on April 12. Besides, a-three year research project to strengthen teaching, research and advocacy in child rights have also been started. The project aims at developing better understanding of the operational aspects of the juvenile justice mechanism. NLUO is the second law university to come up with a dedicated child rights centre in India after the Bangalore Law School. The ambitious project has been launched at NLUO with support from Unicef and aims at extending research analysis as well as capacity building of human resources working in the field. The centre would also undertake research and documentation initiatives for different childcare institutions established under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 in the state of Odisha. Justice Dipak Mishra, judge of Supreme Court inaugurated the centre. Various technical sessions were also organised to discuss the problems in the various procedures, rehabilitation and community-based initiatives towards creating awareness about child rights, care as well as protection.

IIMC alumni meet

The annual meet of the Odisha chapter of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) Alumni Association was held at Jaydev Vatika in Bhubaneswar last week. Around 60 members from across the state took part in the meet. The students, apart from reminiscing their college days also chalked out plans on the future course of action for the association. Plans on facilitating employment to the upcoming journalists through alumni networking were also discussed. The journalists who have been working for various media houses in the state discussed on different topics. The alumni from different batches had gathered to have fun and share their thoughts.

Annual day

The Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition in Bhubaneswar observed its annual day on April 13 in a posh city hotel. Located at VSS Nagar, this institute offers one of the most advanced courses in hotel management and hospitality administration available anywhere in the country.

The institute that started in 1973 as a small food and craft institute is a full-fledged institute of national repute today. Students of the institute celebrated their annual day with a lot of fun and entertainment. They showcased their talents and discussed about various things on the occasion. The officials informed that since its inception, over 539 students have passed out from this college and most of them are engaged in various big hotels, catering establishments, bakeries and hospitality industries. Besides, around 200 alumni of the institute have started their own food and catering units. The institute along with its full time courses also conducts part times courses for women.

Mardi Gras

Students of the SOA National Institute of Law (SNIL) under Sikhya O Anusandhan (SOA) University celebrated their annual function titled Mardi Gras last week. The two-day long function saw students participating in various activities and discussing about different aspects of law and related matters. They also had a good time listening to Jagabandhu Sahoo, a senior law practitioner at the Orissa High Court. He highlighted about the shortage of quality legal professionals in the state and motivated students to stick to their profession and become successful in the future. The vice-chancellor of the SOA University, Amit Banerjee presided over the inaugural function. Banerjee described law as the most flexible entity in the world.

Intelligence talk

Students of Rourkela Institute of Management Studies (RIMS) had an opportunity to listen to Debi Prasanna Acharya of School of Computer Science, VIT University, Vellore last week. He delivered a lecture on 'Emerging Trends in Soft Computing' at the HRD hall of the institute. Students of MBA and MCA listened to the professor and ideated on many things.

The undergraduate communication technology students also participated in the two-hour session. Acharya discussed at length about the future of Artificial Intelligence and the developments one would see in the near future. The students found the session very interesting and also knowledge enhancing, especially the MBA students, for whom the lecture was quite an eye opener.

Women empowerment

A two-day long seminar on 'Gender disparity and goal of women empowerment' was held on the campus of Luipa College in association with the Badasahi College in Mayurbhanj last week. The seminar was organised by the political science department of the college and the speakers deliberated on how women in our male-dominated society have been suppressed for ages due to male chauvinism and age-old traditions and customs. The speakers focussed on the definite need to change the mindset and approach towards women. They said laws alone cannot remove the disparities between men and women and urged the society to be more progressive.

Cultural activities

The annual function of the Parshuram Mishra Institute of Advanced Study in Education, Sambalpur, was organised last week. The students of the institution organised several cultural programmes during the occasion.

The students performed a play titled ' Gaja Khai,' which was based on the evil practice of female foeticide.

Besides, the students took part in colourful events and entertained themselves as well as the guests and locals who had gathered there. A meeting was also organised during the annual function.

The vice-chancellor of Sambalpur University, C.R. Tripathy was the chief guest and Samar Muduli was the chief speaker.

Start-up summit

SlickAccount Private Limited and KodeKonductors jointly organised a start-up entrepreneurship programme named UnBound (an event for die hard entrepreneurs) that was supported by KIIT-TBI (Technology Business Incubator) on April 12 on Campus-11 of the KIIT University.

Santosh Panda, the founder and CEO of Explara.com was the chief guest who met the young entrepreneurs and discussed in great details the various ways to solve their real time problems in marketing, sale and operation.

He explained the practical insights of how to run a company in the initial stages. Many start-ups from different parts of the country took part in the event. It motivated youngsters to start their own business.