Sambalpur NCC Group secured an overall first position in the Odisha directorate inter-group competition for Thal Sainik Camp (boys) in Puri that concluded on September 1. Cadets of this group bagged top positions in almost all segments of the competition NCC groups from Berhampur and Cuttack finished in second and third positions. The competition for senior boys featured activities such as shooting, obstacle training, race, tent pitching, map reading, health and hygiene theory test, judging distance and field signals. However, shooting was the only event for the junior cadets. The selection camp was held to shortlist cadets for the Odisha NCC directorate team that would take part in the national inter-directorate competition in Delhi from September 28. Sawan Kumar Buda of Dalmiya College, Rajgangpur, was awarded for the best all-round performance among senior cadets while Tanmoy Kumar Muna of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Belpada (Balangir), won the same in the junior boys’ category. Ravinder Kumar of Dalmiya College, Ram Oram of Rourkela Municipal College, Ashish Kharsel and Hitesh Biswal of Padampur College, Nayan Dhala of Government College, Baudh, and Papun Kumar Majhi of Bonaigarh College secured first positions in obstacle training, map reading, shooting advance and application, judging distances and field signalling, respectively. Ram Oram was also adjudged winner in snap shooting. Cadets from Belpahar English Medium School, Jharsuguda, performed well in both senior and junior categories. Senior cadet Nagrajan Achari came first in the health and hygiene test and junior cadet Abhishek Patnaik won in shooting. Other cadets from the school — Imran Khan and Sagar Kumar Prasad — also performed well and were selected in the Odisha directorate team. Officiating deputy director-general of the Odisha NCC chapter Colonel Hafiz Khan gave away the prizes. In the probable list of 55 senior cadets for the directorate team, 25 were from Sambalpur. Among the junior cadets, all members of Sambalpur were selected. The Odisha directorate team will be trained again in Puri before leaving for Delhi. Earlier, in the girls’ section, 14 senior cadets and six junior cadets had been selected for the directorate team which will be trained in Bhubaneswar. Sambalpur group commander Colonel Vikas Goswami said special incentive prizes would be given to cadets who had devoted their time and energy to the NCC.

Consumer awareness

Students of Padmanava College of Engineering, Rourkela, organised a rally on September 1 to generate awareness among residents regarding consumer rights. Raising slogans and holding banners, posters and placards on consumer awareness, the youths (all members of the college’s Rotaract Club) stressed on market prices, duplicate and underweight articles, illegal practices by shopkeepers and artificial scarcity of eatables. They highlighted various provisions of the Consumer Protection Act and spoke about factors influencing consumer choice. “People must be armed with proper information about goods and services, try to understand the psychology of selling and advertising, learn to shop wisely and distinguish between wants and needs,” said one of the rallyists. The college’s Rotaract Club has been actively organising social events for the last few months. A couple of weeks ago, its members had undertaken a mega plantation drive on their campus.

Softball tourney

The 35th Senior National Softball Championship for men and women will be jointly organised by Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SoA) University and Odisha Softball Association, both in Bhubaneswar, from December 26 to 31. Over 800 players and officials from 25 states are expected to take part in the championship that would take off at the university’s stadium in Bhubaneswar, said general secretary of the Softball Association of India, Praveen Anokar. The game was gradually becoming popular and the performance of the Indian team was on the upswing over the years, he said, adding that the national junior team had won the bronze medal at the last Asian championship. “The performance of the players in the senior national championship in December would be closely monitored for selection into the national team for the West Asian Championship,” Anokar said. The event will be held in Odisha for the fourth time. The last time it was held in Odisha was 2008. Kerala are the defending champions in both the men’s and women’s categories having won the titles in 2011 at Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. Punjab had finished second in both categories. Raj Kumar Hota, the chief convener of the championship and additional dean of Institute of Technical Education and Research (Iter) under the university, elaborated on SoA’s involvement in promotion of sports in the state. Odisha Softball Association president Pradeep Patnaik and general secretary Debendra Sahoo were also present at the event.

Job training

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik said employment opportunities would be created for nearly 10 lakh youths over the next five years through various employment-based training programmes in the state. “A country can progress only if its human resources are properly utilised. So, it has become all the more important that education and skills be imparted to youths,” Naveen said while addressing an event organised by the Odisha Employment Mission Society in association with the Centurion University on September 1. He said India would need around 2.8 million skilled youths for various sectors by the end of 2015 and the state government had chalked out a proposal to fulfil the requirements. On the occasion, Naveen handed job offer letters to 533 unemployed youths, who underwent training at the Gramtarang Training Institute supported by Centurion University. Employment, technical education and training minister Pratap Keshari Deo, its secretary Chandra Sekhar Kumar along with Centurion chairman Mukti Kant Mishra also attended the event.