A student shakes a leg during the audition of Ref FM par college ke tashanbaaz and (above) students of the Institute of Management and Information Science, Bhubaneswar, organise a traffic awareness programme at AG Square in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph pictures

KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, turned into a melting pot of diverse cultures as students from 10 countries congregated for the International Youth Festival World Camp, 2013, from September 22 to 25. The event, organised under the aegis of the International Youth Fellowship in various countries, aimed to inculcate comprehensive global outlook in today's youth through understanding one another's culture. Governor S.C. Jamir inaugurated the camp along with finance minister Prasanna Acharya and dignitaries from the fellowship. “Youth have the ability to shape the destiny of the country. However, proper channelisation of energy is much important for this not only from a country's point of view, but from that of the world. Youths have a right as well as an obligation to participate actively in national as well as global development and strengthen the citadels of peace, love and goodwill in the country and the world,” said Jamir. Youngsters from Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Czech Republic, France and African countries, along with their Indian counterparts, took part in international symposia, guest lectures, cultural performances, sports, classical music and orchestra. The major attraction of the inaugural day was a panel discussion on contemporary youth challenges by actor Kunal Kapoor. Actor Sabyasachi Mishra attended the last day’s celebrations.

Economy issues

KIIT School of Management, Bhubaneswar, organised its annual national finance conclave on September 21 on the theme “Indian Economy: Can the Good Times be Back?” The event was addressed by chief executive officer and managing director of Tata Consultancy Services N. Chandrasekharan. “Our fundamental strength for the next decades is the talent that we have and the country's huge working population will make critical contributions in various sectors. While India’s short-term concern is devaluation of rupee, slowing economic growth is the key concern in the long term,” he said, adding that a transformation could be brought about by technology and investments in critical sectors. Chandrasekharan was also conferred an honorary doctorate degree in a special convocation.

Moot court

Students of KIIT Law School, a constituent of KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, won the National Moot Court Competition, 2013, organised by the Modi Institute of Technology and Science, Rajasthan, from September 13 to 15. An official said this was the first time a team from a private university won the prestigious Bar Council of India competition where 40 teams took part. The KIIT team emerged champion by defeating National Law Institute University, Bhopal, in the final rounds. The team members Aishvary Vikram, Navneet Sahay and Nitesh Ranjan, who were assisted by a research team comprising Akshay Rajpurohit, Abhinav Gupta, Bikash Shaw, Chandan Kumar, Vikash Chandra Shukla, Ajay Awasthi, Kumar Saurav and Neha Tripathi, were later felicitated by their authorities. The KIIT Law School had defeated the team from National Law School of India University, Bangalore, to qualify for the finals. Aishvary Vikram was adjudged the best speaker in the semi-finals and also won the best male student advocate award. The best memorial prize also went to the KIIT team. The competition required arguments in both written and oral formats on four problems, from the areas of criminal law, corporate law, environmental law, family law and constitutional law.

Book fair

The 14th edition of the Rajdhani Book Fair will commence on December 4 on Exhibition Ground, Bhubaneswar. The 12-day fair will feature various literary and cultural events. Twelve authors, whose works have been published in the last three years, would be felicitated. Last year, the fair had 600 kiosks by 500 books sellers and publishers from Odisha and 15 other states across the country. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s literature priced between Rs 50 and Rs 2,000 were on offer.

Traffic tips

A group of 40 students and faculty members of the Institute of Management and Information Science, Bhubaneswar, organised a traffic awareness programme at AG Square in the capital on September 22. The students distributed leaflets among commuters highlighting traffic rules and regulations, besides sharing a tip or two about road safety. Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena also joined hands with the students for the initiative that reflected their social responsibilities.

Students perform during the International Youth Festival World Camp, 2013, at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. Telegraph pictures

Speech talk

A two-day national seminar on speech signal processing and its application was organised in Balasore College of Engineering and Technology last week. Eminent research scholars, including IIT professors, took part in the event and shared their experience. “The objective of the seminar was to bring familiarity with the fundamentals of speech signal processing approaches and their real time application by youngsters from teaching and research organisations. It will help them acquire knowledge and find research issues in the area of speech processing for exploration,” said Abhay Kumar Panda, vice-chairman of the college.

Talent hunt

Red FM, a popular radio station, is scouting for young talents in different fields such as singing, dancing and acting as part of its talent hunt among college students titled Red FM par college ke tashanbaaz. It visited 15 engineering colleges in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack for auditions and selected two participants from each college for the final to be held on September 28 at Ekamra Haat.