Samarpan, a socio-cultural initiative of the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, completed its fifth year on January 26. To mark the occasion, students performed three skits on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The students were dressed in colourful attires and showcased their creative pursuits. All the faculty members and many students were present during the event. 

The main objective of Samarpan is to spread the message of love and peace in a turbulent world. During the cultural evening held at the Behera Auditorium, the students performed a number of dance and musical recitals. Samarpan is an initiative by Satish K. Agarwal from the department of chemistry, while bhajan singer Anup Jalota and Ashok Chakradhar are two patrons of the trust.

Entrepreneurship summit

Xavion, the annual entrepreneurship summit of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, was organised by the idea and initiative cell of the institute, X-SEED on January 31. The event aimed at spotting talents, passions and challenges in the world of entrepreneurship. 

The speakers were Jonathan Bill, the co-founder Venture Foundry, Chinmoy Panda, CEO of Mindfire Solutions and Rana Atheya, CEO of www.DogSpot.in. Bill spoke about his professional journey and told budding entrepreneurs to get hold of a full-time job before starting their own ventures. 

He also advised them to bootstrap as long as possible and also study liquidation preference options. Panda emphasised on the fact that there are a lot of ventures that do not need a lot of capital and young entrepreneurs should look forward to garner the opportunities. Atheya motivated the students to dream and be obsessed about it and that entrepreneurship was about holding on. The speeches were followed by an interactive question and answer session with the students. 

Dramas galore

Dramas have become the focus of cultural activities at a number of colleges across the state. A Sambalpuri play, Gute Veera Ra Katha, was staged on the premises of Jyoti Vihar Junior College in Burla last week. 

Natya Rashmi, a cultural organisation run by the students of the Odia department of the varsity, staged the play. It was based on the struggle of  freedom fighter Veer Surendra Sai. 

The artistes of the play — Avinash Mohapatra, Agasthi Badhei and Sandeep Bagarti garnered appreciation from the audience for their acting as well as direction skills. 

A five-day drama competition began at the Government Autonomous College, Rourkela, on February 2. It was held at the Civic Centre. 

The competition began with drama Batera. The event is hosting plays by a number of departments of the college. On the concluding day, superstar Arindam Roy will interact with the students. Students of Padmanav College of Engineering, Rourkela, staged a drama Gandhi Bhumikare last week to commemorate the death anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Lighting up lives

To empower the differently-abled and make them feel confident, Enactus, an organisation based at KIIT University, joined a countrywide campaign on clubfoot by setting off sky lanterns en masse. Many flying lanterns illuminated the skyline after getting airborne during the campaign organised in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of Bhubaneswar. Apart from the students of the varsity, the faculty members and local residents also joined the mission. The noble initiative was undertaken as part of a nationwide Clubfoot Awareness Campaign where sky lanterns were set off in various places across the country and each person contributed Rs 50 for every lantern released. Enactus is an international non-profit organisation working to mobilise university students to make a difference in their communities. 
 

Tourism symposium

Tourism could be an effective tool for the establishment of peace since people to people contact is the best way to prevent conflict, experts said at a symposium on tourism organised at the SOA University on February 1. Pointing out that tourism was a huge industry that provided job to one in every 11 employed persons, Ajay Prakash, the president of the Indian chapter of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT), said that they had planned to set up a centre of excellence in Bhubaneswar in collaboration with SOA University to churn out future leaders in the tourism sector. Sandeep Kulshreshtha, the director of the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), Gwalior, who was one of the guests of honour, said tourism was being linked to leisure and pleasure and fostered peace and happiness. “The IITTM was presently in the process of training one lakh volunteers in the country who would be engaged as paryatak mitra (friends of tourists). The symposium was a booster towards a paradigm shift in the students’ perception of tourism,” said Kulshreshtha. 
 

Agri-Uni fest

Around 1,500 students from 47 agricultural universities across the country are taking part in Indradhanush, the 16th All India Inter-Agriculture University Youth Festival being held at the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT). The festival that began on February 2, is an attempt to promote national integration, communal harmony, peace and prosperity. Students are presenting plays, songs and various art forms on the occasion. 

Cleanliness drive

A group of students of D.K. College, Jaleswar, took the initiative to clean a hospital on January 31. Apart from the roads leading to the hospital, the students also cleaned the corridors. The cleaning of the restrooms and children’s wards were also on their agenda. The youngsters pressed upon the public that the responsibility to clean garbage that mounds at our nearby areas rests not only on the government but the common people as well. They also distributed pamphlets at the hospital, requesting citizens to keep their environment clean. The patients, their attendants and the hospital staff members appreciated their efforts. The students said the drive would be carried out at regular intervals on Sundays and holidays.