Ravenshaw University students Bastab Kumar Parida and Chiranjibi Pati have been winning the hearts of cricket fans. The Geology students have started a Facebook page - Odisha Cricnewzz - and provide all information related to cricket in Odisha. The page has already garnered over 2,000 followers and provides updates of local matches in the state and also those involving players from Odisha in other states. They are also focussing on women’s cricket with regular updates on their achievements and their performances for the national team. To showcase the craze for cricket in the state, pictures of young boys engaging in gully cricket are also posted occasionally on the page. The duo now plans to start a website on the similar lines by December this year.

Sports tourney

Students of Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB) conducted their annual sports meet, Athlos, last week on campus. Apart from XIMB students, students from other B-schools, including IIM Ranchi and International Management Institute (IMI), Bhubaneswar took part in the competition. The corporate teams of Infosys and Tech Mahindra also participated. 

The hosts, however, emerged winners in most of the events, including football, volleyball and badminton. The team from Infosys also put up a good show and won the chess, table tennis and basketball events. 

The competition was an enriching experience for the students and the corporate honchos in terms of getting to know more about sports along with meeting new people and sharing knowledge. 

Dokra workshop

Students of Balasore College of Art and Crafts learnt the finer aspects of dokra casting at a six-day workshop that concluded on October 18 at the institute. Two artisans from Mayurbhnaj, Deepak Naik and Umakanta Rana, were invited to train the students on casting techniques on metals such as brass, bronze, copper and bell. 

Apart from learning about the two types of casting — solid and hollow — the students were also told about their history. Around 30 students from the institute took part in the workshop. Livelihood opportunities that could be garnered from dokra casting were also discussed. 

The students learnt how to develop new designs and implement it in the craft-making process.  

Focus on rice industry

Utkal University’s Business Administration students co-ordinated a three-day Rice Tech Expo held at the varsity premises. The expo aimed at creating awareness among the students about rice processing and marketing trends in the field. 
The event brought together stakeholders from the industry, including researchers, manufacturers, technical experts and policy planners, who interacted with the students. 

A number of rice millers and their equipment dealers, rice exporters and importers and producers also took part in the event. The event was beneficial for the students interested to invest in the sector. 
The expo was organised in collaboration with Shiny Trade Expositions, Secunderabad. Lectures on mill modernisation, food security and market demand for quality rice were also held.  

Convocation

The third annual convocation of the International Management Institute (IMI) Bhubaneswar was held on October 16 where the postgraduate diplomas were conferred to the class of 2013-15. Odisha governor S.C. Jamir attended the convocation ceremony as the chief guest and delivered the convocation address. 

Two students, K. V. Saroj Reddy and Punyatoya Panigrahi, received gold and silver medals for their outstanding performances. A number of industrialists, academicians and corporate leaders attended the event and interacted with the 
students. 

The students discussed about the need to do extensive work in manufacturing and service sectors to be competitive and how new-age managers should have the ability to identify the failures and apply innovative methods to overcome conflicts among workers. 

Entrepreneurial skills

An entrepreneurship awareness drive was conducted at the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER) last week where over 1,500 students from various colleges across Bhubaneswar participated. 
The event was organised by Entrepreneurship Cell, a student body of IIT-Kharagpur, to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship among students. 

At the event, the students got an opportunity to interact with young entrepreneurs such as Sandip Kumar Panda from Instasafe, Sujeet Kumar from Kalinga Kusum and Lex Mantra and Sibasish Mishra from 5 Elements who gave insights into starting a successful enterprise. A session with Ananda Mishra, programme manager of the Bhubaneswar chapter of Google Business Group was also held. 

The students got an opportunity to learn how web technologies can be used to run businesses and how to get easy access to investors and venture capital firms. 

Sand art

Baba Panchalingeshwar Degree College of Balasore students got learned the art of making sand sculptures at a workshop under the tutelage of sand artist Prabir Patra last week. They created a huge structure representing the face of Goddess Durga to mark the occasion of Dussehra. 

They were trained in the process of compacting and carving and a number of traits such as team building and enhancing team performance.