A girl sashays down the ramp at Koncord 2013, the annual cultural fest of KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Psychedelic lights, boys and girls grooving to peppy beats, foodies gorging on snacks, wolf whistles, cheer and prizes! Koncord-2013, the annual cultural fest of KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, held last week was more like a carnival packed with unlimited fun. From dance performances to catwalk, the evening saw the energy and creativity of students, who shed all their inhibitions and let their hair down to make it one hell of an affair. Anubhav Verma, a third-year mechanical engineering student, was adjudged Mr KIIT while Saundarya, a fresher of biotech department, was crowned Miss KIIT. They were chosen in the two-day inter-school personality competition after several rounds, such as introduction and walk the ramp, photogenic, best picture, written test, extempore and other talent rounds. On the last day, participants went through the ramp walk-casual, rapid fire and ramp walk-ethnic wear and question-n-answer session. The judges for the selection of Mr and Miss KIIT were editor of popular Odia magazine Kadambinee, Itirani Samanta, yesteryear actress Tripura Mishra, actor Dushmant, Japanese-Odissi dancer Matacolo and choreographer Saswat Joshi. There were many other prizes for the participants in other categories. While winners won Rs 15,000 and an expensive mobile phone set, runners-up bagged Rs 10,000 each.

Sucker punch

The S.G. Women’s Junior College, Rourkela, organised a special programme to impart tips to its students to protect themselves in adverse situations, considering the rising incidents of attacks on women in different parts of the country. The college, in partnership with city-based Taluk Legal Services Committee, conducted a “self-defence” workshop in which karate experts from the committee made a live demonstration of martial arts techniques. This session was preceded by a slew of lectures by reputed academics on important themes such as “essence of protection of women in society”, “protection of women under law” and “protection of women in medico-legal exam”. Additional district judge of Rourkela, Janab Mohammad Ajmal also addressed the students, which was followed by an interactive session.

Minister of sports and youth services Ramesh Chandra Majhi felicitates woman cricketer Roshan Ara Parwin for representing India in the women’s cricket World Cup. Telegraph picture

Cricket fever

Chennai-based SRM University outplayed Lovely Professional University, Chandigarh, by 75 runs in the final match of the fourth SoA Premier League (SPL) cricket championship in Bhubaneswar on February 19. Winning the toss, SRM managed to score 147 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs and then restricted their opponents to 72 for nine in 19.2 overs with one of the batsmen retiring hurt. The Chennai team was presented the glittering trophy and a purse of Rs 1 lakh by minister for sports and youth services Ramesh Chandra Majhi. LPU, having finished runner-up, got a cash prize of Rs 50,000 besides a trophy. The Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, organisers of the annual inter-university cricket championship, also felicitated Roshan Ara Parwin, the first Odisha girl to represent India in the recently concluded women’s cricket World Cup. They presented her with a cheque of Rs 50,000 as an incentive for budding sportspersons. Twelve teams from across the country participated in the tournament, which was inaugurated by Ranji player Rashmi Ranjan Parida.

Biz in unstable times

A seminar on “Business opportunities beyond borders in turbulent times” was held at the Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar, on February 16. The chief guest for the occasion, Surajit Mitra, said exploring new business opportunities abroad is vital to sustain the global imbalance. “Today, countries such as Africa, Latin America, East Asia are emerging potential markets, providing much headroom for trade. Developing countries such as India should eye such avenues to augment business in the form of bilateral trade,” he said, stressing on foreign direct investment as an important tool for business. Noted economist Raj Kumar Sen said business opportunities beyond borders can be christened as globalisation and free trade and free flow of capital should occur in today’s era of globalisation to do business at a faster pace. ASBM director Biswajeet Pattanayak highlighted India’s stride in the global map despite recession looming large in the Eurozone and other developed economies. The inaugural session was followed by two technical sessions on “Managing Foreign Trade” and “Managing Global Operations” in which many eminent academics and corporate elites deliberated.

History boost

Steps will be taken to propagate the glory of Odisha’s history and culture within and outside the country, said professor Nihar Ranjan Patnaik in his first address after being elected as the president of Odisha History Congress. Patnaik, who is currently the director of Teacher Education and State Council Education Research and Training, was a professor of history at the Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, after which he took over as the chairman of the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Odisha. He has authored 16 research books and 30 textbooks and more than 200 articles in history and has been conferred 11 awards including Gajapati Samman and Mahtab Award.