Gaming pros battled it out at Fragology, a 48-hour non-stop gaming festival that was held at Frameboxx Animation Centre, Bhubaneswar, on November 9 and 10 to provide youngsters information about the latest gaming related technology and products.
Around 100 youngsters, including college-goers, took part in the event in groups of five. Two groups from Cuttack bagged the top honours in successfully winning Counter Strike 1.6, a tactical first-person shooter video game. Team Aarohi was adjudged champion and Team ESG came second. The two teams won prizes worth Rs 18,000 each.
The event has been conceptualised by Satyajit Patnaik, a Pune-based engineer, who has started a company The Zephyr India.
Action-packed show
Innovision-13, the annual festival of National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Rourkela concluded on November 10 on a high note with a power-packed performance by Underground Authority, a rap rock band from Calcutta.
They belted out some original numbers as well as popular head-banging songs as the audience grooved to the music. The evening also witnessed a cultural extravaganza with two music bands of the host institute showcasing their talent.The fest, which started on November 8, featured 71 events. Many fun events such as archery, zorbing, sumo wrestling and paintball were also part of the three-day event. Roboshow amused the crowd with the concept of artificial intelligence.
This was followed by a spellbinding handshadowgraphy show by Amar Sen and Sabyasachi Sen.The entrepreneurship cell of the institute organised its flagship event Arthyan-2013. The event was organised by technical society of NIT-Rourkela’s student activity centre.
Small changes
Students of IIT-Bhubaneswar visited DAV Public School at Pokhariput in the city and made presentations before students of classes IX and X to sensitise them about the threats to nature and how small changes today could lead to huge changes tomorrow. This programme was carried out under Prayatna, a social campaign launched as part of the institute’s annual fest.
The students were given a week to submit an essay on innovative green ideas for the Ideapool competition, and also submit posters, which would give them a platform to explore innovative technologies. Alma Fiesta will be held from January 10 to 12.
Kid doctors
Governor S.C. Jamir inaugurated the 39th annual conference of the Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons (IAPS) in association with its local chapter on November 8 at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. The workshop, being organised for the first time in the state, saw 300 pediatric surgeons from all over the country taking part.
Skill training
With an eye to bridge the skill gap between the hospitality and tourism sectors, the School of Hotel Management, run by the SoA University, Bhubaneswar, has started an eight-week training for 275 youths in various courses.
The programme has been undertaken under the Centre-sponsored “Hoonar se Rojgar tak” scheme to make youths employable.
Trainees are provided with two sets of uniform, a tool kit and stipend of Rs 1,500 to 2,000.
The courses include bakery and patisserie, food production, food and beverage service and housekeeping utility, said assistant professor Sasmita Mohanty. Institute principal professor Malik Mohammed Altaf and former IIT-Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya, who is the varsity’s advisory committee chairman, attended the programme.
Global issues
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, is organising an international arbitration workshop to throw light on this method of resolving disputes arising from international commercial agreements and other international relationships.
The four-day workshop, which began on November 11, is deliberating issues in this regard. Legal luminaries from abroad, including Lord Mark Saville, a former judge of the Supreme Court of UK, inaugurated the event.
Industrial jobs
The first student chapter of the Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering (IIIE)-Odisha was inaugurated at the Institute of Technical Education and Research, the faculty of engineering of the SoA University, Bhubaneswar, on November 20. Officials said IIIE was set up in 1957 and played a major role in the country’s industrial growth. Students studying mechanical and electrical engineering should be interested in core jobs and work on the shop floor where the challenge lied.
Physics Olympiad
The fifth National Physics Olympiad was held at Vivekananda Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, under the aegis of Science and Engineering Foundation. Around 335 students of higher secondary level, who had topped the preliminary rounds of the Olympaid, took part in the event. Winners of the final round would be awarded in December, said professor Aravinda Kumar Das, chief coordinator of the event.
Ancient medicines
Medical science has been enriched by the contribution of ancient Indian physicians like Charaka and Sushruta, said Onkarnath Mohanty, former vice-chancellor of Biju Patnaik University of Technology while addressing the oath taking ceremony of the 7th batch of MBBS students at the Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital, Bhubaneswar.
Students taking the ‘Hippocratic oath’ should do the same in the name of Charaka and Sushruta, he said. Eminent gynaecologist Sarojini Mohanty, who was the chief speaker on the occasion, urged the students to be sensitive about issues like sex-determination tests and female foeticide.
Blood donation
An awareness programme on voluntary blood donation was held at Dhaneswar Rath Institute of Engineering and Management Studies in Tangi near Cuttack on November 16. Abhay Kumar Patra, medical officer of Central Red Cross Blood Bank, Cuttack, attended the event as chief guest and spoke on importance of the voluntary blood donation.
Flood relief
The Aryan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, contributed Rs 1 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for cyclone and flood victims of Odisha. The students and faculty members collected relief materials and distributed those in Baripada, Bhadrak and Berhampur.
Similarly, the Niladrivihar Youth and Cultural Association, Bhubaneswar, extended a helping hand to the children of the affected districts.
A 13-member team led by the association president Prakash Chandra Panigrahi distributed notebooks and other stationery items along with biscuits and bread in the Rukhakana lower and Khatrabasi upper primary school in Polsara block of Aska in the severely affected Ganjam district.
