Bhoomi pujan for the installation of a statue of Oriya poet, Fakir Mohan Senapati, at Fakir Mohan College in Balasore. Telegraph picture

Author Chetan Bhagat (left) gives away the Brands Academy Award to Mrutyunjaya Suar, director of KIIT School of Biotechnology, Bhubaneswar. (Above) Gumuluri Vishal and Sabujamitra Behera of Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, at the recently concluded International Red Cross and Red Crescent youth camp in Malaysia. Telegraph pictures

Academics and more

A 12-member team from the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneswar, is scheduled to fly to London to participate in the Under-13 International Rugby Tournament to be held from June 19 to 26 in Manchester, United Kingdom. The players, accompanied by two coaches, would leave India on June 17. KISS-India rugby team would be pitted against five countries — the UK, Thailand, Trinidad, Tobago, South Africa — in the tournament. The 12 participants of the rugby team are Manoranjan Das, Kalicharan Biswal, Ghanasyam Singh, Ajit Kumar Hansdah, Lalatendu Nayak, Prakash Chandra Soy, Dharmananda Bhoi, Buddhadeb Pradhan, Alekha Murmu, Lokanath Soren, Roshan Xaxa, and Debasis Rout.

Youth camp

Red Cross volunteers of Ravenshaw Univesrity, Gumuluri Vishal and Sabujamitra Behera, both aged 19, represented the country at the recently concluded International Red Cross and Red Crescent youth camp in Malaysia held from May 23 to June 3. Gumuluri Vishal has won the best cultural talent trophy, while Sabujamitra Behera has won the best cadet award for attending all the sessions in the camp. Around 3,000 volunteers from 10 Asean countries — including India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Philippines and Vietnam — had participated in the youth camp. Only six volunteers from India, including three from Gujarat, one from Madhya Pradesh and two from Orissa, had participated in the camp. Vishal said though he had prepared a number of themes and Odissi dance performances, he could only showcase Durga and Mahisasuramardini performances, which were appreciated by all. Both the volunteers had earlier undergone a short training camp organised by state youth Red Cross officer Sarita Supkar. Earlier, one student from Bhubaneswar had also participated in the International Red Cross camp held in Japan in 1999.

Poet’s statue

Balasore’s Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College will have a bigger-than-life statue of poet Fakir Mohan Senapati on its campus soon. The bhoomi pujan for establishment of the statue was held last week on the college premises. One of the oldest colleges of the state, named after the doyen of Oriya literature, has only a half bust of the poet. The statue is expected to be eight-and-half feet tall, carved out of black granite by skilled artisans of Baulagadia and Nilgiri. A five-feet-high platform would be raised in front of the hall to accommodate the statue. The expenditure for this purpose has been estimated to be around Rs 3.25 lakh. It would be collectively borne by all the teaching and non-teaching staff of the junior and autonomous colleges. “In 1956, a resolution was passed for installation of a full-sized statue of Fakir Mohan. However, it did not materialise then. Instead, an oil painted portrait of him was installed in the college hall. Two years ago, we adopted another resolution to install the statue and it is going to be fulfilled this time,” said Abhay Panda, principal of the college. The gates at the entrance of the college would also be remodelled at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 6 lakh. Sadar MLA Jiban Pradip Dash has provided financial assistance for this purpose. “The statue would enhance the glory of the institution. “We have also decided to conduct competitions among the newly admitted students on issues related to Fakir Mohan Senapati to create awareness about him,” said Rabinarayan Pati, a lecturer of the college.

Admission season

The admission procedure for entry into undergraduate courses in BJB (Autonomous) College, Bhubaneswar, is in full swing with students from across the state filling up admission forms. Publication of the first selection list of admission is due on July 2, whereas the second selection list will be declared by July 12. The last date of submission of online application was June 13. Arts students had an option to choose their preferred major from a list of 23 subjects. For science and commerce students, the list of subjects was 11 and two, respectively. Last year, the cut-off percentage for general students in arts stood at 55 per cent, whereas it was 75 per cent for physics, chemistry and mathematics (PCM) combination, and 65 per cent for chemistry, biology and zoology (CBZ) combination. For commerce stream, the cut-off marks percentage was 76.60. According to G.C. Nanda, e-admission in-charge of the college, the admission procedure is likely to be completed by the third week of July and classes for first year is scheduled to begin by July 27.

Best institute award

The KIIT School of Biotechnology (KSBT), a constituent of KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, was awarded by the Brands Academy, New Delhi, as the best institute for biotechnology studies in the country. Popular writer of One Night at the Call Centre and Five Point Someone, Chetan Bhagat gave an award to the director of KSBT, Mrutyunjaya Suar, in Gurgaon on May 28. There were over 2,000 nominations for the Brands Academy award. Institutions such as XLRI, Jamshedpur, MDI, Gurgaon, Galgotia University, International Institute of Finance, Fortune International Business School, and D.Y. Patil University have also received the award in various categories. The KSBT, established in 2007, has collaboration with several universities abroad. It has a technology business incubator facility for promotion of the entrepreneurs-in-making.

Old-age hospital

People above 65 years of age, who are frail and have complex medical problems, can walk into the city-based Sum Hospital. The hospital has set up the Sum Geriatric Assessment Clinic (SGAC) exclusively for the ailing senior citizens. It is giving free consultation to senior citizens on Thursdays between 9am and 2pm. The elderly, seeking medical care, will not be required to wander from one department to another for consultation or for pathological tests. Medical professionals of every possible department will attend to them at the SGAC. “We want to make the consultation absolutely patient-centric. “They will be treated with absolute respect and dignity,” said S.C. Mohapatra, director (academics) of the Institute of Medical Science, and Sum Hospital, an institute under the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University. He also said that efforts would be made to cut down the patients’ waiting time for medical intervention to the minimum. A helpline (9438200140) has been set up by the SGAC to assist enquirers seeking appointment or intending to visit the clinic.