The group of 19 students from KISS, Bhubaneswar, who bagged medals in the state-level judo championship. Telegraph picture

Preparations are on to launch the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Mars Orbiter Mission in November, said U.R. Rao, chairman of physics research laboratory council at the national space department, while addressing students of KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, on September 6. The unmanned mission, which will explore the existence of life and sustenance possibility on Mars, will travel 299 days in space before reaching the red planet in September 2014, he said. The Mars Orbiter Mission will be sent through powerful PSLV-XL launch vehicle. Rao also talked about “existing challenges in space programmes of the future”. The country spends Rs 3,148 crore on space programmes every year and has a 16,500 strong human resource expertise, he said.

Eloquence test

Students from 16 engineering colleges in the state put their speaking skills to test at a state-level debate competition organised by the Temple City Institute of Technology and Engineering, Bhubaneswar, on the theme

“Technology can save the world”. Snehasish Mishra from IIT-Bhubaneswar emerged first with a cash award of Rs 50,000. Ashirbad Panda from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology at Sarang and Tadasha Tripathy from Gandhi Engineering College were adjudged second (Rs 30,000) and third (Rs 20,000), respectively.

Legal options

Students pursuing a law degree have many career opportunities before them even beyond courtroom litigation, said legal luminary N.R. Madhava Menon, while interacting with students of SoA University’s National Institute of Law recently.

“Legal education, which has undergone reforms especially with the establishment of national law universities in the country, has expanded the scope of legal education beyond courtroom litigation to administrative advocacy, corporate lawyering, negotiation, mediation and conciliation,” he said.

Menon emphasised on lucrative job prospects for law students in various sectors, multinationals and transnational corporations, which were hiring approximately 400 to 500 law graduates every year in their legal wings.

Menon supported the one-year postgraduate course in foreign universities, which provided the additional benefit of exposure to foreign laws.

He proposed an alternative course for the five-year integrated LLB program, suggesting that the subjects being covered under the present system should be taught in four years while one year should be reserved for practical training in various areas.

Students of Central University of Odisha enact a skit on the eve of the varsity’s fourth foundation day. Telegraph picture

New course

International Management Institute, Bhubaneswar, has introduced a three-year postgraduate programme in management for working executives.

Professionals from various industries and organisations of the state are enrolled in this programme for which classes are held in the weekends. There are 26 core courses and a host of elective courses.

Inaugurating the course, institute director Ramesh Behl emphasised on the concepts and applications of management education in the present day management of the corporate sectors.

Stage for talent

In a prelude to the Central University of Odisha’s fourth foundation day, students put up a dazzling performance of song and dance in Bhubaneswar on August 30. The varsity shifted its programme to Bhubaneswar instead of its own campus in Koraput to ward off possible trouble from Maoists in the wake of the death of four BSF jawans in a landmine blast at Ralegada in Sunki valley.

The cultural show featured both classical and modern dance by students and staff members. Various patriotic skits such as Maa Tujhe Salam, Vande Mataram, folk dance and poetic ballads were also presented. Vice-chancellor Surabhi Banerjee stressed on exploring the talents of students and staff members by providing them with a cultural platform. She announced that the approval for launching the teacher education and education technology programmes had been received from the National Council for Teacher Education and that many new courses were in the pipeline that could generate employment opportunities to meet local needs.

At the special convocation on August 31, the varsity conferred an honorary doctorate degree upon former solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam.

Judo champs

Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar, bagged 19 medals in various categories in the state-level judo championship, which concluded in Sambalpur on September 1. A 35-member team from the residential institute had taken part in the event.

In the youth girls’ section, Mukta Jani and Rasmita Nayak won gold while Tanuja Chhatria bagged silver. Bipasini Nayak, Gouri Biswal, Malati Marandi and Rita Soren won a bronze each in the same section. In the youth boys’ category, Chhabilal Majhi, Megharay Tudu and Ghasinath Pradhan finished in third place, winning bronze medals.

Puspa Kemprai won gold in junior girls’ category while Surajgyan Pradhan and Pitha Hembram earned bronze in junior boys’ section. In the senior men section, Nilamani Hafila and Pitha Hembram bagged bronze and their women counterparts Gourimani Murmu and Laxmi Nayak won silver medals. Smita Chattar and Subhadra Saralia ended up taking home bronze medals.

Double honour

S.C. Dash, director of Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences was felicitated by the Nephrology, Urology and Transplant Society of the South Asian Association at its 10th international conference held in Chennai from August 30 to September 1.

Dash, who is also the founder president of the association, was felicitated for his pioneering contribution as a clinician, teacher and researcher in India’s premier medical institutions for 31 years.

The citation hailed his success in conducting the first deceased donor kidney transplant in 1994 and pancreas and kidney transplantation in 2001 at AIIMS, New Delhi. In another achievement, Dash was awarded a plaque at the 17th annual conference of north zone chapter of the Indian Society of Nephrology recently held in Srinagar.

Freshers’ day

The Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar, welcomed its new students with a cultural extravaganza, Akanksha, on August 30. Founder-director of the business school Biswajeet Pattanayak said management professionals must serve the country with their knowledge, moral and ethical values.

Senior students of ASBM, Bhubaneswar, perform on stage during the freshers’ welcome. Telegraph picture

Weighty matter

National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, organised Condensed Matter Day, 2013, a three-day conference on condensed matter physics, which was attended by more than 120 delegates from all over the country.

Prior to this, a one-day workshop on smart materials and thin film was organised by the physics department of the institute, in which internal faculties were the resource persons. In the recent years, the department has acquired a number of sophisticated equipment and this helped it attract large number of research scholars to the institute.