Cuttack, Nov. 4: The stage is set for the fifth inter-university Right To Information (RTI) debate competition to be held at Ravenshaw University on Saturday. The event is being organised by the Orissa State Information Commission (OSIC).

University officials said they were expecting participation from eight universities though invitations had been sent to 11 universities in the state. “Preparations for the annual debate competition are almost complete,” said the dean of students’ welfare, Partha Sarathi Mishra, adding that the university had signed a memorandum of understanding with the OSIC by virtue of which it gets to host the prestigious competition every year.

Each university will be sending a two-student team to participate and the topic for the debate will be disclosed an hour before the competition begins. The winning team will be awarded a running shield and a cash award of Rs 5,000. The cash prize for the second and third spots are Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively.

Last week, the university had organised the Borasambar-Senapati debate competition. The topic for the debate was “Rapid economic development is the best way to ensure amelioration of poverty”. Aditi Bhattacharya, a B.Com final year student, had bagged the first prize and received a cash prize of Rs 5,000.

The Hindi department will conduct a two-day conference on the life and literary works of Gandhian patriot Dattatreya Balkrushna Kalelkar, popularly known as Kaka Kalelkar, on November 6 and 7. It is being organised to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Kaka Kalelkar. The programme will be attended by academicians and eminent personalities, said the head of the Hindi department and university registrar, Smarapriya Mishra.