Students of ASBM, Bhubaneswar, attend a seminar on marketing and (above) delegates and guests at the 11th National Conference of the Society of Midwives, India, at Kalinga Institute of Nursing Sciences. Telegraph pictures

The NCC Sambalpur Group conducted various competitions for Nau Sainik Camp at Burla from September 6 to 9 in which 36 senior division (boys) and eight senior wing (girls) took part. This was the first time that extensive naval training was conducted during camps in the Burla power channel reservoir.

Commander Vinil Venugopal of 4-Odisha Naval Unit conducted the training and exuded hope that the cadets would do well in the inter-group competition at Chilika, which started on September 15.

The competition at Burla for senior boys consisted of various contests such as theory, boat pulling, semaphore, firing and best cadet competitions. For girls, best in firing, boat pulling and overall best cadet competitions were held.

Captain Badal Sahu from G.M. College, Sambalpur, was adjudged best in all-round performance among senior cadets. Lopamudra Padhi of F.M. College, Balasore, won the best cadet title in all-round performance among senior wing cadets (girls). Dinakrushna Mohanty of Bhadrak Autonomous College won the best cadet in firing among boys while Tapaswini Giri of B.N.M.A. College, Paliabindha, finished first in firing among girls.

Similarly, in boat pulling, Subhranshu Jena of F.M. College and Archana Meher of L.N. College, Jharsuguda, won the best cadet awards. Semaphore and written test was taken jointly, in which Chittranjan Jena of F.M. College and Sushil Kumar Sahoo of Bhadrak Autonomous College were adjudged the best.

Group commander Colonel Vikas Goswami gave away the prizes. He said the camping ground at Burla had been developed with co-operation from VSS University of Technology. The special permission to use the power channel reservoir was granted in May last year for conducting the Naval NCC training.

Skill training

Authorities of Utkal University are planning to start a skill development cell for students. University placement officer Sarit Kumar Panda said that since Utkal offered postgraduate courses in general subjects across arts, science and commerce streams, they had to undergo special sessions to be “job-ready”.

Panda said that with changing times, employers were looking beyond academic scores and certificates and scouting for candidates with communication, management and soft skills. “For instance, the skill training would enable a student of physics to become an entrepreneur or in any way appropriate to their preferences and aspirations,” said Panda.

Utkal University will start a skill development centre for its students

Techie talk

Odia scientist and technologist Prafulla Kumar Jena addressed students of Gandhi Institute for Technological Advancement (Gita), Bhubaneswar, on the Engineers’ Day on Sunday. He touched upon various aspects of technological progress for positive change in society and shared his career experiences. Fifteen students of various departments of the college presented technical papers based on innovation, advancement of technology and next generation technology on the occasion.

A debate competition was also organised. A former scientist at Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, Jena, is well known for his exemplary contributions towards conservation and development of mineral resources, developing new processes for extraction of high-valued metals from their ores, recovery of metal values from wastes and environmental protection. He emphasised on the role of an engineer for the social advancement in the present day scenario and motivated the young engineers towards utilisation of their skills for the same during his valuable address to the students.

Customer satisfaction

Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar, organised a national management seminar on the theme “Marketing in Complex and Competitive Times” on September 14. Sunil Gupta, vice-president (marketing) from Paradeep Phosphates Limited, was the chief guest and stressed on the usage of social networking to make profits. “Better pricing, good supply strategy along with the use of technology such as social networking can add on profit to your business,” said Gupta.

Addressing the seminar, K.V.J. Rao, senior regional manager (direct sales) of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, said: “There should be quest for innovation. Good innovation brings affluence.”

Founder director of the institute Biswajeet Pattanayak said innovation was the only way to overcome economic meltdown.

“Investment in marketing, especially in social medium of advertisement, is a good investment. Multi-medium of advertisement builds strong relationship with customers,” he said.Other speakers stressed on the branding strategy and illustrated corporate social responsibility as a powerful tool to build strong relationship with society.

The inaugural session was followed by a technical session, where eminent personalities delivered talks on sub-themes such as “Product Differentiation to Experimental Marketing” and “Brand Building and Value Creation”.

NCC cadets of Sambalpur Group at the concluding event of Nau Sainik Camp at Burla. A Telegraph picture

Biotech workshop

The life science department of National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Rourkela hosted a three-day national workshop on microbial diversity from September 11 to 13. Participants learnt various advance techniques involved in bio-remediation through hands on practices on machine and equipment and invited lectures by eminent academicians, which would be helpful for their further research and field work.

About 20 participants from various universities and research institutes of Odisha, Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Mizoram and Uttarakhand were selected to take part in the workshop. Seven lectures were delivered from scientists and industrial personnel from Odisha, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

In the recent past, the host department has acquired many sophisticated equipment and has developed specialised facilities for research. B.B. Mishra, head of microbiology department, Odisha University of Agriculture Technology, Bhubaneswar, and S. Ajmal Khan, professor emeritus from Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, were the guests.

The event was sponsored by department of the biotechnology and council of scientific and industrial research, Indian council of medical research and the department of science and technology, government of India.

Neonatal care

The 11th National Conference of the Society of Midwives, India (Somi) was held at Kalinga Institute of Nursing Sciences (KINS), a constituent of KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, on September 13. Inaugurating the event, health minister Damodar Rout said the state government had decided to establish maternity wards in 11 districts of Odisha. He admitted that common people’s access to midwifery remained low. “While the US spends more than 17.7 per cent of their total GDP on health care system, India is spending only 2 per cent of the GDP in this sector. Low expenditure is one of the bottlenecks in providing quality service,” he said.

The theme of conference is “Midwives: Advocating Quality Improvement in Maternal and Newborn Care”. More than 200 nurse administrators, educators, direct care provider (labour room nurses) and postgraduate students from Odisha, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Bengal and Assam took part in the meet.