The Rural Managers’ Association of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar organised their annual marketing event titled Gramotsava on October 1 and 2. The students visited Niali village in Cuttack district and organised a series of events. This year’s theme was “Skill India”, and the event’s aim was to reach the rural fraternity and spread awareness on various skills that could be learnt and showcased with the help of rural marketing. Various companies put up their kiosks such as the Smart Solar, IIFCO, Anmol Biscuits, Jyoti Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and the Free Eye (Vision Spring), apart from the dental check-up ones. The students organised games and competitions for local residents and a talent hunt for the children. The participants learnt many skills such as overcoming the language barriers, negotiating and drawing customers to the respective kiosks, finding out innovative taglines as well as promotional dialogues.
Every drop counts
The Indian Institute of Mass Communication in Dhenkanal organised a blood donation camp on the eve of National Voluntary Blood Donation Day on October 1. Students, alumni and faculty members donated blood on the occasion. A total of 25 units of blood was collected. Dhenkanal District Blood Donors’ Association president Biranchi Narayan Panda spoke to the students on why they should donate blood. The camp’s aim was to spread the idea that every drop counts. The institute recently organised an excursion to Puri and Konark.
Heart care
The Kalinga Institute of Medical Science’s cardiac science department organised an awareness rally from Patia Square to the institute to mark the World Heart Day on September 29. Cardiologist Dr J.P. Dash focused on this year’s celebration theme “First Medical Contact in Chest Pain”. Dr H.N. Mishra stressed on creating general awareness among the people. He said the awareness message should propagate properly to the common masses. The students also interacted with the eminent doctors on the recent trends in the field of cardiology and various heart ailments. A free heart check-up camp was also hosted.
Stability training
The civil engineering department of National Institute of Technology, Rourkela organised a three-day short-term training event from September 28 to 30 on “Slope Stability Analysis for Civil and Mining Engineers” as part of the industry-institute interaction programme. The Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme, a World Bank-funded project of the Centre, sponsored the event.
This is a part of the institute’s continuing education policy for the benefits of field professionals of the industry and government agencies. Eighteen delegates from various organisations took part in the course. The programme’s aim was to train engineers in design and management of various natural and man-made slopes, dams, check dams, tailing dams, ash dykes, rock slopes and so on. During the course, various case studies of slope stability and their computer analysis were presented.
Nursing research
A two-day national conference on new horizons in qualitative research in nursing concluded on October 2 at the SOA University. Regional Medical Research Centre director Dr Sanghamitra Pati, who was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of the conference organised by the Sum Nursing College, said the country was experiencing a rapid health transition while being confronted by infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies and sub-optimal maternal and child health besides the challenge of escalating graph of the non-communicable diseases. SOA University’s medical research director Santanu Kumar Kar and Leelabai Thackersey College of Nursing principal Dr Nancy Fernandez attended as guests of honour. Nursing students from across the state attended the conference.
Green drive
Students and teachers of the Central University of Odisha in Koraput organised an environmental awareness programme at the adopted Balda village on September 30 to make the villagers aware on health, hygiene, sanitation, watershed management and plantation. The Balda villagers took part in the programme and shared their problems. A series of rallies were carries out, door-to-door campaign was conducted and street plays were hosted as a part of the initiative. Awareness on the aspects such as waste materials management, dangers of alcohol consumption, water preservation, superstitions and blind belief and so on were also conducted.
Tourism talk
Students of the Sri Sri University conducted an awareness programme among the international community fostering the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic significance on the occasion of World Tourism Day on September 26. The event themed on “Tourism for All” witnessed former state chief secretary B.K. Pattnaik and IITTM, Odisha nodal officer S.K. Lenka interacting with the students. They stressed on the need to provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts and direct financial benefits for conservation, generating financial benefits for both local people and private industry. The guests of the event also spoke on ecotourism and how it could be popularised in the state.
Youth development
An active citizenship programme was recently held at the Balasore Mahila College under the aegis of sports and youth affairs department. Principal Pratimarani Mohapatra inaugurated the event and spoke about the importance of the youth development programme. The speakers and resource persons spoke on character building, duties towards the society and mutual co-operation among the students. They encouraged the students towards community development activities. A video was screened on the topic. A number of students of the local colleges also attended the event. A similar event was also organised at the Kudei College in Soro.
Swimming contest
The Attabira College recently organised an inter-collegiate swimming competition at the Dr Jhasketan Sahu swimming pool. A total of 32 students from 16 colleges under the university took part in the male and female categories. The students, who excelled in the competition, will take part in the inter-university swimming contest to be held in Chandigarh from October 24 to 28.
