Kiran Bedi, former IPS officer and eminent social activist, unveils the statue of Swami Vivekananda at a college in Bhubaneswar

Defending champions SRM University, Chennai, retained the SOA Premier League title defeating Ravenshaw University by six wickets in the final of the tournament at the SOA University stadium on February 28. Continuing their dominance, SRM restricted Ravenshaw to 136 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs and then got the required runs losing four wickets in 15.2 overs. The run chase was led by skipper S. Dinesh, who hit an explosive 71 off 38 balls laced with seven fours and six sixes. He was also adjudged the player of the tournament as well as the man of the match. Member of Parliament Prasanna Patasani gave away the trophies as well as the cash award of Rs 1 lakh to the winners and Rs 50,000 to the runners-up. Two budding under-16 cricketers of the state, Sandeep Patnaik and Subham Nayak, were also presented cash prizes of Rs 25,000 each.

Ashirbad Behera, secretary of Odisha Cricket Association and Odisha Olympic Association, inaugurated the seventh edition of KIIT Premier League on March 1. The tournament is being played on league basis. Eight universities, including three teams from Odisha, are taking part in the tournament. The other teams are Delhi University, Symbiosis University, Andhra University, Jain University, SRM University, Utkal University and Ravenshaw University. While the prize for the winner is Rs 2 lakh, the runners-up with get Rs 1.5 lakh. All the matches are played in the T-20 format under floodlights.

Felicitations

Aryan Institute of Engineering and Technology organised its first convocation function for the 2009-13 batch. The event took place during the annual function of the college titled

The Aryansh. Medals and certificates were handed over to the meritorious students by a distinguished panel of guests. Parents and guardians with their wards attended the function that took place last week. Also, Dr R. Bhima Rao, former CSIR- chief scientist and presently the principal of the institute and Amiya Kumar Sahoo, head of the computer science branch, have been bestowed the institution award for their paper “Strategies and prospects on production of chromite ore data mining using response surface methodology” on March 1 at the 55th Annual Technical Session of Institute of Engineers. Rural Electrification Corporation Power Distribution Company Limited, as part of its commitment to the socio-economic development, awarded Merit Scholarship Award 2013-14 to 125 selected scholars, who are pursuing their second year engineering in Government Engineering Colleges such as IITs and NITs.

Accordingly, 11 meritorious students under Biju Patnaik University of Technology were awarded Rs 24,000 each, along with a citation at a function held at BPUT headquarters in Rourkela. BPUT vice chancellor J.K. Satapathy, in his address, asked the students to pursue their studies with more effort and enthusiasm and become better human beings.

Legal issues

Students of Law College, Rourkela, attended a seminar at Rourkela Law College after a legal aid clinic was inaugurated on the college premises on February 26.

After the inauguration ceremony, discussions on subjects such as domestic violence, Right to Inheritance for Females and Illegitimate Child under Hindu Succession Act, Hindu Marriage Act and child marriage were held.

Food for thought

C.R. Cole, an eminent agricultural scientist, stressed on the need for increasing productivity to meet the country’s growing food requirement while focusing on the environment conservation.

“The pace at which the world population is increasing, it will reach nine billion by 2050 and it is our responsibility to ensure that no one suffers from malnutrition,” said Cole, vice chancellor of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya in Bengal while addressing the annual day event of the Institute of Agriculture Sciences, the faculty of agriculture of the SOA University, Bhubaneswar, on February 26.

Speaking at the same event, Narendra Pandey, head of the department of agronomy, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, said that human resource was the biggest asset for the country but it could turn into the biggest liability if not properly utilised.

Empowering employees

Srusti Academy of Management, Bhubaneswar, organised a national seminar on employee engagement on February 21 and 22.

All-India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, sponsored the seminar, which was inaugurated by Ramesh Behl, director of International Management Institute, Bhubaneswar, and P.C. Panigrahi, director (personnel), Mahanadi Coal fields Ltd, Sambalpur. In the key note address, Panigrahi emphasised on the fact that employers need to make organisational climate conducive so that employees not only do their job effectively, efficiently and sincerely but also start loving their job.

“The employee should feel like being an integral part of the organisation,” he added.

While delivering his speech, Behl stressed on the fact that employees should take responsibly and see the organisation as their own.

At the same time, they should be ready to empathise and sympathise with other employees. The seminar was divided into four technical sessions based on various sub-themes chaired by professors and senior industry executives.

Academics and corporate executives from different parts of the country presented more than 20 research papers. More than a hundred delegates participated in the deliberations.

The valedictory session saw MBA students of the academy presenting a skit titled “Right Job for the right Person”.

Potpourri

A blood donation camp was organised on the campus of Balasore College of Engineering Technology on March 1. The event was organised in association with the district blood bank. Inaugurating the camp, the chief district medical officer Anup Ghosh stressed on donation of blood for saving lives. He also encouraged the students to come out voluntarily for the social noble cause. About 242 units of blood were collected on the day.

Kiran Bedi, retired IPS officer and eminent social activist, unveiled the statue of Swami Vivekananda at the Bhubaneswar-based college Viswass’ 11th foundation day on March 3.

Bedi addressed the gathering, mostly comprising of youngsters from various colleges of the state.

International Management Institute, Bhubaneswar, organised an entrepreneurship event — ‘e Mantra’ — sponsored by AICTE on its campus on February 27. The occasion was attended by eminent personalities from various sectors where they expressed their views on the emerging issues on entrepreneurship, specifically for budding entrepreneurs.

Project Implementation Committee, headed by deputy secretary department of health Kulamani Mishra, visited MKCG medical college, Berhampur, to speedup the nine development projects entrusted to Larsen & Toubro on March 4.

“After soil testing of some of the proposed new building sites, some have been found unsuitable and we are here to finalise the alternate sites for the projects,” said Mishra. L&T has been entrusted to work on development projects worth Rs 495 crore in the three government-run medical colleges of the state. Work has already begun in SCB and VSS medical colleges, he said.

The facilities to be constructed by the L&T include an academic block with a concrete stage, a lecture theatre, 1,500-seat capacity auditorium, a six-storey building near the boys’ hostel, separate blocks for some of the departments and a laboratory. The site selection and development committee of the MKCG consisting of five professors of various departments had suggested sites to set up at various buildings.

Manuscript conservation

The manuscript conservation centre of the postgraduate department of history at Sambapur University organised an awareness camp at a government school of Urle in Sonepur district on February 26. Students and teachers walked in and around the villages with placards and banners to create awareness about manuscripts among the people. A meeting followed it where retired history professor of Sambalpur University P.K. Nayak, who graced the occasion as chief speaker, highlighted the primary and scientific methods of conservation of manuscript.

Retired professor of Odia department of Sambalpur University, K.R. Panigrahi, who attended the occasion as guest of honour, spoke on the importance of palm leaf manuscripts and its impact on society. An exhibition on the technique of conservation of palm leaf manuscript was also organised on this occasion. The exhibition attracted a large number of students and villagers.