KISS girls’ rugby team, winners of Touraid U-13 International Girls’ Rugby Tournament, 2014, in London, receive a rousing welcome on their arrival in Bhubaneswar and (above) volunteers of Bakul Foundation organise an awareness programme on water conservation by tying blue ribbons each others wrists and call it Jal-Bandhan. Telegraph pictures

Utkrishta, the first intra-college fest of Sri Sri University, concluded on March 22. The three-day fest provided many opportunities to tap the dormant talents of the students. While the athletic youngsters competed against each other in basketball, volleyball, table tennis and kho-kho, the studious ones got the chance to exercise their mental strength in techno quiz, mind mapping, sudoku and extempore. Also, events such as pot decoration, mehendi and rangoli brought out the creative side of the students.

A graphology expert even offered to analyse handwriting with the aim of revealing the character and personality of the writer. The highlight of the fest was the cultural night where the students got a chance to showcase their dancing and singing talents. The fashion show where the participants walked down the aisle with the poise was well appreciated. A few faculty members also joined the students for the ramp walk.

Understanding physics

Theoretical and experimental physicists are at present engaged in solving the mystery of neutrinos heralding a new symmetry of nature beyond what is known as the standard model paradigm, said eminent physicist Durga Prasad Roy. He was deliberating at the Centre of Excellence in Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences of the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, on March 22.

“The existence of neutrinos and their mysterious properties have continued to baffle physicists since the 1930s until the neutrino oscillation experiments exposed their tiny masses and large mixings,” said Roy, a researcher at the Homi Bhaba Centre for Science Education, set up by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.

Honour for designer

GCC Group of Institutions, Bangalore, felicitated upcoming fashion designer Sujit Meher on March 20. He was the youngest person to receive this award. The group distributed the award in many categories to all eminent people who have achieved a milestone in the fashion industry. Meher is an alumnus of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bangalore.

Human and history

The department of history of Sambalpur University last week organised a seminar titled “Historical Prospective on Identities: Issues and Challenges”. Varsity vice-chancellor B.C. Barik presided over the seminar. Professor Amarendra Kumar of Viswa Bharati University, Santiniketan, attended the event as the guest of honour. He analysed the concept of identities in different phases of Maratha history.

Former vice-chancellor of Utkal University of Culture Sadhu Charan Panda attended the seminar as the chief guest.

Utkal University’s professor B.K. Mahalick was the keynote speaker of the occasion. During his discourse, he said: “Man gets identity from the history. The caste system has divided the human society into different sections.” Researchers from across the state presented their papers during the seminar. Hundreds of students and teachers of the varsity participated in the seminar.

(From top) Students of bio-informatics department of BJB College perform at the farewell ceremony, fashion designer Sujit Meher receives the award for “designer cum entrepreneur-2014” and Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital bids adieu to its first batch of medical graduates in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph pictures

Bid adieu

A sense of nostalgia gripped the conference hall of the Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital, Bhubaneswar, on March 22 as the institute bids adieu to its first batch of medical graduates.

The batch of hundred students were admitted to the institute in September 2007. Medical director of the IMS and Sum Hospital D.K. Ray advised the students to be good human beings first and keep in touch with the institute.

Two departments of BJB College — history and bioinformatics — also bid farewell to its final-year students.

Digital library

A national-level workshop on library automation using Koha software under e-Granth project was organised at Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar, on March 19-20. The aim of the workshop was to create awareness among library professionals, scientists and research scholars about the e-Granth project. The e-Granth project was started with 12 partners. In 2013, 26 more partners joined in this project, the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar, being one of them. About 30 library professionals and about hundred scientists and research scholars from different research institutes attended the workshop.

Dealing with disaster

Fakir Mohan University’s environment science department organised an UGC-sponsored seminar on disaster management last week. It was inaugurated by varsity vice-chancellor Kumarbar Das. Several eminent people deliberated on the topic disseminating their views and experiences. The discussions ranged from forecast, identification and mitigation of disaster. Further stress was given on agricultural rehabilitation, creation of mangrove forest with the help of local community and land reclamation. Emphasis was given on the eco-restoration and preventing sea side habitation from the sea borne disaster by creating wall between sea and land by the mangrove forest.

Warm welcome

The KISS girls’ rugby team, winners of Touraid U-13 International Girls’ Rugby Tournament, 2014, in London, was given a rousing welcome on their arrival in Bhubaneswar by the Kalinga Institute of Information Technology, the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences and the Odisha Rugby Football Association. The team of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, representing India, bagged the champion’s trophy in the final match of the tournament played in Saracens’ Allianz Park, London, UK, held between March 5 – 15, 2014. This is the first time that an under-13 girls’ team from Odisha visited London and defeated 20 international teams.

Save water

College students, in association with Bakul Foundation, organised an awareness programme on March 22 at a mall in Saheed Nagar, Bhubaneswar, to focus on water scarcity. A blue balloon in the shape of a water droplet was personified as a corpse and volunteers staged rituals of its memorial service. The volunteers tied blue ribbons on one another’s wrists and called it Jal-Bandhan.