The Times of India Odisha Icon 2011 Awards (Social Service) conferred on Dr. A. Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS.

The Times of India Odisha Icon 2011 Awards to 16 personalities at a glittering function held in Bhubaneswar. Each category had a popular choice and a jury's choice awards. Cine Artist Jharana Das was the Guest of Honour. The recipients were Anubhav Mohanty,  Baladev Maharatha (art and culture); Harihar Das, Binash Kumar & Group (live Entertainment); Charchit Mishra, Subhrakant Panda (family business); Kiran Manisha Mahanty, Pratima Puhan & Pramila Prava Minz (sports); Achyuta Samanta (social service); Navin Kandol, Ayaskanta Mohanty (entrepreneur); Rakshyaka Nayak and Akshaya Behere (Literature) and Dr. Bidyut Dash, Ramesh Swain (professionals). The award was supported by NM Group Institutions Assotech, MBC TV, Red FM, Samaya, Mindfire Solutions and OEU.

Mega Guardians' Meet at KISS

Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) organized a mega guardians' meet on 27th February 2011. More than 30,000 people, all parents and guardians of tribal students of KISS, attended the meet. They got a first hand experience of the institute where their wards are studying during the day long programme. 

Assembly of such a large number of tribals representing 62 tribes and 13 primitive tribal communities from all corners of Odisha is one of its kind. Like every year, KISS authorities made elaborate arrangements to greet the parents in this mega assembly. These arrangements included their food, shelter and transport.  

Parents and guardians attending the meet expressed their profound gratitude to Dr. A. Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS for securing the future of their children through KISS, which provides education from KG to PG, vocational training, food, accommodation and all other basic necessities of life absolutely free of cost to 12000 tribal children. They were satisfied to see that their children are getting education and care at par with any good public school in a beautiful environment. They urged Dr. Samanta to replicate this initiative in all tribal districts of the state. 

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Samanta adviced them that only education can ensure a dignified life to them, the traditional way of living is now impossible due to lack of natural resources. Tulashi Munda, Eminent Social Worker, Ms. Saswati Bal, President, KIIT & KISS, Dr. P. K. Routaray, CEO, KISS and Mr. P. K. Das, Livelihood Director, KISS also spoke on the occasion. As many as 50 guardians of KISS students, who are high achievers, were felicitated.

Second Term for Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS in UGC

Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS has been re-appointed as a Commission Member of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for a term of three years. Being the first Oriya in the Commission of the UGC, Achyuta Samanta's appointment has been hailed by academicians throughout the state.

 Dr. Samanta was first appointed a Commission Member of UGC in 2008. Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Human Resource Development re-appointed him before the end of his term in February 2011. A Gazette Notification to this effect has been issued on 25th February 2011 by the Ministry of HRD.

 His contributions and his active participation in formulation of different policies earned him the distinction of being the first choice of the Ministry of HRD for the consideration of an extension of his term at a time when the private education providers in all over the country are under the scanner of the Ministry. It is a significant achievement for Samanta as well as the state of Odisha as a whole.

Dr. Samanta has also been included in a 9-member Round Table constituted by the Ministry of HRD during January last for the development of education of the downtrodden children in the society. It is a matter of prestige and pride for the state of Odisha.

Dr. Samanta is expected to continue providing his expertise and views for the growth of higher education in India. Presently, Dr. Samanta has been member of several other national and international bodies including AICTE; Coir Board of India; CAPART; Forest Right Act Committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Tribal Affairs, Government of India; National Executive Council of ISTE, Government of India; Academic Councils of the Central University, Odisha, Assam Central University, Silchar; Chairman - Advisory Committee of Nehru Gram Bharati Viswavidyalaya, Allahabad; Chairman - Advisory Committee of Padmashree Dr. D Y Patil University, Navi Mumbai; Chairman Advisory Committee of Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences University, Nagpur besides being Member of IIE, New York; UMAP, Thailand; AUAP, IAUP and Asia Economic Forum.

 Academicians and intellectuals from all over the state and outside have expressed their satisfaction over the appointment of Samanta into the UGC body for one more term. It is a matter of pride for Odisha, they opined.

 Reacting to the notification from the Ministry of HRD re-appointing him for the second term in the UGC, Dr. Samanta thanked the Minister of HRD, Shri Kapil Sibal for reposing faith on him and giving credence to the work he did in his first stint. He will continue to work in a constructive way for the development of higher education in the country in general and in Odisha in particular, he said.

KIIT Founder Delivers Convocation Address at Pokhara University, Nepal

Dr. A. Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS graced the Eighth Convocation Ceremony of Pokhara University, Nepal as Chief Guest and delivered the convocation address on 20th February 2011. Shri Jhala Nath Khanal, Hon’ble Prime Minister of Nepal, who is also Chancellor of the university, distributed graduation certificates to the successful students of Pokhara University on the occasion.

A total of 1044 students from 23 affiliated campuses and three constituent colleges of the university received graduation certificates. Urging the students to use their knowledge and skills to make Nepal economically prosperous and socially transformed country, Shri Khanal recommended the university to zero in on development and research work for the all-round development of the country. The education sector needs to be free from political meddling, he said.

In his convocation address, Dr. Samanta opined that Nepali students could compete anywhere in the world if given quality education. Asserting that quality education equipped with latest technology could help in Nepal’s swift development, he urged the graduates to focus on community service and research oriented activities.

Pokhara University is a leading university of Nepal. It is running various programmes under faculties of Management, Science & Technology, and Humanities and Social Sciences. The university, located at Lekhnath-12 Dhungepatan, has 15,000 students currently studying in its affiliated and constituent campuses.   

Dr. Keshar Jung Baral, Vice-Chancellor, Pokhara University and Dr. Om Prakash Sharma, Registrar also spoke on the occasion.

Toppers of various Masters and Bachelors degree programme were awarded the Chancellor’s Medals and Vice-Chancellor’s Medals respectively. Similarly, the topper of the Masters in Management programme was conferred the Laxmi Vidhya Medal and the highest scorer in the Bachelors in Management programme was given the Oxford Medal.

Convocation Address of Dr. Achyuta Samanta
Founder – KIIT & KISS

Mega Techno-Management Fest ‘KRITANSH '11’ Inaugurated at KIIT

The Annual Techno Management Fest of KIIT University, Kritansh '11, was inaugurated by Shri M. C. Bhandare, His Excellency the Governor of Odisha on 14th February 2011. Kritansh 2011 has a ‘Proactive Environment’ as its theme and enjoys the patronage of UNESCO and UNICEF. About 2,000 students from different institutes across the country are participating.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Bhandare said that events like Kritansh encourage the spirit of creativity and innovation among the budding professionals, which are important for the long term benefit of the society. Also scientific development is the means of progress. Talking about global warming, he said, it is time to be concerned about the ecological imbalance and environment problems. Youth constitute 60% of the population and people look upon them for the country’s progress, he added. His Excellency the Governor also inaugurated the first book from KIIT named ‘Let’s Get Committed’ written by two students of KIIT, Utkarsh and Smita.

Welcoming His Excellency the Governor to the campus, Dr. A. Samanta, Founder of KIIT & KISS outlined the achievements of the students of the university in academics, technical, sports and cultural activities. Fests like Kritansh would go a long way in creating a broad platform for knowledge sharing among future engineers and managers, he said.

The bike stunt show displayed by the Ghost Ryderz group from Madras on 14th February enthralled the audience. Other events like talk show by Dr. Kumar Vishwaas, noted youth poet, a debating segment moderated by Mr. Suhel Seth, Managing Partner, Counselage India and a panel discussion on ‘Water and Equity’ supported by UNICEF and guest performance by ‘Them Clones’, a popular rock band from Delhi are special attractions are to be scheduled in next two days.

The competitive events are organized into six segments ‘Learn’, ‘Create’, ‘Play’, ‘Corporate Finestra’, ‘Robosphere’ and ‘Joie de Vivre’. ‘Learn’ features events on C/C++, s/w designing, hacking, quiz and cipher decoding. ‘Create’ consists of weapon & bridge designing, energy change & non conventional energy. ‘Play’ has LAN games and a new competition ‘Karmayudh' to test participants’ survival instincts.

‘Corporate Finestra’ will test their skills in Branding, Bulls 'n' Bears, Corporate case studies and business plan development. Development business plans would be adopted by KIIT Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI). ‘Robosphere’ features design and development of robots. Similarly, ‘Joie de Vivre’ is the competition between different band groups.

Students can win prize money worth Rs 20 lakh in different events.

Prof. A. S. Kolaskar, Vice Chancellor, KIIT University delivered the presidential address, while Dr. Sasmita Samanta, Registrar proposed the vote of thanks.

First BCI International Moot Court Competition Concludes at KIIT

First Bar Council of India (BCI) International Moot Court Competition came to an end at KIIT on 12th February 2011. The four-day competition was organized by the Bar Council of India Trust in association of KIIT School of Law. There is a need to conduct more such events, opined legal luminaries at the valedictory ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir, Judge, Supreme Court of India said that profession of law as well as legal education has undergone sea change over the years. Law now offers many avenues, he said, adding that caring, compassion and commitment are key qualities of an excellent legal person. He was touched by Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), where he visited earlier in the day. “It was amazing to see 12,000 students sitting here. It goes on to show human touch which has gone into making of KIIT University and KIIT School of Law,” Justice Kabir remarked, while congratulating KIIT for successful conduct of the competition.

Mooting must also address impacting mind of the judge, said Hon’ble Mr. Justice, A. K. Patnaik, Judge, Supreme Court of India, while reminding the budding lawyers that judge is also a human being. Mr. Gopal Subramanium, Solicitor General of India & Chairman, BCI pointed out that protecting rights of people who do not afford legal expenses is an important role of legal professionals.

A good advocate has respect for human values, said Hon’ble Mr Justice B. P. Das, Judge, Odisha High Court, while adding that moot competition will make students proficient in art of court craft. Stressing on the importance of skill in law, Prof. N. L. Mitra, Former VC, NLU Jodhpur & Chief Advisor, KIIT School of Law, said moot court, a dialectic process of learning, is superior to conventional classroom teaching.

Mr. Ashok Kumar Deb, Managing Trustee, BCI Trust informed that 40 teams from different parts of the country participated in the event. Mr. Ashok Parija, Convener of the competition and Member, BCI placed report of the competition.
 
Dr. Samanta thanked BCI and BCI Trust for selecting KIIT School of Law for this prestigious event. He also thanked the guests and dignitaries for their gracious presence.

Winners were also awarded in the valedictory ceremony. NALSAR, Hyderabad won the First Bar Council of India (BCI) International Moot Court Competition, while NLSIU, Bangalore finished runner up. Aishwarya Chandra of HNLU, Raipur won the Best Female Advocate Award and Gurusharan of GNLU was adjudged Best Male Advocate. GNLU and NLU, Delhi bagged Best Memorial and 2nd Best Memorial Awards. Third and Fourth Best Memorial Awards went to NLU, Jodhpur and HNLU, Raipur respectively.         

The Bar Council of India Trust has been organising national level Moot Court Competitions for about 26 years. This year for the first time an international dimension was given to the competition.

KIIT Inks MoU with Anglia Ruskin University

KIIT University and Anglia Ruskin University agreed upon a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 11th February 2011. Anglia Ruskin University is one of the largest university of UK having twin campuses in Cambridge and Chelmsford.

The MoU was signed between Prof. Sandra Hollis, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Anglia Ruskin University and Dr. Sasmita Samanta, Registrar, KIIT University in the presence of Dr. Satyendra Patnaik, Rector, KIIT, who presided over the MoU signing ceremony. Prof. Hollis was highly pleased with KIIT and expressed her desire for joint research and development. Suitably qualified students from KIIT may be able to progress to Anglia Ruskin awards in 3+1 arrangement, she said, adding that staff and student exchange could also be explored.

With the signing of MoU with Anglia Ruskin University, which has 31,000 students, KIIT has become the only university in eastern India to have collaboration with as many as 61 International Universities.
Prof. Hollis, who also visited KISS, congratulated Dr. A. Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS for his tireless effort in establishing the two institutions.

7th ICDCIT Inaugurated at KIIT

The 7th International Conference on Distributed Computing and Internet Technologies (ICDCIT – 2011) was inaugurated by Shri Surya Narayan Patro, Hon'ble Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management, Govt. of Odisha at KIIT on 10th February 2011. The conference is being co-organised by KIIT University and Centre for Electronic Governance, UNU-IIST, Macao. 

Speaking on the occasion, the Hon'ble Minister said that internet technology has permeated all field of human activity, including disaster management and health. He commended the efforts of researchers for working to develop technology for human welfare, while pointing out that there is a need to more in this direction.

It is a proud privilege for KIIT to organise yet another edition of this conference, said Dr. A. Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS, while welcoming guests and delegates to the campus. He expressed confidence that the deliberations would provide momentum to the research in the field.       

Prof. Raja Natarajan, TIFR, Mumbai introduced the conference and explained its objectives and structure. Prof. Hrusikesh Mohanty, University of Hyderabad and Prof. R. K. Shyamasundar, Member, Advisory Committee, ICDCIT also spoke on the occasion.

Instituted by KIIT in 2004, ICDCIT has come to occupy an important place in the international calendar of prestigious conferences in the field of information technology. ICDCIT conference series has become a platform for Computer Science researchers from India and all over the world to exchange research results and ideas on the foundations and applications of Distributed Computing and Internet Technologies. Increasingly, such technologies enable individuals and organizations to jointly engage in the production, processing and dissemination of knowledge.

This year's conference, which has a strong participation from academicians, researchers and corporate sector from across the world, features invited talks by J.C.M. Baeten, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands; Yves Deswarte, LAAS-CNRS, France; Kohei Honda, Queen Mary & Westfield College, UK; Krishna Shankara Narayanan, IIT Bombay, India; Vaughan Pratt, Stanford University, USA; and Maria Wimmer, University of Koblenz, Germany.

The proceedings of the four-day conference have been published by Springer in the series of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, as in previous years. Among other segments, the 7th ICDCIT features Industry Symposium and Student research Symposium.

First BCI International Law Moot Court Competition Commences at KIIT

First Bar Council of India (BCI) International Moot Court Competition was inaugurated at KIIT by Hon’ble Mr. Justice B. P. Das, Judge, Odisha High Court on 9th February 2011. The competition is being organized by the Bar Council of India Trust in association of KIIT School of Law. The inaugural ceremony was graced by legal luminaries like Mr. Ashok Mohanty, Advocate General, Odisha, Mr. Jagannath Patnaik, Former Chairman, Bar Council of India, Mr. Daulat Ram Sharma, Associate Trustee, BCI Trust and Mr. Ashok Parija, Member, BCI and Convener of the competition.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice B. P. Das lauded the initiative of Bar Council of India Trust and KIIT School of Law for organizing a moot court competition at international level. It is a unique opportunity for the students, he said in his inaugural address, while hoping that it will immensely benefit the participants.

Moot court helps develop skills of a professional advocate, said Mr. Ashok Mohanty, while terming the endeavour to organize international moot court competition a historical development. Area of litigation has expanded manifold with the opening up of economy, he told the participants, while stating that people look upon lawyers to resolve the litigations.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Jagannath Patnaik said that law should address present day economic and social challenges. Mr. Ashok Parija introduced the concept and outlined benefits of moot court competition. As many as 40 teams from different parts of the country are participating in this competition, he informed.

The Bar Council of India Trust has been organising national level Moot Court Competitions for about 26 years, informed Mr. Daulat Ram Sharma. The Bar Council of India, an apex body for the entire legal profession, has decided that the Bar Council of India Trust would conduct the 1st BCI International Moot Court Competition in association with KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. It is an attempt to foster interest in the area of International Arbitration. It will be an annual event, garnering participation not only from institutions across India, but internationally as well.    

The opportunity to organize this prestigious event in KIIT is a matter of pride not only for the university, but for the State of Odisha as a whole, said Dr. A. Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS. He expressed his gratitude to the legal luminaries for their presence on the occasion.

In his presidential address, Prof. A. S. Kolaskar, Vice Chancellor, KIIT University said that KIIT School of Law was established on the pattern of National Law Schools in 2007 to meet the growing demand for legal professions in the wake of globalisation and rapid expansion of India's economy. Prof. N. K. Chakrabarti, Director, KIIT School of Law proposed vote of thanks.

KPL-2011 to kick off from 4th February

KIIT Premier League 2011 (KPL-11) is going to be held at KIIT from 4th - 9th February 2011. Several institutions of the state and country will be participating in this cricketing extravaganza. The teams have been divided into four groups. Group A has teams like Delhi University, Delhi; Kurukshetra University, Haryana and TACT, Bhubaneswar, while in Group B, there are teams like Utkal University; Gitam University, Visakhapatnam and KIIT Vikings. Similarly, in Group C features Andhra University, Hyderabad, OEC, Bhubaneswar and SRM University, Chennai. KIIT Spartan, CVREC, Bhubaneswar and OUAT, Bhubaneswar find place in Group D.

All matches would be day and night matches held as per the T-20 format, including 15 league matches and knockout. Each team would be playing at least three matches. All the league matches would be completed by 9th February. An exhibition match will be played on 5th February. Semifinal and Final matches will be held on 8th and 9th February respectively. International Players like Mr. Michael Bebhan, Coach Odisha Ranjee Team & Kings’ Eleven Punjab and Shri Ashribad Behera, Secretary OCA would grace the inaugural function, while member of Team India Pragyan Ojha and Manager Shri Ranjeev Biswal would grace the valedictory ceremony.

Winner of KPL-11 would go back with huge prize money of Rs. 1 lakh, while the Runners Up team would get a cash prize of Rs. 50,000. There is a prize money of Rs, 10,000 for the winner team of Semi-Final match, whereas winner of every league match would get Rs. 5,000 each. Similarly, best batsman, bowler, wicket keeper and fielder would get Rs. 3000 each. Last year's edition of this tournament was a big hit.