Act Aware - World AIDS Day 2010

World Aids Day provides an opportunity for all of us - individuals, communities and leaders to take action and ensure that human rights are protected and global targets for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care are met. This event therefore was important in reminding the student community that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. This event provided an opportunity to about 600 students of Business Management, Rural Management and Social work on the XIMB campus to get involved with SRC in spreading the message of World Aids Day.

Mr. Amiya Bhusan Biswal, President, Utkal Sebak Samaj along with Ms. A. Tulsi Rao, Treasurer, ONP+, Prof. Latha Ravindran and Prof. Peppin of XIMB and Madhu Chhanda Panda, the capacity building officer of GFATM at XIMB, were present for this event including the GFATM Team of XIMB and NISWASS.

SRC in collaboration with GFATM organized a Collage Competition at XIMB on 1st Dec 2010 to mark World AIDS Day. The Theme of the competition was 'ACT AWARE’. This was followed by a skit and a street play conducted by the students of XIMB & NISWASS respectively.  The street play performed by the students of NISWASS was based on the theme “HIV infections through injecting drug use” and the skit by the students of XIMB was based on the theme “Stigma and Discrimination at the work place”

This was followed up by a ribbon tying ceremony carried out by the SRC Members and also distribution of IEC Materials, sponsored by CONCERN Worldwide, to the students of XIMB and NISWASS. This was followed by students giving their views regarding HIV/AIDS on the World AIDS day wall. Exhibition of the Collages and Drawings made by children of Harsha Memorial was put up for viewing.

This was followed by speeches by inspirational speeches about the importance of World AIDS day by the guests. The concluding remark was “The fight is far from over, and the struggle continues. We need to ensure that global commitments are translated into increased support for PLHAs (People living with HIV AIDS) at the community level. Youth, especially men and boys must be our partners in transforming behaviors that endanger the health of society at large.”

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OLS makes its way to XIMB Xpressions '10

This time around, at the annual management & cultural festival of XIMB i.e. Xpressions’10, SRC, the social responsibility cell of XIMB took a new initiative. It collaborated with open learning systems (OLS), a non-profit, non-governmental organization, which seeks to support children and young adults suffering from cerebral palsy, autism and developmental delays in sensory motor, language, social, and emotional areas. OLS also houses some of these children’s who are orphans.

SRC requested them to sell their in-house products like chocolates, file-folders, greeting cards etc. through a stall (provided by us) inside the premises of XIMB during all the 3 days of the events. They readily agreed to the same. The objective behind this was two-fold. One was the sale of their in-house products and secondly to spread awareness of the cause of the organization. 


The proceeds from the sales of these products went entirely to OLS. The best part was that anyone who came to buy the products wished to know about the organization and expressed an interest to help out for the cause. Lots of media persons were presents over all the 3 days which helped a lot from the point of spreading awareness about the organization as a whole. On their part SRC helped them to the fullest extent to promote their products and at the end of it all we all were happy to generate some funds which could be used to improve the lives of OLS children to an extent.

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E-Literacy Project in Salia Sahi

The Social Responsibility Cell (SRC) of XIMB in association with Rotary International recently undertook an e-literacy project for the adult residents of Salia Sahi in the city of Bhubaneswar. The project was an extension of a similar e-literacy project undertaken by the Social Responsibility Cell last year. The objective of the project was to teach the adults how to read and write in Oriya with the help of very interactive software designed by Tata Consultancy Services. The software enables the students, adults in this case, to learn to read and write in Oriya in a very interactive manner. The software covers different modules wherein it teaches right from forming words to framing sentences in Oriya, all the while relating the words and sentences with relevant pictures, making it all the more engaging.

The teaching session were carried out in a school in Salia Sahi. Members from the SRC took up the responsibility of demonstrating the software to the Principal of the school and then to the adults of Salia Sahi. The sessions were conducted at a convenient time in the evening after the people were back from their work. The sessions were attended by the women and men of Salia Sahi who cannot read or write. It was heartening to witness the enthusiasm of the adults about learning through a computer. Many of them mentioned that due to the interactive nature of the software, they found it easier to remember what they had learnt. The women were also very happy since many of them knew how to read but not how to write. They were thankful that by learning how to write, they could now sign their names, which is a mandatory criterion for the members of Self Help Groups (SHG).

As for the members of the SRC, it was a great experience to interact with the residents of Salia Sahi and to witness their interest and enthusiasm. It always gives a great feeling when one is able to make a positive difference in someone’s life and thanks to the Rotary Club and XIMB; the students got this great opportunity. The e-literacy campaign taught not only the adults from Saliya Sahi but also the non-Oriya students of XIMB who had volunteered for the project. 

These kind of projects need to be taken up more and more as they serve to sensitize the volunteers who are the future world citizens. The project has set a solid foundation for more such e-literacy projects in the future and will indeed serve as a great example for whoever is looking to take it up in future.

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International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) Celebration

Vincent Van Gogh once said “I dream of painting and then I paint my dream”. A dream transcends all human boundaries. To mark the International Day of People with Disability a painting competition was organized by the SRC cell of XIMB, in association with the Rotary club of Bhubaneswar Metro for the students of Shri Harsha Memorial School for the Deaf, Bhubaneswar on 28^th Nov’2010. The objective of organizing the 
painting competition was to nurture their dreams and capture it on canvas.

Around 90 students from nursery to tenth standard participated in the competition, categorized into Sub-Junior, Junior and Senior groups. There was no specific theme for Junior and Sub-Junior groups. ‘Our society’ was the theme for senior group. The teachers of Shri Harsha Memorial School helped us in communicating with the students and organizing the competitions. Dr. Gopal K Nayak, the president of Rotary club of Bhubaneswar Metro, along with other club members graced the occasion with their presence.

The children were very creative. They were completely immersed in painting. Painting is the definitely best medium to nurture and express their thought, imagination and dreams. Most of them did a brilliant job and gave judges a tough time in deciding the winners. Dr. G. K. Nayak distributed prizes to the two best paintings in each category. Some of them will be printed and sold as New Year’s Greeting cards. The proceeds shall go to Shri Harsha Memorial School. 

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Spreading the joy of Diwali

Diwali is a festival that symbolises the victory of good over evil, of light over darkness, of happiness over gloom and spreads message of brotherhood, secularism and amity. And what better way to celebrate this festival of light and charm, than to bring a smile on the faces of the most neglected and downtrodden section of the society. The social responsibility cell of XIMB did just that, as they along with batch-mates celebrated the festival of lights with the residents of Sneh, an orphanage in the nearby Salia Sahi slum.

The children of the Salia Sahi were given a day to remember forever, thanks to the efforts of the SRC, which lived up to its motto – “We believe we can make a difference”. And they did indeed made a difference in the lives of several children, as they spent the evening playing and celebrating the joyous occasion with them. The SRC team took sweets and crackers along with them for the kids and elderly people. They became one with the kids, as they sang and danced and burst crackers with the young ones.

Indeed, celebrating Diwali with these kids and seeing them enjoy themselves to the hilts made the day for us. The sparkling festival never looked more beautiful than this! It was certainly a day that will remain etched forever in the memories of all those present, the kids as they were given a gift of a feeling of love, of being cared for and the SRC, as they left the place, contented to have done another bit for the society, with a promise to themselves to return again next time, and spend many more such evenings trying to bring a smile on the faces of the kids.

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Gramotsava '10

The mood of festival, celebration and enchantment caught the sites of Bentkar and Nimapara on 23^rd & 24th of October as Gramotsava 2010 made foray into the villages. Gramotsava, a two day rural marketing fair, is a flagship event organized annually by Rural managers’ Association of XIMB (RMAX). The fair attempts to facilitate corporate giants to promote their products / services in the rural areas.

The fair was supported by Unitech wireless (East) Pvt. Ltd. (Uninor) as the main sponsor along with associate sponsor Mahindra Tractors, Co-sponsor Ujjivan Microfinance, Stall sponsor Tata Motors, energy partner Onergy, media partner The Telegraph and knowledge partner Mart Rural Solutions.

The fair attracted a huge crowd from the villages. Apart from the products promotion, RMAX in association with Social Responsibility Cell of XIMB, utilized the opportunity to create awareness regarding health, hygiene and sanitation among children of the villages. Children visiting the fair were enlightened in a captivating manner through games and quizzes related to health issues and free distribution of healthcare products such as medicinal soaps, shampoo etc. Informative leaflets and posters were also distributed.

Visit of faculty members is an integral part of Gramotsava every year.  Prof. Shambu Prasad, Prof. S. S. Singh, Prof. P K Mohanty and Prof Jeevan J Arakal visited the SRC stall. They also participated in an awareness generating game of Hit-Da-Coz, a game involving throwing a ball to the symbolic representations of the primary causes of four major communicable diseases in rural India followed by a quiz.

Faculty members deeply appreciated this initiative of SRC. In the words of Prof. Sudhanshu Sekhar Singh, “Every year Malaria takes away some 50,000 human lives in Orissa and one of the biggest factors for the mortality rate. Hopefully this step of SRC would help in reducing the figure drastically”. Prof C. Shambu Prasad laid emphasis on the institutionalization of the process and recommended long term partnership with bodies like National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and Orissa Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA).

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Joy of Giving Week

The Social Responsibility Cell (SRC) of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar celebrated the Joy of giving week from 26^th September to 2^nd October 2010. Joy of giving week is a national movement aiming to engage every Indian in practicing “giving back” to the society, in a way he or she chooses. It has been started with the hope that it continues to grow to become a “festival of sharing” that unites all Indians. As a part of this initiative, XIMB joined hands with Goonj’s Collection drive and Bakul Foundation and launched the program "VASTRA-SAMMAN" in the campus to collect old clothes and other reusable materials. The clothes collected will be donated to the “Clothes for Work” program for the people in the rural areas. Collection boxes were put in front of prominent places around the campus like main gate, GR1, GR2, RMH, MTR and Studio Apartments. A "Door to door collection" drive was also launched as a part of this. The response from the faculty and students towards the program was overwhelming with thousands of materials collected which inclues clothes, stationary, newspapers etc. Overall, the program was a huge success.

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Drushti Daan

An Eye Donation Awareness Camp was conducted in XIMB by the Social Responsibility Cell in collaboration with "Drushti Daan" on 4^th September 2010.

"Drushti Daan" is a voluntary, not for profit organization, founded in 2002, with the objective to promote eye donation and combat corneal blindness. Since its inception, it has been actively spearheading eye donation & banking activities in Orissa. They are actively involved throughout the year in awareness programmes of this kind as well going to campuses all around the country. They are well known for creating widespread public awareness on eye donation and their successful Eye Banking activities such as collection and distribution for transplants. Drushti Daan is registered with the Health Dept of Govt of Orissa to function as an eye bank under Transplantation of Human Organs Act and is a Life member of Eye Bank Association of India.

In Orissa this organization functions from the premises of LV Prasad Eye Institute near Patia in Bhubaneswar. There are a lot of misconceptions regarding corneal blindness being cured by corneal transplants which the organization seeks to clarify. The donor corneas are sourced from human cadavers in a painless process which was also demonstrated in a presentation shown to the students. They also explained the whole process being done only after appropriate consent was taken from the donor families. They also have a Hospital Cornea Retrieval Program wherein trained grief counselors are posted at various hospitals to motivate families to donate corneas of their dear ones after their demise. Eye banking includes retrieval, evaluation and distribution of free of cost corneas to the corneal blind. They have eye banks in a lot of locations which help the needy by providing corneas for free for the blind.

It was a very interactive session as the students also showed a lot of interest and asked pertinent questions thus clearing lot of doubts and myths. The students were sensitized to the issue in a proper way. The session also generated a lot of enthusiasm and empathy for donating corneas as a lot of the students also pledged their eyes through a form distributed. Thus the event was a grand success and we thank Drushti Daan for enlightening us on the issue. 

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The Voice of a Candle

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

These were the golden words by Rabindranath Tagore indicating the importance of freedom in everyone’s life. Quoting the words of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” Echoing these thoughts, students of XIMB were not to be left behind. Even before India entered into its 63^rd year of independence, the spirit here at XIMB was at an all time high with patriotic songs echoing all over the campus, not to overlook the enthusiasm of the Ximbians.

The celebrations began with Prof Banikant and Prof. Ramana gracing the occasion at midnight and addressing a group of enthusiastic students. Their speeches were deeply inspiring. This was followed by a candle march led by the two professors. Even the strong winds were unable to deter the spirit of the marchers and the candle march ended at a high note on the college grounds.

The candles were laid out in such a manner that it showed the whole of India shining bright at that particular point of time. Such was the unity on display here. Even with the weather playing spoilsport, the students held their ground. They guarded the whole outline in order to keep the candles from going out in effect sending a clear signal to the whole world about India’s bright future ahead.

(Photo Courtesy - Jyoti Prakash Panda PGP 1)

That was just the start of the long lasting celebrations. The flag hoisting ceremony was held early next morning next day which reminded all of us of our good old school days. It was refreshing to sing the national anthem standing along with 500 other future managers and the entire faculty. The flag hoisting ceremony was followed by plenty of students sharing their honest feelings about Mother India and what Independence meant for her as well as her people.

This was concluded by a short street play conducted by SRC in association with XStage to sensitize the XIMB family towards over usage and over speeding of vehicles on campus roads, which not only threaten the safety of our community, but showcase our lack of respect towards our natural resources and environment. 

To conclude, lets leave you all to ponder over the words of one of our Professors.

Voice of a candle

You make me, light me, and melt me
But never listen to me!

I am neither a Sun nor a Star,
But a mere candle in your hand.

Yes, I can pierce the darkness,

Thank you for holding me!

But, Forget not,
It is you who creates darkness.
Yes,
behind you!

Thank you for holding me!

But, Forget not,
My siblings behind you,
Nay, it will create shadow,
Yes,
on your path way forward

Thank you for holding me!

But,
Don't march
Holding me in your hands,
Join me in
Burning and providing light to others!

-Professor D. V. Ramana

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SRC's attempt at bettering the lives of our mess bhainas

It is said the best social work begins back home. The Social Responsibility Cell (SRC) of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar has definitely affirmed its belief in the saying. SRC has implemented projects and organized events to significantly improve the lives of the hard working staff that play a crucial part in our lives here in the XIMB campus.

One noteworthy project that was undertaken by the SRC was the construction of a retiring room for the mess bhainas (or brothers in Oriya). On a normal day, the XIMB mess starts functioning at 8 in the morning and closes at 3 the next morning. Around fifty bhainas work day in and day out to prepare food for close to 500 students. However earlier on, the bhainas did not have a proper place to sleep as they prepared makeshift beds out of the dining tables in the mess. Also, the fact that a lot of student activities stretched way into the night did not help matters.

In the face of such hardship, the SRC took it upon itself to help them attain at least a basic necessity of life; sound sleep. Hence the construction of a retiring hall in the open area behind the mess was proposed. However an issue faced was a severe shortage of funds. But the students of the 2008 as well as 2009 batches (both BM & RM) came to the rescue by contributing liberally towards this noble cause. Finally the Administration helped us with a major portion of the financing. 

And after a couple of months of effort, the retiring hall was finally inaugurated on 10^th June, 2010.

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Save Electricity & Water Campaign.

The Save Electricity and Water Campaign was launched by the Social Responsibility Cell(SRC) of XIMB in June this year. It basically aims at creating awareness among the students of XIMB on the importance of judiciously using these resources and saving them.

Several posters on water conservation were put up at various places. This included putting up posters near the wash-basins, in the hostel bathrooms, in the college washrooms and near the water coolers. The posters contained the message that water being a scarce resource should be saved for the future. The other posters on saving electricity were put up in the classrooms, the hostel corridors, near the switch boards, near the elevators and several other places in the college. Each poster had the message of saving as much electricity as one could. These posters designed by the SRC members were very attractive and contained eye catching slogans on conservation.

Also the SRC volunteers conducted some awareness sessions amongst the students and the staff where the importance and scarcity of electricity and water was told. We also told the ways in which one could minimize their usage.

It has been 2 months now after the launch of the Save Electricity & Water Campaign, and we have found a lot of difference in the campus. People have become more conscious about saving electricity and water. There are lesser number of fans and lights running in empty rooms and class rooms, less number of people are using the lifts, the water wastage has also significantly reduced. So, the campaign has been pretty successful.

We at SRC are not only concerned about the socially backward but are concerned about planet as a whole. We are committed to create a happier world!

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Teaching Oriya to mess Bhainas through TCS software- an SRC initiative.

The Social Responsibility Cell (SRC) of XIMB has always been aiming at removing illiteracy and educating the masses.
Most of our mess workers and cooks here at XIMB('Bhainas', as they are called here in the local language) couldn't read/write. So we decided to start off with them. SRC volunteers taught 10 mess Bhainas, aged between 18-35 years, to read and write Oriya with the help of a software developed by TCS.

Computer Based Functional Literacy (CBFL) solution is an innovative teaching method conceptualised, designed and developed by TCS, based on the theory of Cognition and Laws of Perception. It is acclaimed as pioneering the third generation approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. It has been successfully deployed in India and abroad, as part of the Corporate Sustainability initiative of TCS. CBFL metaphors in the multimedia presentation making it interesting and attractive for learners. Material from National Literacy Mission (NLM) is adopted for use in the program. It takes about one-third the time required by conventional methods and there is flexibility to adjust to the learning pace of individuals. Adding to it's advantage, the multimedia format ensures the pronunciation of the words/letters is taught accurately through the system, rather than being left to individual teachers.

The mess Bhainas are relatively free after 10PM everyday. We had installed the TCS CBFL software in one of our laptops and we taught them daily at night, for about 2 hours. This continued for about a month. At the end of 1 month the Bhainas could read and write Oriya effortlessly!
This small step taken by us has brought a significant difference in their lives. Now they are more informed, will take better decisions and are definitely more confident. Our goal of giving them a better tomorrow has been realized.

This is what one of our Bhainas has said at the end of the course,
“I can now read newspapers, board the right bus, sign my name, help my children with their homework… It is a new life.” - CBFL Student, Sanjay Bhaina (35), Mess worker, XIMB.

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Humanitarian Day @ XIMB

The social responsibility cell of XIMB observed the second World Humanitarian Day on August 19^th with great vigour and enthusiasm. The event was to commemorate the work of humanitarian workers and to keep burning the lamp of humanity alive.

Esteemed dignitaries like chief guest Shri. Surya Narayan Patra (Honorable Minister, Revenue and Disaster Management), Mr.Dipankar Datta (Director, Concern Worldwide), Mr. Nikunja Kumar Sundaray (MD, Orissa State of Disaster Management), Mr. Mihir Bhatt (All India Institute of Disaster Mitigation) and our beloved director Fr.P.T.Joseph were present in the dais. There were several highlights of the event - The talk by the eminent dignitaries, the flash video presentation by the SRC volunteers, the candle light march, to name a few.

The event started off with the dignitaries lighting the lamp which was followed by a prayer song by the SRC volunteers. Then the director Fr.P.T.Joseph gave a welcome address. After that, the director of Concern Worldwide, gave an enlightening speech about the activities of the organisation.

Next was the touching flash video by the SRC volunteers. It conveyed a great motivational message that each one of us can make a difference if we do our little bit for the humanitarian cause. It attracted the attention and praise of the esteemed guests present in the dais.

In his keynote address, Mihir Bhat spoke of inclusion and investment in skill, knowledge, experience and exposure among aid workers. We also had an enlightening talk by Mr. Nikunja Kumar Sundaray.

SRC had conducted a national level essay writing competition with the theme “humanitarianism & climate change”. It had got an overwhelming response with participation of students from India’s reputed b-Schools like IIM-A, SIBM-Pune, IIFT-kolkata and Wellingkar. The prizes for the winners were distributed during the event.

Dr.Ambika Nanda from UNDP shared his thoughts from his volunteering experiences and also recited an Odia poem in remembrance of humanitarian expert late Shri. Shiv Narayan Mishra. He was posthumously felicitated by the dignitaries.

Then we had the lighting of the candles by the SRC Volunteers. They marched into the dais and observed 1 minute silence in remembrance of the heroes who lost their breath in order to keep somebody alive.

Then the development Atlas was released by the Chief Guest Shri.Surya Narayan Patra, Hon’ble Minister, Revenue & Disaster Management. A brief description of the Atlas was given by an expert from FES, Ahmedabad. Chief Guest then addressed the gathering.

Finally our beloved Dean (Academics) Mr Subhajyoti Ray gave the vote of thanks. The event ended with a national anthem by the SRC Volunteers. The event had the participation of all the students, faculty and other invited guests. The spirit of the humanitarian day was rightly conveyed through the event.

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Results of the Essay Writing Competition

The results of the Essay Writing Competition on the topic 'Humanitarianism and Climate Change' conducted and facilitated by Concern Worldwide and the Social Responsibility Cell of XIMB were finally declared on the occasion of the World Humanitarian Day observed here in the XIMB campus on 19th August, 2010. There were several entries from across the nation for this competition and the final three that emerged out of them have been mentioned below.

First Position: Shreya Sen (XIMB)

1st Prize- Rs 4000 Cash + Trophy + Certificate

Second Position: Soumitra Subinaya (National Law School Cuttack )

2nd Prize- Rs 2500 Cash + Trophy+Certificate

Third Position : Nitya Sundar Sahu (ASBM, Bhubaneswar)

3rd Prize- Rs. 1500 Cash +Trophy+Certificate

We convey our hearty congratulations to all the winners.

Team SRC

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