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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