Berhampur University Celebrates Golden Jubilee

Berhampur University began its three day golden jubilee celebrations from Saturday at the university campus, Bhanja Bihar.

The occasion was used by the university to award the second Kabisamrat Upendra Bhanja National Award-2015 to eminent Hindi Writer Giriraj Kishore. In addition to the citation he was also awarded with a bank cheque of Rs one lakh. On the same occasion the university also awarded Dakhina Odisha Loksanskruti Samman to two eminent folk artists-Arjuna Adhikari (Prahallad Nataka) and Kantaru Behera (Bharat Leela). The university also felicitated Krushna Singh, a campaigner of Bhudana Adolon.

Mr. Giriraj Kishore who is also a Padmashri award winner said about the award,” I am delighted to get the award.” He emphasised on developing the creative skill of students by setting up a creative writing centre in the university.

The function Goldfest was inaugurated by the state higher education minister Mr. Pradeep Panigrahi who stated that the state government has accorded top priority and is taking appropriate steps to expand and modernize the higher education sector in the state. He said,” The government has already issued instructions to update the syllabi, introduce choice based credit system (CBCS), make optimum use of the information and communication technology and due emphasis on innovative research. “

Mr. Panigrahi also informed that about Rs 70 crore had been sanctioned by the government to BU under various different schemes and heads for its infrastructure development. According to him the government has already sanctioned funds for augmentation of sports facilities, towards making the campus Wi-Fi, towards providing provisions for smart classroom and also to fill up teaching posts. He said,” With the completion of these development projects and filling the teaching posts, we hope the university will be in a position to provide quality education, which is need of the hour.”

The event was also addressed by Ranbir Singh who is the president Association of Indian Universities (AIU), MP (Berhampur) Sidhant Mohapatra and vice –chancellor Deepak Kumar Behera. The VC of the university assured the gathering that the golden jubilee celebrations would carry on throughout the year in the form of various programmes like memorial lectures. In addition to the cultural programmes different competitions would also be held as part of the celebrations.

It is important to note that the Berhampur University was established on January 2, 1967. The motive behind establishing the university was to spread higher education in the southern Odisha districts. Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Koraput, Rayagada, Nowrangapur and Malkanagiri are some of the districts under its jurisdiction along with 149 affiliated colleges.