Over 100 NSS volunteers and Program Officers representing 12 higher education institutions attended a 3-day university-level Youth Leadership Training Camp which concluded at the SOA Deemed to be University here on Monday.

 Ms. Sarita Patel, Regional Director of NSS, who was the chief guest at the inaugural function held on Saturday at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), SOA’s faculty of agricultural sciences, urged the volunteers to live to the organization’s motto which read ‘Not Me But You’.

 Prof. (Dr.) Basanta Kumar Panda, Project Director of Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Odia of Government of India who attended as chief speaker, cited illustrations from scriptures to bring home the concept of leadership. He also spoke about the National Education Policy 2020 in the context of dissemination of knowledge in one’s mother tongue.

SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Bijay Kumar Sahu presided over the meeting while the Dean (Students’ Welfare) Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das welcomed the guests. NSS Program Coordinator and SOA’s Director, University Outreach Program, Prof. Nachieketa K. Sharma outlined the objectives of the camp. Prof. Saroj Kumar Mohanty, Program Officer, proposed the vote of thanks.

 Altogether 110 volunteers from 12 institutions including Utkal University, IIT, Bhubaneswar, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Centurion University and Odisha University of Technology and Research attended the camp.

 Altogether ten academic sessions were organised during the camp in which Prof. Bhagaban Prakash, Mr. Madhusudan Das, Ms. Sarita Patel, Dr. Ramesh Chandra Behera, Prof. (Dr.) E. Venkat Rao. Dr. Sarat Chandra Sahu, Prof. (Dr.) Surjeet Sahoo and Prof. Nachieketa K. Sharma spoke on subjects like basic concept of NSS, leadership, climate, Covid-19 pandemic and vaccination, use and misuse of social media, education as a tool for leadership development, mental health and stress.

 The camp program included debate, drawing, rangoli and song competition while yoga sessions were held under the supervision of SOA’s Yoga Instructor Mr. Akhil Chandra Rana. Cultural evenings enthralled the participants.

 The concluding function was held on Monday which was graced by Dr. Ramesh Chandra Behera, State NSS Officer and Deputy Secretary in the state department of Higher Education as the chief guest. Dr. Subhendu Pattnaik, Deputy Director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium attended as the guest of honour. The event ended with a parting camp fire. Program Officers Dr. Mou Roy, Mr. Rakesh R. Satpathy, Dr. Kamal L. Mahanta, Dr. Shyamalendu Tripathy and Dr. Kumar S. Giri were actively involved in organizing the camp.