post news network, Bhubaneswar, April 1: Numerous schools, irrespective of their medium of instruction, and colleges organised various cultural activities and other ceremonies to mark the 80th Utkal Diwas on their premises, Wednesday. The state and its leaders also joined the celebrations in their own ways.
In a glittering function held at the Utkal Mandap, and attended by several politicians, including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and many other dignitaries, the cause of Orissa was upheld.
Both the government and the private schools of the city paid tribute to the freedom fighters and other sons of the soil by garlanding their statues at different parts of the city to acknowledge the sacrifices made by them to establish Orissa as a separate state belonging to the Oriya speaking people.
“We organised a formal meet inside our campus, where students and teachers shared their views regarding the importance of Utkal Diwas. Besides, many students took part in a debate competition organised on the occasion,” said Sonamika Roy, headmistress, Capital High school, Unit-3.
“As a headmistress of this school, I will try my best to secure a special place for the Oriya language in the hearts of my students. We need to come forward to uphold Oriya language today,” said Roy.
English medium schools too observed Utkal Diwas with much fanfare. The students and the teachers of many such schools took the vow to safeguard mother tongue, during the programmes organised on the occasion.
“This is not a year to celebrate this day in a casual manner; all of us will have to give priority to the Oriya language by promoting it throughout the state. China and Russia are promoting their local languages in every institution and offices. Why can’t we do it? Therefore, the government has to sensitise people of the state by holding various awareness programmes. The government should make provisions to use Oriya language in its every institution and offices,” said Tapan Kumar Satapathy, principal, St Xavier’s High school.
Youngsters, particularly college students displayed enthusiasm while observing Utkal Diwas and they acknowledged the role of the social networking sites like Facebook and the micro blogging platform Twitter for spreading messages on promoting the Oriya language.
“It is now a very common thing to organise such events during any special day. Time has come to step out of the campuses and take initiatives to preserve Oriya culture and heritage,” said Prakash Jena, student, Maharishi College.
Notably, students of different colleges came out to urge people to uphold their mother tongue in an era where English is the dominant mode of expression.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, inaugurated a painting exhibition where paintings of around 36 artists from nine art colleges in different parts of the state were exhibited. These artists took part in an art camp organised by the Lailt Kala Akademi to mark the 80th Utkal Diwas.
Manas Das, a deaf and dumb PG student of the University of Culture amazed everyone with his painting themed ‘Aame Padhiba’. “The theme of the painting camp was Utkal Diwas and I thought that portraying the importance of education in tribal region will be apt. Through my painting I tried to highlight that if tribal women were encouraged to become literate it would help in the development of society. I love painting; it helps me to express myself in the form of art,” he said.
Satyabhama Majhi of BK College of Art, along with her six students, created four 3D artwork highlighting the culture, literature, agriculture and sounds of the state, which gave a glimpse of true Orissa.
On this occasion, a photo exhibition displaying the portraits of famous personalities like Utkalagouraba Madhusudan Das, Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Pandita Nilakantha Das, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gangadhar Meher, Sir Basudeba Sudhaladeba, Radhanath Ray, Bhubanananda Das, and many others, highlighting their works and achievement was inaugurated at the Utkal Mandap.
Inaugurating the exhibition, information and public relation department secretary Madhusudan Padhi said, “It is important that we should not forget the struggles of our leaders who strived to make Orissa a prominent state. The exhibition is a medium to make people remember the great leaders and also help young generations to know about them.”
Susmita Panigrahi who visited the exhibition with her eight-year-old son said, “The exhibition is very informative, with pictures of the prominent leaders and a detailed description about their works. It would help young students to know about their leaders. I brought my son to see the exhibition so that he would know about the great leaders of Orissa.”
