Following success of first virtual edition of the festival, 'Pragyan22' all set to come back bigger
Following the success of the first virtual edition of the festival, Pragyan ’22 is all set to come back even bigger. Over the past 10 months, Pragyan has conducted a wide array of events to share the wonders of technology with other admirers as well as share its benefits with the less fortunate sections of society.
Pragyan is the ISO 9001 AND 20121 certified annual International Techno-Managerial fest of NIT Trichy. It is one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the country, which hosts and showcases the talent of students from various colleges across the nation, since its inception in 2005. Pragyan is acclaimed for the diverse experiences and opportunities it offers for technology and management enthusiasts.
The social responsibility wing of Pragyan conducted GyaanE, an interactive event held for the students of VI-XII at an orphanage of Bhopal (Children's village). The event consisted of sessions covering topics such as Cybercrime, Art n Crafts, and Social Skills. The young minds found the guest lectures, activities, and interactive sessions to be very useful. The event was wrapped up with a valuable career guidance session.
To raise awareness about the world’s problems, Pragyan in collaboration with the Fine Arts Club of NITT, organized Canvas for change, an exclusive poster contest for Students from LKG to 10th Grade targeting ‘Awareness through Art’. This event stood apart from others as it gave a platform for participants to use their creativity to express real-world issues.
India has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the world. To raise awareness on this vital issue, Pragyan invited Ms. Sunayana Singh (CEO, ORGAN INDIA), for a webinar on organ donation. Ms. Sunayana highlighted the importance of organ donation and highlighted ways to sign up for donation.
Pragyan ’22 celebrated World Space Week (4-10 October) with astronomical grandeur. Multiple events were held to celebrate the vastness of space. Cosmic Canvas, a poster-making contest, challenged the creative skills of participants. Space Labyrinth (a puzzle-solving contest) and Space Sherlocked (a mystery-solving contest) put space enthusiasts’ knowledge of the cosmos to the test. Spacewalks and Star Talks, a comic strip about the lifespan of stars, was released to promote interest around space week.
Furthermore, Pragyan in collaboration with Nakshatra, organized UFOs: Unverified and False Opinions on Space, an interactive workshop targeting the misconceptions and half-truths about the natural phenomena occurring in space. Attendees were left starstruck by the amount of misinformation circulating on online platforms and were made to be more aware of how to identify facts from myths. Additionally, a panel discussion, with the objective of determining if the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 is still valid in the current era of space exploration, was held. 4 experts from the field had a civil discussion citing the pros, cons, and what to expect in the future.
The Pragyan Blog was kickstarted back into action following the end of Pragyan ’21. Surviving the zombie apocalypse, entertaining the possibility of a real-life Iron Man, exploring the realms of robotics and AI, understanding the science behind music, assessing current economic reforms, questioning the extent of our privacy, learning to live with oneself; the Pragyan Blog remains the one-stop destination for science, technology, and management related content.
To increase the reach of the festival, Pragyan held multiple outreach events. The Logo Quiz tested participants' nimble minds and pictographic memory. This event turned out to be the biggest success in terms of registrations. Pragyan also held Scavenger Hunt, which had teams competing to solve clues at the earliest and reveal the final secret. For the special occasion of Valentine’s day, Pragyan released Love is in the AIr, a comic strip highlighting a few unique conversation starters.
Pragyan ’22 is scheduled to happen from 18th to 20th March. This year, the festival aims to evolve into its best version yet, sticking true to its tagline of ‘Let’s Celebrate Technology’. With the fest being conducted on campus after 2 years, be ready to witness the wide plethora of events, workshops, guest lectures, panel discussions and so much more.
There are various events planned for each of the 8 unique clusters. The different clusters for this edition of Pragyan are Concreate, Bytehoc, Manigma, Conception, Roborex, Pandora's Box, Phronesis, and EWitts. A few of the mega-events are TownTrace, Code Venatic, Attack on Robots, NoContact, Simdroid, M-Decoder, and Biz Quiz.
This year’s lineup of guest lectures aims to cover broad topics such as Clean Water Development, Space Laws, Diseases, Electron Devices, and Nanoelectronics. With lecturers coming from various walks of life, be sure to catch these transformative speeches.
The Pragyan Podcast has released its first episode titled ‘Women, Work, and Feminism’, in which the hosts explore the difficulties faced by women at their workplaces and the various factors that contribute to holding them back. With more intriguing episodes lined up, listeners are in for a ride.
The Pragyan ’22 Infotainment Programmes aim to ensure that this will be one of the most memorable editions of Pragyan. This year, Pragyan plans to host beautiful light paintings, an astonishing fire performance, and the innovative LED POI by Kupava. A jaw-dropping performance by Laser Show India is also planned along with a comedy night by the acclaimed comedian Nishant Suri to tie up the fest.
Crossfire, the annual Panel Discussion, seeks to address the future of Cryptocurrencies and NFTs in India. Cryptocurrencies, powered by encryption algorithms, have established themselves as an alternative form of payment due to their accompanying ease of transaction and anonymity. While some countries have entirely banned cryptocurrencies, some have partially tried to regulate their flow in the economy. The magnitude of global stature that cryptocurrencies and NFTS may attain is anyone's guess. Therefore, it is imperative to discuss how they may evolve and impact the future, especially in populous countries like India. Stay tuned to Crossfire ’22 to find out the answers to all your queries.
Pragyan also plans to organize Catalyst, an interactive session with a government school to help teach the basics of Science, Maths, and English to the students. And to top it off, a session in Origami is also planned to ensure the kids leave with a smile on their faces.
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89 killed as storm, rain batter UP; relief work underway
Lucknow (PTI): At least 89 people were killed after a strong storm and heavy rain pounded several districts of Uttar Pradesh, uprooting trees and electric poles and damaging houses, according to the Relief Commissioner's office.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the loss of lives and damage caused by the unseasonal rain, thunderstorms and lightning on Wednesday and directed officials to ensure relief reaches the affected families within 24 hours.
In a post on X on Thursday, the Relief Commissioner's office said, "Due to bad weather on May 13, including storms, rain, hailstorm and lightning, reports of 89 deaths, 53 injured persons, 114 livestock losses and damage to 87 houses have been received in the state, which has been taken cognisance of by the Hon'ble Chief Minister."
It said the chief minister has directed all divisional commissioners and district magistrates to verify the incidents "with full sensitivity" and ensure financial assistance is distributed to affected families within 24 hours while establishing direct communication with them and extending other necessary help.
The Relief Commissioner's office said it is continuously monitoring the situation through direct coordination with district officials and necessary funds are being made available to districts.
According to a list issued by the Prayagraj district administration, seven deaths were reported in the Handia area, four in Phulpur, three in Soraon, two in Meja and one in Sadar due to the storm and rain.
In Bhadohi, district administration sources said at least 16 people died in storm-related incidents.
Additional District Magistrate Kunwar Virendra Kumar Maurya said trees and electric poles were uprooted in several areas while many houses were damaged in the storm.
Fatehpur Additional District Magistrate Avinash Tripathi said nine people were killed and 16 injured in storm-related incidents in the district.
"Eight people, including five women, died in Khaga tehsil, while a woman died after a wall of a house collapsed in Sadar tehsil," he said.
In Pratapgarh, four people died in separate incidents of wall and cemented shed collapses and lightning strikes amid strong winds and rain, officials said.
Superintendent of Police Deepak Bhukar said Bhim Yadav (25) died after he was trapped under the debris of a cemented shed that collapsed in Ojha Ka Purwa village in the Lalganj Kotwali area.
He said Bhushan Pandey (56) died after a wall collapsed in Sari Swami village under the Baghrai police station area.
Bhukar said Shanti Devi (46) of Narangpur village and Lal Bahadur (44) of Chhatrapur Shivala Raghna village also died in storm-related incidents.
In Kanpur Dehat district, two persons died in rain-related incidents, the officials said.
Police sources said a 19-year-old woman, Ruchi, died after being struck by lightning in Bhauthari village under the Rasulabad area while standing under a neem tree with goats during heavy rain. Several goats also died in the incident.
A 60-year-old man standing nearby was injured, they added.
Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Dushyant Kumar said reports regarding human and livestock losses have been sought from local officials and financial assistance will be provided as per government rules.
In Deoria, Komal Yadav (62), a resident of Bhimpur Gaura village, died after being struck by lightning, district administration sources said. Two others were injured in the incident.
In another incident, Ramnath Prasad (65), a resident of Neruari village, died in a lightning strike.
In Sonbhadra district, Madhav Singh (38) died after being trapped under a tree uprooted during the rain and the storm.
Adityanath directed the district magistrates and officials of various departments to visit the affected areas and provide all possible assistance to the victims and their families.
He also instructed the officials to remain alert and ordered the revenue and agriculture departments, along with insurance companies, to conduct a survey of the damage and submit a report to the government.
