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The day long 8th Annual Interactions of DIGJYOTI family took place at the OUAT Guest House premises in Bhubaneswar on 25th December, 2014. To start with the day’s hectic proceedings, the children coming from different corners of the State were taken on sight visits to various locations like Ekamra Vatika, State Assembly, State Secretariat, Indira Park and State Information Centre, etc

The interaction between the beneficiary children, Chairman & Founder Trustees and Trust Members, social activists, functionaries of Orphanages went right throughout the Lunch and beyond till the Post Lunch session began at 3 P.M with participation of Honourable Guests and invitees. Problems faced by children in their studies, their career goals and some social stigmas were heard individually and appropriate guidance given for solutions. The Post Lunch session was presided over by Prof. Manoranjan Kar, Vice-Chancellor, OUAT and Prof. Sankarsana Nanda, Dean, Extension Education of the University who graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Following self introduction by the children, the Founder Chairman of the Trust, Prof. K. Pradhan welcomed the dignitaries in the dais, Trustees, Trust Members, social activists and the scholarship awardee children.

The Secretary of the Board of Trustees, made a brief submission about DIGJYOTI’s achievements over the years since 2006- awarding 69 scholarships to meritorious orphan, poor and distressed children which include two highly meritorious needy children awarded with Nemi Chand Jain scholarship and one student with Dr. S.S. Prabhu scholarship under DIGJYOTI banner. Of the 19 distressed children who have settled themselves in life, four were star attraction of the current year’s Meet. Sri Bipin Kumar Patra, hailing from Phulbani & brought up in an orphanage there, has been employed as a Teacher while Sri Chaitanya Pradhan coming from an orphanage in Angul is a faculty in an Engineering College. Dr. Lal Mohan Alada, a socially and economically challenged distressed boy after his medical education, is now a House Surgeon in the State’s premier Medical College. Ms. Maya Dhal, an orphan child initially brought up in SOS village was adopted by DIGJYOTI by meeting the entire expenditure of her professional degree education and she is now faculty in a Management Institute in the capital city of Bhubaneswar, happily married a few months ago and well settled in life. Maya received the covetous international award “Hermann Gmeiner Award-2014” with a cash prize of 5000 Euro equal to Indian rupees 3.9 Lakhs as the most outstanding among children cared for in SOS Children Village Programs all over the World and have distinguished themselves in terms of their social, cultural and career accomplishments. These glorious achievements of DIGJYOTIANS were loudly applauded by all participants, especially the fellow scholarship awardee children who were greatly inspired. The achievers were felicitated by the Trust

The Secretary of the Board of Trustees, made a brief submission about DIGJYOTI’s achievements over the years since 2006- awarding 69 scholarships to meritorious orphan, poor and distressed children which include two highly meritorious needy children awarded with Nemi Chand Jain scholarship and one student with Dr. S.S. Prabhu scholarship under DIGJYOTI banner. Of the 19 distressed children who have settled themselves in life, four were star attraction of the current year’s Meet. Sri Bipin Kumar Patra, hailing from Phulbani & brought up in an orphanage there, has been employed as a Teacher while Sri Chaitanya Pradhan coming from an orphanage in Angul is a faculty in an Engineering College. Dr. Lal Mohan Alada, a socially and economically challenged distressed boy after his medical education, is now a House Surgeon in the State’s premier Medical College. Ms. Maya Dhal, an orphan child initially brought up in SOS village was adopted by DIGJYOTI by meeting the entire expenditure of her professional degree education and she is now faculty in a Management Institute in the capital city of Bhubaneswar, happily married a few months ago and well settled in life. Maya received the covetous international award “Hermann Gmeiner Award-2014” with a cash prize of 5000 Euro equal to Indian rupees 3.9 Lakhs as the most outstanding among children cared for in SOS Children Village Programs all over the World and have distinguished themselves in terms of their social, cultural and career accomplishments. These glorious achievements of DIGJYOTIANS were loudly applauded by all participants, especially the fellow scholarship awardee children who were greatly inspired. The achievers were felicitated by the Trust

Noting the gleeful mood of the children in a day like the X-mas Day – the holy Birth Day of Lord Christ which signifies wellness for all, Prof. Santosh Kumar Rout, Trustee expressed his sincere hope that the children will imbibe this spirit in life to achieve their goals and espouse the cause for which DIGJYOTI stands.
Mrs Binayini Jena, Trustee & Corporator of the city’s Municipal Corporation, in her emotion filled address eulogized the good work of the Trust and hoped that the students will honestly follow the path of their seniors like Lal Mohan and Maya to establish themselves well in life.
Members of the Trust, Prof. Manoranjan Ray and Prof. Prabhu Charan Lenka, social activist spoke to the children exhaustively and advised them to be sincere in their purpose to achieve their goals.
Mr. Aditya Kumar Nayak, Advocate and a noted social activist from Bhadrak who despite his illness, participated in the interaction with a blind student from Tihidi who is under his close supervision and making steady progress in his study for a sustained livelihood. Mr. Nayak hoped that the Trust will continue its good work in years ahead too.

Mrs. Nivedita Lenka a noted social activist, recipient of Mother Teresa Award and Amma Gourav Award who dedicated her life for the cause of education of meritorious distressed children across the State, gave kaleidoscopic details of her philanthropic work since 2007 and expressed sincere gratitude to DIGJYOTI for providing the right forum for continuing her work of serving the cause of socially and economically challenged children of the state.
Mrs. Dipanjali Mishra, Asst. Headmistress, Sabalakana High School who takes active interest in identifying meritorious needy children for educational assistance from DIGJYOTI, in her lucid verse, was all praise of the Trust’s goals and achievements over the years.
Prof. Sankarsan Nanda, Hon’ble Chief Guest on the occasion eulogized the contributions made by the Trust for the cause of education of meritorious orphan and needy children with a view to settle them in life like Lal Mohan and Maya and assured his continued support to the cause in years ahead.

Trust’s Chairman, Prof. Pradhan while summing up the interaction exercise, pinned his hope on the stakeholders’ successful journey to reach their goal in life and become brand ambassadors to espouse the mission of DIGJYOTI in empowering the orphan and socially challenged distressed children in our society to relieve themselves from the shackle of misery and frustration.
As of DIGJYOTI, Prof. Pradhan informed the gathering that the Trust in its mission to expand its activities has entered into an MOU with Mr. Ram Chandra Prabhu who instituted a scholarship in memory of his illustrious father Late Dr. S.S. Prabhu for award of the same to an outstandingly meritorious Veterinary Graduate for prosecuting Post Graduate studies in the subject of Animal Breeding & Genetics or Animal Production, with a cash award of Rs.20,000/- per annum and after two years when the awardee completes his/her programme, the scholarship will be awarded to another candidate and roll on in similar manner. In the current year, a very meritorious girl, Ms. Sasmita Panda who is doing her Post-Graduation in Animal Production & Management in College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, has been awarded with this scholarship.

Prof. Pradhan also mentioned about formation of an alumni group which he hinted last year and expressed his fond hope that the group will be formed when the number of beneficiaries becomes a little more.
Prof. Manoranjan Kar in his Presidential Address hailed the contributions made by the Trust in providing support and guidance to meritorious orphan, poor and socially challenged children for their education which is the indispensable instrument to empower them in alleviation of their misery and frustration. He also expressed his satisfaction for his association with the Trust’s activities and assured his continued support in future.
The Interaction ended in the evening with the Secretary, Sri B.C. Das extending hearty vote of thanks to the Chair and all participants and amidst thunderous applause making an announcement of on-the- spot contribution of Rs.5,000/- and Rs.5,555/- by Mrs. Binayini Jena, BMC’s local corporator and Prof. Shankarsana Nanda, Dean, Extension Education of Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology respectively as a symbol of their whole hearted and unstinted support and love to DIGJYOTI’s Mission & Goal

The 7th Annual Interaction of DIGJYOTI family took place in Bhubaneswar on 9th February, 2014 with the participation of Trust awardees, representatives of orphanages, Trust members and social activists across the state. The children particularly were agog with enthusiasm to grab the opportunity of this much awaited interaction to meet everybody and share their experiences. They quickly finished their morning chores and jumped on to the waiting cavalcade for visiting places of educational and cultural interests in and around the city.

After a melodious devotional Invocation presented by a visually handicapped scholar, the meeting was opened by the Trust’s Founder & Chairman, Prof. Khageswar Pradhan. In his opening speech he gave a detailed account of the Trust’s activities. The Trust has so far awarded 47 scholarships including 19 this year. 16 past awardees are now well settled in their lives and careers. The Trust has entered into MOUs with two donors during the financial year to award scholarships to meritorious candidates pursuing Graduate and Post Graduate Degrees.

The founder Trustee, Mrs. Sucheta Pradhan impressed upon the children to be diligent in their studies; to achieve their goals in life while as a proud member of DIGJYOTI family, keep its flag flying high. She also appealed to them to extend a helping hand to other needy students who are around them. One boy gave example of his helping a poor boy to get admission by donating two thousand rupees from his meager allowance.

Mrs. Nibedita Lenka a social activist whose passion is to help poor and needy students had come forward with some brilliant students and DIGJYOTI is helping them with scholarships. She attended the meeting with Rajashri Parida, the girl who received the Nemichand Jain scholarship. After the meeting, Rajashri received the second installment of her scholarship money.

The interactive meeting continued with brief comments from University officers, members of the Trust, representatives of orphanages and social activists and participating students who talked about their rewarding experiences from their association with the Trust. Moved by the heart-touching proceedings, a social activist Mr. Aditya Kumar Nayak chose the occasion to make a donation for the noble cause in helping orphan and poor students.

The President of the meeting Prof. Manoranjan Kar, Vice-Chancellor of Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar was all praise for DIGJYOTI for its invaluable contribution to society and assured the university’s continued support in fulfillment of the wider mandate of OUAT to serve the under-privileged people in the state of Orissa.