BHUBANESWAR: The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneswar, a deemed to be university, on Sunday held its first convocation.
The event was held online owing to the prevalent Covid crisis.
KISS conferred honorary D.Litt degrees upon governor Ganeshi Lal and three eminent Odias on the occasion.
The governor, in his convocation address, said it is a glorious moment and honour for Odisha when a tribal boy and girl from the state become the vice-captain of the national men’s and women’s hockey teams for Tokyo Olympics.
“There is no dearth of talent here.
Right environment, encouragement and timely exposure is needed,” the governor said.
He added that graduates need to make ‘vocal for local’ their goal and contribute to the success of Aatmanirbhar Bharat through their participation and endeavours.
He advised students to continue doing what they want to do in life.
“Don’t compete with others, rather compete with yourself and you will be ahead of others.
Be what you want to be,” Lal said.
Besides the governor, the university conferred honorary degrees on Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu, Parliament member for Kesses constituency in Kenya and founding chairman of Mediheal Group of Hospitals, Kenya, Swarup Ranjan Mishra and New York-based fashion designer and costume designer, Bibhu Mohapatra.
The institution had started with only 125 students in 1992-93 and now has around 30,000 students.
“Development of education is the development of the country,” KISS and KIIT founder Achyuta Samanta said.