The National Service Scheme (NSS) Bureau, KISS-DU, and NSS Unit, KISS H/S School organized a State Level Awareness Programme and Webinar on Covid-19 Second Wave on 20th May 2021. The webinar started with the NSS Anthem sung by Ms. Saswati Jena, Programme Officer, NSS KISS Unit on the virtual platform. At a time when the whole world is experiencing the mayhem caused by this fatal virus, it has become important to gain insights into the difference between the first wave and second wave and segregate facts from the myths about Covid-19. The staff members and students of KISS were the target audience of this webinar.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Speaker, Col. (Dr.) Lalita Kumari Patnaik, Officer-In-Charge – P.G Academics, KIMS said: “We should not show any kind of negligence as the second wave is more virulent and contagious, its mutation has affected people in the age slab of 30 to 50 year. People should opt for home remedies and keep certain instruments for self-monitoring.” Dr. Sucheta Priyabadini, Director Students’ Counselling, KIIT-DU said the psycho-social warriors are creating positivity in society through volunteerism. She referred to some of the innovative ways – like the use of Drone Sanitizers – used by the students to create awareness and urged for a collaborative initiative between KIIT and KISS NSS Wings to start Nukkad Natak (Street Plays) as a means of creating awareness.
Dr. Jayshreebala Mallick, District Programme Officer, Khordha talked about the role of NSS volunteers in their respective villages and making them aware of the different schemes formulated by the Government. She stressed the need to help expecting mothers and orphans during these difficult times. Mr. Chintan Brahma, Programme Coordinator, NSS, CHSE, Odisha suggested smooth ways of running vaccination drives and underlined the fact that social distancing is the only solution to this problem. He concluded by saying that in addition to Covid-19 the society is facing an info-communication pandemic too, which is scarier.
Dr. Deepak Kumar Behera, Vice-Chancellor of KISS-DU, while delivering the Special Address, said that designing a specific role for NSS volunteers is the need of the hour, and Training of Teachers (ToT) should be done in tandem. The Principal, KISS and Director Academics, KISS-DU elaborated the fact that KISS is in sync with the initiatives set by the Government, and the NSS activities are being conducted accordingly. Dr. Amulya Ratna Nanda, Programme Co-ordinator, NSS KISS-DU spelled out some of the works done by other Universities as per NSS’ mandates primarily revolving around innovative awareness activities in the neighbourhood to save humanity.
The webinar also witnessed an enthralling question and answer session by the participants including the students of KISS, about the preventive and precautionary measures to stay safe from the second wave and tips for dealing with changes in the disease pattern in the second wave, which was responded to by the Experts present.
Earlier, Dr. Promodini Jena, NSS Programme Officer set the background of the webinar and shared with the forum that currently KISS has embraced ten Programme Officers and five hundred NSS volunteers, which is a commendable thing. The vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Mahat Satapathy, NSS PO, H/S (CHSE) KISS Unit.