World Oriya meet begins

BHUBANESWAR: The three-day Biswa Odia Sammilanee (world Oriya meet) had a colourful start on Friday. A modest crowd of over 200 people had gathered for the inaugural ceremony.
Attending the function as chief guest, Puri Gajapati Divyasingh Deb exhorted Oriyas to "contribute in whichever way you can" for the progress of the state. "We must take pride in the fact that we are Oriyas," he said.
Outlining the objective of the event, Sammilanee convenor Shreekanta Nayak said that it was an attempt to promote moral, spiritual, cultural and value-based education and education that generate employment."Building a developed Orissa is our aim," he said.
The focus of the meeting was all-round development of the state through mass education, said Nayak, who is president of the National Council Of Asian Indian Associations and in the US.
While Swami Dharma Prakash Nanda Saraswati delivered the concluding remarks on the inaugural ceremony, eminent Oriya singer Arabinda Muduli sang Oriya bhajans.
While Governor M C Bhandare is scheduled to attend the event on Saturday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik will attend the closing ceremony on Sunday, he said. There would be discussions on socio-cultural and economic development of common man. Besides, there will be sessions on how to achieve financial self-reliance on Day 2, Nayak said.