Urmi-2008 at S P College
* Entertainment expression and enrichment of personality were themes at Urmi-2008, the youth festival of the students of S P College.
Urmi, the spontaneous and irrepressible surge of youthful enthusiasm started with a bang at the Ganesh Kala Krida Kendra. It was inaugurated by singer-composer Dr Saleel Kulkarni. True to his image, he inauguarated the festival with less of a speech and instead held the audience captive with his evergreen lyrics. It was followed by two prize winning one-act plays "Popti Chaukat" and "Mookam Karoti Wachalam," a Sanskrit play about cellphones. The inaugural session ended with the orchestra of college students enthralling the students with Hindi and Marathi songs - old and new.
The second day witnessed arts, song, dance, drawing, calligraphy -- all on the college campus. The students also had an opportunity to present their poetic prowess. An exhibition of projects by students in their subjects was also held.

Symposium on minority rights
* A State-level symposium on "Protection and promotion of minority Rights -- human rights perspective" was organised by the New Law Academy, Pune.
Welcoming the gathering, college principal Rasheed Shaikh said the main objective behind organising the symposium was to invoke interest of the teachers and students on various aspects of the rights of persons belonging to religious and linguistic minorities in context to the protection and promotion of minority rights. He said the basic aspect which is not fully appreciated is that in essence minority rights are linked with human rights.
Chief guest justice Kshitiji R Vyas, chairperson of Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission, in his speech said, "It is the duty of the state to protect and promote the minority rights by providing them special attention." He said the State Human Rights Commission is duty-bound to consider any grievance brought forth by the minority.
On the occasion, the Centre for Human Rights and Minority Welfare and the Centre for Legal Research and Information was inaugurated by Justice Vyas. P A Inamdar, president, MCE Society, in his inaugural address emphasised the power of judiciary and urged students to pursue law as a career.
He enlightened the participants on constitutional provisions and Supreme Court decisions pertaining to establishing and administering minority educational institutions.
Prof Irfan Shaikh, joint secretary, MCE Society, was also present, Prof Jacinta Bastian anchored the programme. Dr Shweta Gupta proposed a vote of thanks, stated a press note.

Insignia-2008 at Chinchwad
* ASM Group of Institutes, (IBMR, IIBR, CSIT) Chinchwad will hold an intercollegiate annual festival "Insignia-08" from February 16-18.
The festival comprises events like Mad ads, Antakshari, vocals, street play, rangoli, dance and fashion show. The main attractions this year are performances by VIP-winner of comedy circus on Sony TV and pop singer Abbey.
Forthcoming attractions at IBMR include TechFest, the intercollegiate competition for information technology students, which include IT quiz, programming contest (C,C++) and web designing from February 21-23, and a national-level conference on the topic "Ongoing researches in management" to be held on March 8. The conference will mainly focus on subtopics related to HR, marketing, finance, economics, general management and other allied fields.