The Women and Gender Sensitization Cell of School and Humanities and Social Sciences, and School of Interior Design, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) organized an online guest lecture on Women’s Safety on July 22, 2021. The guest speaker for the event was Kalyani Keerthi Giridhara, Administrative Trustee of Arpita Foundation.

The event commenced with Antara Singh, a student from the 3^rd semester – MA English, sharing the objectives of the cell which included creating social awareness about the problems of women; in particular regarding gender discrimination, acknowledging the significance of self-confidence in women, knowing and understanding women welfare laws, asserting the importance of spiritual, economic, social, racial, and gender equality, highlighting the importance of health and hygiene, directing women’s role in the society, developing a multidisciplinary approach for the overall personality development, organizing seminars and workshops promoting women empowerment, and preventing sexual harassment along with promoting the general well-being of female students and women staff of the institution. Director of School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and School of Interior Design, Major Dr. Rekha Sinha, addressed the gathering and emphasized the need for such women and gender sensitization cells in all public places to ensure safety for all.

The guest speaker, Kalyani Keerthi Giridhara traced from classical to contemporary times the safety concerns of women. She spoke about the need for gender sensitization, awareness about good and bad touch, and the importance of starting POSH committees (prevention of sexual harassment) in public places. She also suggested an innovative approach of displaying placards with the caption, ‘This place is safe from sexual offenders.’ Students asked queries concerning the increasing crimes against women and girls despite the unprecedented upsurge in movements for women's rights, equality, safety, and justice. She also provided safety tips to ward off physical, mental, financial, and emotional exploitation.

The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Sindhulakshmi from 3rd semester – MA English. In addition to providing e-certificates to the participants, the session also included a feedback session for them to share their views. The interactive and informative session organized by the Women and Gender Sensitization Cell generated positive responses for choosing such a paramount topic and the perspectives shared during the event. 

The School of Commerce, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University), in association with iNurture, organized a guest lecture titled Destination Management and Tour Operations on July 22, 2021. The session was organized for the 2nd-year and 3rd-year students of Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) – Tourism and Hospitality Management (THM). The guest speaker for the event was Mr. Ashoka Somyaji, General Manager of Karnataka Region, Thomas Cook India Ltd. He spoke about current tourism world trends. He guided the students on preparing themselves to get into the tourism industry and the job opportunities available in the industry. The guest speaker was introduced to the audience by Dr. G.Saravana Kumar, Associate Professor - BMS, School of Commerce, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University). Dr. Kumar ensured the success of the event as the event organizer, and the coordinators included Professor Dr. Alok Kumar and Assistant Professor Dr. Sadanandam from the School of Commerce.

The event discussed tourism trends in the post-Covid-19 era, which included shrinkage of mass travel, increased popularity of solo or family travel, depleting culture mass events, vaccination, travel now and pay later concept, and preference to villas over hotels. The session also highlighted how domestic travel might grow in this new normal due to travel restrictions abroad and how it will impact the flight cost. The speaker also touched upon topics such as safety, health, and hygiene. The current and upcoming job opportunities in the industry were also mentioned by the speaker.

The session also included an interactive session where students asked various questions to Mr. Ashoka and expressed how they find Thomas Cook to be a land of opportunities. The session generated positive responses from the participants and provided them first-hand experience from an industry expert like Mr. Ashoka Somyaji. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Alok Kumar, Professor, Tourism and Hospitality Management. Overall the event was a success and offered a great learning experience to everyone involved.

Three student-led teams from the Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) have bagged multiple laurels and accolades in the recently concluded virtual Manipal BioTech Hackathon ’21. 

V Semester CMBT students Ms. Veena Lohiya, Ms. Babhitha Balaji, Mr. Dickson Paschal Sospeter of the team ASSURED won the 2nd position and a cash prize of INR 10,000 for their project idea that highlighted the development of a rapid diagnostic kit for the detection of diseases in the coffee plants. The word ASSURED picked by the team is inspired from WHO's concept of Affordable, Specific, Sensitive, User-friendly, Rapid and robust, Equipment-free, and Delivered- to the end-user diagnostic kit.

Team Chetak, represented by III Semester BcGBt students Ms. Amritha S. P., Mr. Lokanath Vishnu, and Mr. Chaitanya Saravanan were ranked 8th among the Top 10 finalists of the virtual Hackathon. Their research idea highlighted the application of Banana wax to increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. They were awarded mentoring sessions under a pre-incubation program by the incubator.

Ms. Varshini R., Ms. Ramya A., and Mr. Nsubuga Joseph from team Eenheid (a word derived from the African Bantu language, meaning unity) were shortlisted among the top 50 projects for their project proposal on bacteriophage blend (Bact-phage blend) to prevent diseases caused by Pectobacterium in potatoes.

The teams were mentored by Assistant Professor Monojit Bhattacharjee from the Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University).

Hosted to promote student-led innovations and encourage critical thinking, Manipal BioTech Hackathon is a five-day virtual hackathon conducted jointly by Manipal Government of Karnataka Bioincubator & Manipal School of Life Sciences (MSLS), MAHE to fund budding research entrepreneurs (including students, researchers pursuing UG/PG and Doctoral studies) and support them in solving real problems in the Biotechnology domain.