Post News Network
Bhubaneswar Dec 13: Twenty young students with a dream of becoming astronomers were delighted when they were felicitated at a ceremony held to mark the 179th birth anniversary of legendary astronomer Mahamaho-padhyay Chandrasekhar Singhsamant Harichandan Mahapatra, popularly known as Pathani Samanta.
The grand ceremony held at Pathani Samanta Planetarium under the aegis of the Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS) programme organised by Tata Steel in collaboration with Pathani Samanta Planetarium was graced by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Congragulating the students, Patnaik said, “I’ve been informed that the topic chosen for this year’s YATS is ‘My Manned Spacecraft’. Students from different parts of the state have participated in the programme, and the best 20 from more than a hundred students were selected in the competition. As we can see from the exhibits on display, it has succeeded in igniting the imagination of young children which is the real objective behind this exercise.”
“The state government is working to create a facilitating environment for growth of scientific temper among the youth. The second planetarium of the state is coming up at Burla. With a view to increase the outreach of astronomy in rural areas, the government is going to provide two mobile planetariums. The state government is working towards establishing a museum in Khandapada in the honour of late Pathani Samanta,” the CM?added.
The competition was open to students of Classes VIII to X in all schools across the state. It was conducted in three stages in eight different zones of the state.