Bhubaneswar, Dec 11 (IANS): The second day of the 8th Odisha Tourism-Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) hosted 15 sessions, including those on language, women spiritual masters, translation of regional literature, poetry, Hindi literature, sports, corporate social responsibility, climate change and its impact on human lives, besides sessions on poetry recitations.
During the session 'Empowerment of women through sports and how to strengthen the trend', Bembem Devi, former captain of the national women's football team, observed that while Indian women's soccer has come a long way from what it was a decade ago, it would still take another 10 years for it to play in the World cup.
She added that men's football in India has been strengthened due to the participation of corporate and private entities.
"If similar support is extended towards the women's football team, it would tremendously benefit the sport," said Devi, who is coaching the Women's U-17 national team at present.
Every ruler on this earth has destroyed the history of previous rulers, as it is the nature of power, said former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Lok Sabha MP Tathagat Satapathy during a conversation.
"Be it the BJD in Odisha or the NDA at the Centre, each had tried to remove the history of previous rulers. This (attitude) is with everyone, across party lines," he said while talking about intolerance in different regimes.
Participating in the inaugural session of the second day of KLF, BJD Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik said India is the 'Vishwa Guru' of the world owing to its vibrant and rich literature, despite its features of regionalism since it contained universal themes such as love, peace and universal brotherhood.
"Covid management could not have been possible by a corporate. Governments across the globe are not dumb, they are actually smarter than we think. Government responds to ideas that have the ability to change on a large scale basis," said Subroto Bagchi, chief of Odisha Skill Development Authority, who formerly headed the software firm Mindtree.