22 November 2019

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) (Deemed to be University) held its 38^th Annual Convocation at Sai Kulwant Hall, Prasanthi Nilayam, Andhra Pradesh in the Divine Presence on 22 November 2019 at 3:20 p.m.

The grand ceremony saw the Honourable Chancellor, Sri K Chakravarthi, IAS (Retd.), admit 470 candidates to their degrees. This included 277 undergraduate, 97 postgraduate, 86 professional and 10 Ph.D. awardees.

SSSIHL was honoured to have Dr. G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, Government of India, Chairman, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Director General, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), as the chief guest for the event.

The ceremonial procession was led by the University brass band, two students carrying the University Standards on either side of the Registrar (who carried the Ceremonial Mace). Other members of the procession included the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Deans and the Heads of Departments along with the Chief Guest, members of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust and the Board of Management.

Following the invocatory veda chanting, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. K B R Varma prayed to the Revered Founder Chancellor to declare the convocation open. The Convocation was then declared open in the Divine voice of Bhagawan Baba.

The programme included speeches by the Vice-Chancellor, the Chief Guest and the Revered Founder Chancellor (video broadcast of a previous Convocation Address).

Ph.D. Awardees 2019/20

Sri Hari N – Physics
Design and fabrication of low-cost Optical Coherence Tomography instruments with novel features towards aiding in medical diagnostics

Sri Sadhu Sai Pavan Prashanth – Physics
Investigations into the Structural, Dielectric, Piezoelectric, Ferroelectric and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 in Different Configurations

Sri Muralikrishna Molli – Physics
Nonlinear Optical Absorption Characteristics of Metal Selenides

Sri Gannavarapu Krishna Prasad – Chemistry
Synthesis of Bio-nanocomposites for Applications in Electrochemical Energy Storage, Sensing and Catalysis

Sri Chelli Sai Manohar – Chemistry
Synthetic and in silico strategies for designing drugs, probing sensing mechanisms and optimizing novel HA-BCZT piezo-materials for bone regeneration

Sri Aiyer Kartik Satyanarayan – Biosciences
Assessing Microbial Electron Transfer Activity and Biofilm Formation for Wastewater Treatment in Microbial Fuel Cells

Sri Girish T N – Biosciences
Thermal and Humidity Stress Adaptations of Select Drosophila Species Endemic to Indian Tropics

Sri Rajabushan Jagadish Nayak – Economics
Fiscal Consolidation and Sustainable Public Debt: A Case Study of India

Miss Nelli Vani Sri – English Literature
Text and Subtext: A Study of Select Plays of Ivan Turgenev and Anton Chekhov

Sri Siddhartha R – English Literature
From the Colonial to the Carnival: A Study of the Trajectory of Indian Cricket from the Post-Colonial and the Bakhtinian Perspectives.

All-Round Gold Medallists 2019/20

• Maddireddy Meghana (Anantapur Campus – Master of Business Administration)
• R Sai Naveen (Prasanthi Nilayam Campus – Master of Business Administration)
• Ramavarapu Sathya Sai Aditya (Brindavan Campus – Bachelor of Commerce (Honours))
• Chikkam Sai Phani Kumar (Muddenahalli Campus – Bachelor of Business Administration)

Gold Medallists 2019/20

• Manasali Sai Kumar (Master of Business Administration)
• Varshaneya V (Master of Technology in Computer Science)
• Shyam Sundar B (Master of Technology in Optoelectronics and Communications)
• Pradyumna M (Master of Science in Mathematics)
• K Karthik Subramaniam (Master of Science in Biosciences)
• Hariharan M (Master of Science in Chemistry)
• J Kaushik (Master of Science in Physics)
• Sai Shravan N (Master of Arts in Economics)
• T R Sai Natarajan (Integrated Master of Computer Applications)
• Sasanpuri Maniram Santosh (Bachelor of Business Administration)
• Boddu Raghu Veera Saikumar (Bachelor of Commerce (Honours))
• Majeti VSSS Durgesh (Bachelor of Computer Applications)
• Debashis Parida (Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics)
• Jashobanta Behera (Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Biosciences)
• Palla Juneswari (Bachelor of Education)
• Kavugoli Shraddha Mohan (Master of Science in Food and Nutritional Sciences)
• Gayathri V R (Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutritional Sciences)
• Soumya Yellai (Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Mathematics)
• Haritha Ramann (Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Chemistry)
• Mathumitha R (Bachelor of Arts)

Annual Convocation Drama
Each year on the day of the Annual convocation, students of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning put together a drama presentation in the Divine Presence. This year, the drama, titled Hum Chalein teri Roshani se, explored the grey areas of major decision points all of us face in life. The ones that ask us to choose between what is right and what is wrong.

The drama explored this juxtaposition perfectly through the context of a consulting firm where one person’s principles helped pave the way for right choices of many a fellow journeyman. This person, Roshan Damodar Salve, an investment banker at FinVest Ltd., time and again chose gratitude over gratification by refusing to give in to the expectations of the crowd and pave his own reality, vested in his inner truth.

It highlighted the fact that If our heart knows how to act in a situation and we must choose the right path, we will garner the courage, the right mindset and channelize the inner wisdom that will lead us on the path of dharma or right action.

Perhaps it’s time we truly honour the age-old adage: the only way to lead is by example. If we do that, we never know what pertinent message Roshan’s life might hold for us!

As part of an ongoing organised effort between the University and local authorities to bring back the sacred River Chitravati to its glory, Postgraduate students of the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus have been busy at work.

In the previous session, the students cleaned parts of the ghat and yesterday, on Friday, 15 November 2019, they planted scores of trees along the Chitravati River.

Sri Vivek Kapoor, Associate Professor, Dept. of Management & Commerce, led the initiative and shepherded the fine young gentlemen through this and other similar initiatives.

The local community also got involved, including the Commissioner himself.

“This has helped me relate firsthand to the needs of the community. We experienced the theoretical aspects of our Rural Management course today,” said a student.

#SSSIHLIntegralEducation #SSSIHL

Each month, food packets are distributed to the needy poor in the slums around Anantapur town. The monthly Narayana Seva activity sees a team of cooks, campus workers, rickshaw drivers and students come together to deliver 25kg of Pulihora (approximately 270-300 packets) to these marginalized citizens of society. The impact of this programme goes a long way in the lives of students. As alumni, they continue this activity, both at a large and small scale.

#SSSIHLIntegralEducation #SSSIHL

2-8 October 2019

Dasara or Navaratri is a ten-day festival, usually falling in the month of October, and is celebrated all over India in the worship of the Divine as the Mother principle. Since the early sixties, the festival of Dasara in Prasanthi Nilayam has been closely associated with the Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yagna. This yagnam is a week-long worship conducted in the Divine Presence in the Poornachandra Auditorium in Prasanthi Nilayam each year for the welfare of the whole world. The yagnam commences on the fourth day of Dasara and concludes with the Poornahuti – the final oblation that is offered on Vijayadasami, the tenth day.

In addition to other rituals, the most important component of the yagnam is the Rudra yagam where the oblations are made in the Yagna Kunda to Lord Shiva while chanting hymns from the Sri Rudram. The students of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning take active part by chanting the vedas, reading the scriptures and performing other parts of the worship along with the learned pundits.

The evening programmes during the seven days of the yagnam are held in Sai Kulwant Hall, under the auspices of the ‘Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha’, where many speakers—primarily students and functionaries of Bhagawan’s educational institutions—address the gathering on topics concerning spirituality and philosophy, Bhagawan’s teachings and experiences of devotees.

‘Swacch Bharat’ occupies a central theme alongside development goals of the Government of India. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has identified SSSIHL’s potential and requested to implement a ‘Swachh Action Plan’ (SAP) (since 2018) in nearby ‘adopted’ villages. You can see these in action on our posts on Grama Seva here, here and here.

The purpose is to use higher education skills to help meet a clean living environment and assist villagers in getting clean water and sanitation, health care, energy, education etc in a sustainable manner. Educated youth are also urged to develop skills, build capacity and mind set to address community problems in their surroundings.

In addition, the University has always adopted best practices towards the Greenery of the campuses, cleanliness, recycling and waste management. Some of these are highlighted in the photo collage below.

#SSSIHLIntegralEducation #SSSIHL

Campus Greenery

SSSIHL Kitchens

Liquid Biomedical Waste Decontamination Disposal

SSSIHL Solar Panels

Liquid Biomedical Waste Decontamination Disposal

Lord Ganesha. He removes our obstacles; He liberates our mind from fear. He infuses in us the courage to follow dharma, and ultimately protects us all.

This afternoon, at SSSIHL, the staff of the Administrative Office and students from all four campuses – Prasanthi Nilayam, Anantapur, Brindavan and Muddenahalli – came together in love and reverence for Lord Ganesha.

The individual chariots, made with immense love for Bhagawan Baba, and decorated with all the possible hues of colour — each with a creative story and message behind it, made their way from the office or the hostel to the final destination of immersion.

#SSSIHL #GaneshChaturthi #SSSIHLIntegralEducation

Students and Teachers across all SSSIHL campuses celebrate India’s 73^rd #independenceday

#SSSIHL

#GramaSeva
Initiate. Serve. Love. Repeat.

Almost ten months ago, in the early hours of 16 October 2018, teams of students and teachers of the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus, SSSIHL, packed with enthusiasm, love and supplies, left for their first visit to three villages – Narsimpalli, Bukkapatnam Mandal (Population: 2500), Bonthalapalli, Puttaparthi Mandal (Population: 2500) and Marlapalli, Puttaparthi Mandal (Population: 1000).

The idea was to makes these villages not just self-sufficient, but model villages which can then affect change in other communities in the district.

In the multiple visits during the academic year 2018/19, they assisted the village folk in the areas of Sports and Fitness, Education, Music, Cleanliness, Plumbing and Survey work. Considerable progress was made in all these areas.
In this manner, they fulfilled their promises to the elders of these villages.

On 14 July 2019, the teams visited all the villages again to continue their work from the previous academic year.
At the village of Narsimpalli, students and teachers responded to the requests of village folk in providing minimum maintenance for the existing dilapidated government school. They began with essential plumbing work (taps, pipelines, etc.) and worked with the village mason and others to facilitated further work.

At Bonthalapalli, students of the Dept. of Economics took on the challenge of reducing unemployment of the village youth. The highlighted the need for better skills to get actively employed. They then interviewed the twenty unemployed youth of the villages and assessed their current educational qualifications, levels of skills, etc. They set a target of 15 August to go back with consolidated data and actively work with them to teach the required set of soft skills, thus enhancing their employability.

At Marlapalli, under the Education module, students of 4-6 Std. were trained in basic reading skills. Students of Std. VII were involved in a host of Mathematical activities. Other activities include making of Bank books, learning basic music skills and Yoga asanas.

Separately, medical data of 78 village elders was collected and students of the M.Tech. (Computer Science) programme employed their data mining skills and came up with a follow-up plan (including predictive measures) for the next action steps.

Love All, Serve All, as our Revered Founder Chancellor always taught us.

#SSSIHLService #SSSIHLIntegralEducation

International Yoga Day celebrated @ SSSIHL

From Pranayama to Suryanamaskar to Dandasana, Bakasana, Mayurasan, Hata yogas, Kriyas and even an elocution on Yoga, students, teachers and mentors from all our campuses joined millions of people around the world to celebrate the ancient Indian tradition of Yoga on International Yoga Day on 21 June.

#YogaDay, #SSSIHLIntegralEducation