Jointly Organised by Tata Steel and Pathani Samanta Planetarium

A six-month long exercise to look for twenty best young astronomers in the state, under the Young Astronomers Talent Search programme organized by Tata Steel in association with Pathani Samanta Planetarium has come to an end today.

On the eve of the 176th anniversary of Mahamahopadhyay Chandrasekhar Singhsamant Harichandan Mahapatra, popularly known as Pathani Samanta on December 13, 2009, the Twenty Young Astronomers, selected from among students of different schools in Orissa were awarded at a grand function in Bhubaneswar. YATS (Young Astronomers Talent Search) has been organized to commemorate the 176th birth anniversary of Pathani Samant. This year, YATS has witnessed huge number of participation across the state. Students from the areas like Jeypore have also shown their interest to the YATS.

Hon'ble Chief Minister of Orissa, Shri Naveen Patnaik graced the occasion as the chief guest and distributed the prize among the Young Astronomy Talents. The dignitaries present on the dais includes, Shri S. P. Thakur, Commissioner cum Secretary, Science and Technology Department, Shri Sangramjit Nayak, Director, Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Mr Partho Sengupta, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, Mr Rajesh Chintak, Chief Resident Executive, Tata Steel Ltd.

While speaking on the occasion, Shri Patnaik appreciated Tata Steel's endeavor in enhancing the scientific sprit of Orissa. He expressed that the events like YATS would prove beneficial for all round growth of students.

Mr Sengupta, opined that a country's strength comes from its intellectual capabilities. Therefore, Tata Steel from its very inception believes in empowerment through knowledge sharing.

In his address, Shri Thakur appreciated the effort put in by the students in making the event success. He also praised the effort of teachers and Tata Steel in this regard.

The YATS competition was open for students of Standard - 8 to Standard -12 in all schools of Orissa. It was conducted in three stages at seven different zones. For the talent search exercise, Orissa was divided into seven zones such as, Belpahar, Keonjhar, Joda, Jajpur, Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and Jeypore. In the first stage the participating students were required to prepare a synopsis on astronomy or space science. Around 4000 students submitted their papers on 'India in Space' out of which One Thousand students were selected to the second stage, which was held separately in the six zones. Finally 118 students qualified to the last and final stage and were called to the Pathani Samanta Planetarium for taking part in a two-day science exhibition on the topic "India in Space".

YATS was in fact a first of its kind talent hunt in the state. Such type of events would certainly give an opportunity to the students in rural and remote areas of the state to exhibit their talents and come to the forefront in the field of astronomy. YATS was another example of Tata Steel's commitment for all-round growth of Orissa and its people.

About Tata Steel
Established in 1907 as Asia's first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel Group is among the top-ten global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of over 28 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). It is now the world's second-most geographically-diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Tata Steel Group, with a turnover of US$ 29 billion in FY '09, has over 80,000 employees across five continents and is a Fortune 500 company. The Group's vision is to be the world's steel industry benchmark in "Value Creation" and "Corporate Citizenship" through the excellence of its people, its innovative approach and overall conduct. Underpinning this vision is a performance culture committed to aspiration targets, safety and social responsibility, continuous improvement, openness and transparency. In 2008, Tata Steel India became the first integrated steel plant in the world, outside Japan, to be awarded the Deming Application Prize 2008 for excellence in Total Quality Management.

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