13 APRIL 2025 at Hotel Akbari, Cuttack

After the registration of delegates by the Registration Team—Pravat Kumar Mishra, Premalata Rout, Bilkesh Parveen, and Sonali Das—the inaugural session began at 10:30 a.m. with Professor Bijay Kumar Das, President of the Researchers' Association, in the Chair.

Inaugural Session

The resource persons—Dr. Samir Kumar Sharma, Professor of English, Patna University and presently Registrar, Nalanda Open University, Nalanda; Dr. Sudheer Chandra Hajela, Professor and Head of the Department of English, Shri JNM PG College, Lucknow and Editor of Dialogue; and Dr. Shiv Kumar Yadav, Professor and Head of the Department of English, College of Commerce, Arts and Science, Patna and Chairman of the Association for English Studies of India—lighted the lamp. Dr. Sonali Das, Associate Professor of English, P.G. Department of Language and Literature, F.M. University, Balasore; Dr. Premalata Rout, Principal, Jagannath Higher Secondary School, Keonjhar; and Dr. Dolan Ray, Head of the Department of English, Chetana Chandidas Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal, introduced the guests.

Professor Bijay Kumar Das delivered the Welcome Address and introduced the theme of the seminar. Braja Kishore Pall, Reader in English, Oupada Higher Secondary School, Balasore, read out the proceedings of the last seminar held on 19 January 2025.

Dr. S.C. Hajela delivered his lecture titled "The English Patient: A New Critical Reading of a Postmodernist Text". Dr. Samir Kumar Sharma delivered his lecture titled "Indian Nationalism and The Shadow Lines". The papers were well received by the audience. Prof. Bijay Kumar Das gave his Presidential remarks, and Prof. Ashok Kumar Mohanty, formerly of SOA University, proposed a vote of thanks. Dr. Sonali Das compered the session.

Paper Reading Session 1

The first paper reading session was chaired by Dr. Sonali Das. Dr. Ayesha Irfan, Associate Professor of English, Dayal Singh College (Day), University of Delhi, presented her paper titled "Laila's Tryst with Destiny: The Personal and Political in Sunlight on a Broken Column." Dr. Dolan Ray presented her paper titled "Breaking up the Metanarrative in The Shadow Lines." Dr. Ayesha Tasnim, Assistant Professor, NIST University, Berhampur, also presented her paper. Dr. Sonali Das made her observations on all the papers, and Dr. Susmita Mohanty, Principal, SITT, Cuttack, proposed a vote of thanks.

Plenary Session 1

Dr. Shiv Kumar Yadav delivered his lecture titled "Postcolonial Theory." Dr. Krishna Chandra Mishra, Professor and Head, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, chaired the session. Mr. Laxmidhar Panda proposed a vote of thanks.

Plenary Session 2

Professor Bijay Kumar Das delivered his lecture titled "Plurality of Theoretical Approaches to Select Ten Colonial and Post-colonial Novels Across the World." His lecture was distributed among the delegates in the form of a booklet.

Paper Reading Session 2

The session was chaired by Dr. Jnan Ranjan Padhi, Associate Professor and Head, Dera Natung Government College, Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh). Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Assistant Professor of English, Government P.G. College, Chunar, Mirzapur, presented his paper titled "Myth and Resistance in Kanthapura and Things Fall Apart." Mr. Laxmidhar Panda (Retd. Reader in English, Nimapara College) presented his paper titled "The Question of Truth in Two Mirrors at the Ashram." Dr. Jnan Ranjan Padhi made his observations on the papers. Dr. Premalata Rout proposed a vote of thanks.

Paper Reading Session 3

The session was chaired by Dr. Satya Sindhu Ghosh (Retd. Associate Professor of English, Khandra College, Burdwan University). Dr. Sonali Das presented her paper titled "Questioning the Border: A Postcolonial Reading of The Shadow Lines." Dr. Susmita Mohanty presented her paper titled "Translating the Untranslatable in Kanthapura." Dr. Manmohan Mishra (Retd. Reader in English, Begunia College) presented his paper titled "Kanthapura: A Correlation between Indian Freedom and Indian English Idiom." Dr. Pravati Panda, Assistant Professor of English, Satya Sai College for Women, presented her paper titled "The Shadow Lines: An Ecocritical Study." All the papers were well received, and Dr. Ghosh made his observations. Dr. Natabar Jena proposed a vote of thanks.

Paper Reading Session 4

This session was chaired by Mr. Laxmidhar Panda. Dr. Ramesh Chandra Pradhani, Head of the Department of English, P.S. Degree College, Deogaon, Balangir, presented his paper titled "The Shadow Lines: A Postcolonial Reimagining of History." Ms. Anjali Priyadarshini Bishoyi, Research Scholar, presented her paper titled "Reclaiming English in Kanthapura." Ms. Nilam Lakra, Assistant Professor of English, Satyasahi College for Women, presented her paper titled "Fractured Identities in The Shadow Lines," and Dr. Natabar Jena, Assistant Professor of English, TSD College, Ganjam, presented his paper. Dr. Bilkesh Parveen proposed a vote of thanks.

Valedictory Session

Prof. Ashok Kumar Mohanty chaired the session. Dr. Jnan Ranjan Padhi and Dr. Satya Sindhu Ghosh spoke during the session. Dr. S.C. Hajela, Dr. Samir Kumar Sharma, and Dr. Shiv K. Yadav distributed participation certificates. Dr. Pravat Kumar Mishra, former Associate Professor of English, Niali College, Cuttack, summed up the programme and proposed a vote of thanks.

Dr. A.J. Khan, Professor of English, Nagaland University, Kohima, expressed his satisfaction at having attended the seminar despite his ill health. Dr. Bilkesh Parveen and Dr. Premalata Rout handled media interactions. Mr. Braja Kishore Pall managed the photo exhibition, and Dr. Sonali Das compered the one-day programme.

Images from Seminar