New Delhi, Feb. 4: The Literary Club of Jamia Hamdard organised Open Crossword Contest 2024 in association with Crossword Association of Delhi and EXTRA-C for Jamia Hamdard and Delhi Students on 01.02.2024 at Hakeem Abdul Hameed Auditorium, Jamia Hamdard, here Thursday. In this contest, IIT Delhi emerged the winner.
All three winners of the Jamia Hamdard Open Crossword Contest 2024 of the Cryptic Crossword Competition – Harshul Sagar (1st Position), Yashas Vatsyayan (2nd Position), Aarush Ranjan (3rd Position) – are from IIT Delhi.
Whereas the winners of Jamia Hamdard are Alisha Ahmed, Areeba Athar, and Yashveer Singh Baisla.
The dignitaries who graced the event were K. Srinivas, IAS, Secretary, Union Ministry of Minority Affairs; Vivek Kumar Singh, IAS, Development Commissioner of Bihar and Chief Mentor, Extra- C; Dr. A.K. Ambasht, IFS (Retd.). President, Crossword Association of Delhi; Amrit Lugun, IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador of India to Greece and currently Professor of Practice at Jamia Hamdard; Vinayak Ekbote, Crossword Mentor, IIT Delhi.
The distinguished guests and dignitaries were warmly welcomed by Dr. M. A Sikander, Registrar, Mr. S.S. Akhtar, Controller of Examinations and Prof. Reshma Nasreen, DSW, Jamia Hamdard with planters and mementoes.
Dr. Mehar Fatima, member of Literary Club, Jamia Hamdard delivered the welcome address and lauded the efforts put in by Literary Club of Jamia Hamdard, Crossword Association of Delhi and Extra-C under the able guidance of Development Commissioner of Bihar Vivek Kumar Singh, IAS to inculcate the practice of solving crosswords in youths, thereby sharpening their brains. Dr. Mehar Fatima highlighted the importance of developing a more rational and developed society, and how events like cryptic crossword competition contribute to the evolution of a better-skilled society and culture as a whole.
Vinayak Ekbote, Crossword mentor, IIT Delhi conducted a workshop on how to solve cryptic crosswords before the preliminary round. He introduced the students to the world of cracking clues and instilled in them enthusiasm towards crossword puzzles.
Vivek Kumar Singh presented the keynote address, highlighting how crosswords, once relatively unknown, are gradually gaining popularity and becoming a topic of discussion. He expressed his gratitude to all the supporters and associates who contributed to the successful organization of the event. Mr. Singh further emphasized the benefits of crosswords in enhancing critical and logical thinking and decision-making abilities.
The Chief Guest of the programme K. Srinivas, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Govt. of India applauded Jamia Hamdard’s efforts in promoting co-curricular activities like the cryptic crossword competition and acknowledged the establishment of the Literary Club at Jamia Hamdard. He further said, “I have witnessed the journey of crossword movement in the country.”
The programme was concluded by Prof. (Dr.) M. Afshar Alam, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard extending his appreciation to EXTRA-C, President, Crossword Association of Delhi, President Literary club, Vice President Literary club Dr. Sahar Zaidi, Literary club core team and volunteers, Jamia Hamdard as well as all the sponsors and associates who played a crucial role in making the event possible.
