Berhampur: National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), an autonomous organisation under Union Rural Development Ministry, will impart training to 50 student volunteers of National Service from south Odisha on the concept of model village.
The two-day orientation programme will start from October 31 at NIRD headquarters in Hyderabad. Students of 10 colleges from seven southern Odisha districts will participate in the programme, sources said.
NIRD would impart the training as it has decided to develop 10 villages in southern Odisha as model villages in collaboration with in Berhampur University (BU). BU has already signed an MoU with NIRD in this regard.
The villages are Laxmipur and Dharampur(Ganjam) B Sitapur and Kharidhepa (Gajapati) Banamaliput and Old Sunabeda (Koraput), Antarigada (Rayagada), Paburia (Kandhamal), Dandiaguda (Malkangiri) and Jatiguda (Nabarangpur).
"BU will work as a facilitator to make the baseline survey to find out the basic needs of the villages. NIRD will try to bridge the critical gaps," coordinator of NIRD programmes in the varsity S Vijay Kumar said.