Bhubaneswar, Nov. 10: Six villages have the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar to look up to for development.

The IIT Bhubaneswar (IIT-B) has adopted six villages under the Centre's Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) programme to try and develop the villages by providing affordable technological interventions and expertise.

The six villages are Argul, Podapada, Kansapada and Khudupur near the IIT campus, Jorkul in the Banki block of Cuttack district and Sunduria in Jajpur district.

"In the first phase, we will be addressing issues such as improvement in the quality of school education, Internet connectivity in the schools and villages near the campus, water purification, sanitation, health care, skill development, awareness towards digital India and renewable energy use," said R.K. Panda, dean of research at the IIT-B and the co-ordinator of the institute's UBA programme.

The UBA is a flagship mission of the ministry of human resource development. It aims to utilise the expertise of the premier academic institutions of higher technical education such as the IITs to improve the quality of rural life through innovative and affordable technological interventions.

The IIT Bhubaneswar had initially adopted two villages, Argul and Podapada, two months ago on an experimental basis. It has installed solar lights and established science labs and provided computer supplies to students in the village.

The remaining four villages were added to the list after human resource development minister Smriti Irani had asked for the inclusion of more villages.

"We have had meetings with all the major government departments, which are involved in the rural development schemes or programmes. All of them, including the Khurda district collector, has assured all kinds of support for the successful implementation of this scheme," said IIT director R.V. Raja Kumar.

Low-cost waste management, Internet and broadband connectivity, motivating the youth to become entrepreneurs and remedial classes for the village children are some activities that the students are eager to take up, he said.

The IIT Bhubaneswar is also planning to assign projects to its students that are rural based. "This will help the students identify problems at the grassroots level and come up with affordable solutions," said Panda.