Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore (ASBC), students spent time in rural communities as part of their Live-in-Labs® course curricula. The students spent time in Guptapada, an Amrita SeRVe village in Odisha.
A quiet village located around 40 kilometers from Bhubaneswar was the village we had the opportunity to visit. The village was named Guptapada –meaning ‘hidden’, and it really was. Bhubaneswar (a major city) there were very little signs that showed the village had ever been exposed to the world.
Guptapada accommodated 60 families with approximately 350 people residing whose primary source of income is sale of firewood. The primary cultivation in the village is paddy along with other vegetable crops. Secondary income being the masonry works in nearby villages and sale of cultivated crops. They have also started poultry farming with the help of CIWA (Central Institute for Women in Agriculture). The average annual income of the villagers is Rs.36000. Economic status of the villagers is Below Poverty Line. Education is being encouraged but there is only one primary school with first to fifth standard in the village. Watershed is constructed to facilitate irrigation for paddy. During summer season, however it generally dries up as the village is drought prone. There are two Self-help groups in the village with a bank account; however it is not currently active.The village lack basic amenities such as primary health center, post office, bank and high school.
