Vedanta Inaugurates 1,700th Nand Ghar in Karnataka Under CSR Programme

Union Minister of Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, Prahlad Joshi inaugurated the new centre at Dharwad and handed over the 50 Nand Ghars developed in Dharwad to the community as part of Vedanta Cares, the CSR platform which focuses on enhancing the lives of local communities.

Speaking on the occasion, Joshi, appreciated the efforts put in by the company and said, ?It is heartening to see that corporates like Vedanta are coming forward to support the government in its endeavour to enhance the development of women and children. We hope that we will continue receiving such support and do more for women and children from underprivileged sections across the length and breadth of the country and realise Hon?ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi?s dream of a self-reliant New India.?

Also speaking on the occasion, Agarwal said, ?It gives me immense pride to see Vedanta?s flagship project, Nand Ghar, making a big difference at the grassroots level. This project is dedicated to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of providing quality education to children and facilitating skill development to rural women.?

The Nand Ghar journey began in 2015 with a vision to transform the lives of 85 million children and 20 million women across 137,000 anganwadis. A dream project of Vedanta Chairman, Anil Agarwal, Nand Ghar is a network of model anganwadis where the thrust is on inclusive development of children, women and local communities. The Nand Ghars are set up in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development.

With the rollout of over 1,700 centres, the Nand Ghar project is now spread across seven states ? Rajasthan, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The project aims to touch the lives of 4 million community members while directly impacting around 200,000 children and 180,000 women on an annual basis. Nand Ghars are equipped with solar panels to ensure 24x7 electricity, water purifiers, clean toilets and smart television sets and have become a model resource centre for the local communities. Pre-school education is provided to children in the age group of 3-6 years. Nutritious meals and take-home rations are being provided for children, pregnant and lactating women.

Primary healthcare services are rendered through mobile health vans and women are empowered through skilling, credit linkage and enterprise development.