Anil Agarwal Foundation, the CSR arm of Vedanta Ltd, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan government today to develop 25,000 modernised anganwadis called Nand Ghars across 13 districts.

The initiative to establish 25,000 Nand Ghars is aimed at impacting more than 10 lakh children and 7.5 lakh women across Rajasthan, the foundation said.

This modernisation and service provisioning will be done jointly by Anil Agarwal Foundation and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) under the Rajasthan government’s Women and Child Development Ministry, it said in a statement.

Nand Ghars are modernised anganwadis that aim to eradicate malnutrition among children, provide pre-primary education, healthcare and economic empowerment to rural women.

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who was present at the MoU signing ceremony, said, “This partnership will pave the way for renewed vigour in driving women and child development in the state”.

Vedanta’s chairman Anil Agarwal said, “These Nand Ghars will be the catalyst for change, which will empower women and children, thereby changing the rural landscape to create self-reliant communities”.

According to the foundation, Nand Ghars use state-of-the-art technologies and infrastructure and are a model resource centre for the community.

Nand Ghars offer a holistic set of services to its community members, including e-learning for children, primary healthcare and economic empowerment for women.

Nand Ghars have partnered with best-in-class organisations and are working closely with ICDS to upgrade the anganwadis services so that the community can utilise them to the best capacity and develop as resource centres for villages.

The foundation began project Nand Ghar in 2015 with the vision to transform the lives of 7 crore children and 2 crore women across the 13.7 lakh anganwadis in India and are established in partnership with the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Since the start of its operations, project Nand Ghar emerged as a focal point for the socio-economic development of the communities. With more than 1,300 Nand Ghars developed in Rajasthan, they are directly impacting the lives of 52,000 Children and 39,000 women across the state, the statement said.

The foundation works in the area of healthcare, women and child development, animal welfare projects and sports initiatives.

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