Vedanta’s Flagship CSR Project NandGhar has rolled out its 1700^th centre in Dharwad district in Karnataka today, thus moving closer to the vision of setting up 4000 NandGhars across India.

Hon’ble Minister of Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Prahlad Joshi inaugurated the new centre at Dharwad, and handed over the 50 NandGhars 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, Mr. Prahlad Joshi, appreciated the efforts put in by the company and said, “I am pleased to see the community and industry leaders come together for a noble cause that focuses on the overall well-being of children and women. With NandGhar, a key component of holistic development has made its entry in Dharwad, Karnataka. It is heartening to see that corporate like Vedanta are coming forward to support the government in its endeavor 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 realize Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s dream of a self-reliant New India.”

The NandGhar journey began in 2015 with a vision to transform the lives of 8.5 crore children and 2 crore women across 13.7 lakh anganwadis. A dream project of Vedanta Chairman, Shri Anil Agarwal, NandGhar is a network of model anganwadis where the thrust is on inclusive development of children, women and local communities. The NandGhars are set up in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development.

Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said: “It gives me immense pride to see Vedanta’s flagship project, NandGhar, making a big difference at the grassroot 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. We are delighted that the 1700thNandGhar in Dharwad Karnataka is being inaugurated by Minister Shri. Prahlad Joshi. These modern NandGhars will be the catalyst for change which will empower women and children and change the rural landscape and create self-reliant communities.

With the rollout of over 1700 centres, the NandGhar project is now spread across 7 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 2lakh children and 1.8 lakh women on an annual basis. NandGhars are equipped with solar panels to ensure 24X7electricity, 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.