Vedanta dedicates 4000 Anganwadi in collaboration with MWCD

Vedanta is committing over INR 400 crore towards building these ‘next generation’ Anganwadi centres. Anganwadi is the service delivery unit established under the Integrated Child development Scheme (ICDS), the flagship programme of the Ministry.

The concept of a modern and a new model of the Aganwadi drew inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of an integrated centre for women and child development called Nandghar in Gujarat.

The initiative is also aligned with the Honourable PM’s vision of Swachh Bharat, Women Skill Development and Digital India; especially in its delivery and the mode of imparting training to women and children.

Vedanta has till date supported over 1,500 Anganwadis across Rajasthan, Odisha and Chhattisgarh where, over 50,000 children in the last 3 years have been provided with supplementary nutrition, early child hood and care including immunization and learning in the existing network of Anganwadis thereby contributing to the millennium development goal of reducing infant mortality rate (IMR) by two thirds.

In this Public-Private Partnership (PPP), the MWCD and Vedanta have come together to construct ‘next generation’ Anganwadis that will be built in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. These model Anganwadis will be built in clusters of 25-30 in a particular district with multi-functional capabilities.

Under the Anganwadi programme, supplementary nutrition is provided to children within the age group of 6 months to 6 years and to pregnant/lactating mothers. The main objective of ICDS is to fight the issue of malnutrition in India. In order to reach out to every corner of the country, a network of over 14 lakh Anganwadis have been established in every village, town, city and other habitations.