Next Gen Anganwadis : Barmer to get the First Centre
On Wednesday, Bhoomi Poojan took place for the first Anganwadi under this project, at Chhitar Ka Paar village in Barmer. Ritu Jhingon GM (CSR) of Cairn India, CDPO Mota Ram, Sarpanch Chunni Devi and others were present on this occasion.
Recently, Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India and Mayank Ashar, Managing Director and CEO, Cairn India had signed the MoU in New Delhi, to develop these ‘next generation’ Anganwadis.
Through this partnership, Vedanta aims to create social incubators that will help uplift the communities on a national scale by educating children, eradicating malnutrition and developing vocational skills among women in India.
At the MoU ceremony V. Somasundaran, Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development said “We are planning to modernize the Anganwadis and revamp these as enablers that will not only provide supplementary nutrition and basic healthcare services in villages but also function as a place to mobilize the village women to increase their participation in community development.”
Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta said, “We are happy to associate with Ministry of Women & Child Development for setting up model Anganwadis. Through these modern Anganwadis Vedanta endeavours to provide a better environment to the children of India."
He further added, "Healthy children and empowered women will eradicate poverty and malnutrition, and make a prosperous nation. It is our privilege to partner with the Government in this initiative, especially, since it aligns with our Prime Minister’s vision to provide quality education to children and skill development to women, across the country.”
Vedanta is committing more than INR 400 crore towards building these ‘next generation’ Anganwadi centres. This initiative is also aligned with the Prime Minister’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.
In a first-of-its-kind Public-Private Partnership, the Ministry of WCD and Vedanta have come together to construct 4000 ‘next generation’ Anganwadis that will be built in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telengana and Uttar Pradesh.
These model Anganwadis will be built in clusters of 25-30 in a particular district with multifunctional capabilities.The land for the Anganwadis will be provided by the Gram Panchayats. Anganwadi is the service delivery unit established under the Integrated Child development Scheme (ICDS), the flagship programme of the Ministry.
Besides providing the children with a modern learning environment and play area, these centres will also act as a platform for empowering women and young girls through multi- skilling.
Vedanta’s ‘next generation’ Anganwadi will add to the existing Anganwadi model of the Ministry’s ‘Integrated Women and Child Development Scheme’. It will enhance the learning environment through e-learning modules for children and skill enhancement programmes for women.
This centre will also act as a focal point for immunisation, gender sensitisation and maternal care. The ‘next generation’ Anganwadis are proposed to be run as a shared space in which 50% of the time will be devoted to children’s education and the remaining half will support women’s skill development.
