The First Step To A Big Change

Mr. Anil Agarwal

Chairman, Vedanta Resources

The 21st century is the century of India. I believe that by 2030 India will add 250 million young men and women to its workforce. With women accounting for just 23% of the workforce today, we need to look beyond the current paradigm of job seekers and job creators. With 68% of our population still living in 6.4 lakh villages, it is clear where our focus should lie.

Our primary focus therefore is to start at the grass root level with the holistic development of children and women, who form the future of our nation. It is with these objectives that we have reimagined the concept of Anganwadis, as project “Nand Ghar”, symbolizing the child avatar of Lord Krishna or “Home for a Young one” as centres of learning for both women and children.

The project, which addresses issues relating to pre-primary education, health care, nutrition for children and economic empowerment for women in rural India, has been designed in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Child Development. These Nand Ghars are constructed with Schnell Technology and have clean toilets, safe drinking water and electricity through solar panels & various education and recreation facilities.

Today, our pilot of 100 Nand Ghars across three states has shown a marked improvement in attendance, learning abilities and school readiness, by deploying e-learning modules in education and soft skills in collaboration with world class partners. To make the model integrated, we are ensuring that the women undergo entrepreneurship training, including skill enhancement, to start their own micro enterprise with credit linkages, thereby increasing their contribution towards the Indian economy.

We have this excellent opportunity to transform the lives of over 100 million women and children and towards this we are now rolling out around 4,000 Nand Ghars at locations across India.

I am thankful for the unwavering support and encouragement of the office of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and Honourable Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, in our efforts towards building Nand Ghars which, I am hopeful, will help in integrating parts of rural India into the mainstream economy.

This website captures vignettes from the Nand Ghar journey; however, this is just the first step. Many more such initiatives will follow as we progress in this journey that will help to strengthen India’s social fabric resurgent economy in the coming years.

I invite you, dear visitors, to join us in this movement as we transform India one Nand Ghar at a time. I look forward to your ideas to make Project Nand Ghar a truly transformative project for the women and children of rural India.