Hindustan Zinc reaching out to 3055 Anganwadis of the ICDS Department in 5 districts of Rajasthan i.e. Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Ajmer

“Care for the underprivileged children is very close to my heart” says Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Group. “No child in India should remain malnourished and be deprived of nutrition, health and primary education” is what his vision is. In this process Vedanta initiated adoption of government run Anganwadis in the year 2008. The intervention was for a limited period, benefiting children in age-group of 0-6 years.

In year 2015, Hindustan Zinc signed the MoU with Government of Rajasthan to strengthen 3055 Anganwadis of the ICDS Department in 5 districts i.e. Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Ajmer of Rajasthan under its flagship project “Khushi” in 2 phases.

Last year under “Khushi” project, Hindustan Zinc reached out to 2295 Anganwadi centres in 5 districts of Rajasthan in phase 1.

As part of Phase 2, on 29th June, 2017, Hindustan Zinc with partner NGO – Seva Mandir has now included 264 Anganwadi centres in Kotra Tehsil of Udaipur district and this year, the company will be covering more than 760 Anganwadi centres in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. The Chief Guest of the event was Taru Surana – Dy. Director, ICDS, Udaipur District who unveiled “Khushi” Board to initiate the program. During the program, Taru said “Anganwadi program will be strengthened with the intervention of Hindustan Zinc to improve attendance, health and the well-being of Anganwadi children.”

More than 300 anganwadi workers, helpers, ASHA coordinators and community members present shared their views and expectations from Khushi Anganwadi Project. Also present were, Neelima Khetan – Head CSR, HZL, Priyanka Singh – CEO, Seva Mandir and Murarilal Bumbharia – Prdhan, Kotra.

Pavan Kaushik – Head Corporate Communication, HZL said “A country that has the highest number of malnourished children in the world and also accounts for largest child deaths, the private sector intervention, under public-private-partnership model, becomes significant. Through “Khushi” Anganwadi program, Hindustan Zinc will be touching lives of about 50,000 children in rural parts of Rajasthan.”

Hindustan Zinc through its “Khushi” Campaign has been creating awareness towards care for the underprivileged children – their health, education and nutrition.