Care for the underprivileged children is very close to the heart of Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Group. “No child in India should remain malnourished and be deprived of nutrition, health and primary education” is what he has envisaged. 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.

Last year in 2015, Hindustan Zinc signed the MoU in association with Government of Rajasthan for the adoption of 3055 Anganwadis in Rajasthanunder its project “Khushi”.

Anganwadi Centre at Khanpura is one such Anganwadi where initially 20 children were enrolled and looked after Asha Coordinator, Anganwadi Mitra and “Khushi” team. But during the start of the session this year, parents of some of the children withdrew their names from Anganwadi Centres and got them admission elsewhere.

“Khushi” team, Asha coordinator and Anganwadi Mitra took it as a challenge and decided to strengthen the Anganwadi and re-enrol the children in the centre.

The team invited parents of the children who left for the meeting at Anganwadi Centre to sensitize them and create awareness about the role-play of Anganwadi Centre in development of the future of their children. Parents were then briefed about the facilities and benefits that an Anganwadi centre would provide to their children.

The efforts of “Khushi” team and Asha Coordinator paid off.

Parents understood the importance of Anganwadi Centre and how it will help in grooming and overall development of their children.

They re-enrolled their children. Now there are 22 children enrolled at Khanpura Anganwadi Centre and the smiling faces of these Little Sparrows say it all.

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