The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, JULY 1, 2021
Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group on Thursday announced a Rs 5,000 crore social impact programme with focus on nutrition, women and child development, healthcare, animal welfare and grass root level sports, including investments in a Corona-free village project across several states to combat the pandemic.
The first of its kind social impact programme will be run under the aegis of the Anil Agarwal Foundation which will be the umbrella entity of Vedanta’s social initiatives and provide all-round development to work towards these goals over the next five years.
The company strongly believes in growing with the communities and Anil Agarwal has already pledged to give 75% of his wealth towards social good and upliftment of the masses.
‘Swasth Gaon Abhiyaan’ will be a mega project which will enhance ‘immunity in community’ to ensure minimum impact of Covid, as part of their overall objective of providing social development and infrastructure as an essential service to the nation. In addition, this will also enhance job opportunities, reskill the youth and bring in stabilityand progress which is key to economic growth for India. KPMG will be a strategic partner of AAF in implementing this massive programme.
Announcing Rs 5000-crore holistic initiative for the development of rural India, Chairman Anil Agarwal said, “We aim to strengthen our efforts and facilitate sustainable and inclusive growth, which is the need of the hour to protect and provide for our communities. The Swasth Gaon Abhiyaan initiative is the first step in our journey to provide end to end healthcare solutions across the rural landscape covering1000 villages. This program will also complement Vedanta’s flagship Nand Ghar project which aims to impact 7 crore children and 2 crore women.”
“Our emphasis is on ‘building back better’ to collaborate and ensure social recovery which is backed by requisite healthcare infrastructure,” he added.
Under the flagship initiative, ‘Swasth Gaon Abhiyaan’, Anil Agarwal Foundation plans to support and strengthen healthcare services across 1,000 villages within 24 districts and 12 states in the country, impacting over two million lives. The initiative will follow a model of interventions at the district level, such as Oxygen Generation Plants, Telemedicine services, Upgradation of Medical and Diagnostic infrastructure and Mobile Medical Van/Ambulances. The pool of interventions will be planned as per specific needs and availability of Specialist doctors at the various district hospitals in order to make the facility functional.
Major investments will be made under ‘Swasth Gaon Abhiyaan’ to mitigate the impact of Covid-19, in collaboration with state governments/districts to provide a safety net for communities and invest in healthcare services. Efforts are being made to promote vaccination through special medical & wellness camps being held in remote areas. Provisions of medical amenities are also being made in district wise hospitals and health care centres to ensure quality treatment.
The new areas of focus for Anil Agarwal Foundation will be to provide shelters and aid for Animal welfare.
The flagship project Nand Ghar for women and child development will continue to scale up significantly, aiming to impact 7 crore children and 2 crore women across the country.
With the well-defined roadmap and a commitment to invest Rs5,000 crore, Anil Agarwal Foundation together with Vedanta aims to take this mission ahead and achieve the dream of creating strong and resilient communities in India.
