Varanasi

Anil Agarwal Foundation Launches A Nutrition Initiative with Hyderabad based Troo Good Multi Millet Nutri-Bar for Children of Aanganwadis in Varanasi to Combat Malnutrition

March 23, 2023 TeluguSuperNews Leave a comment

Telugu Super News,India,March 23,2023:Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF), the philanthropic arm of Vedanta launched its biggest nutritional program for children with multi-millet nutri-bar distribution in Varanasi in the presence of Smt. Anandiben Patel, Hon’ble Governor of Uttar Pradesh and Ms Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Chairperson of Hindustan Zinc Ltd & Non-Executive Director, Vedanta Ltd today. Also gracing the occasion were Shri S Rajalingam, District Magistrate, Varanasi, and Shri. Himanshu Nagpal, Chief Development Officer (CDO), Varanasi. The launch took place at the modernized aanganwadi centre ‘Nand Ghar’ in Kashi Vidyapith, as an endeavor to make India malnutrition free.

Under this pilot launch, AAF would distribute the nutri-bar targeting almost 50,000 children daily across 1400 Anganwadi centers including Nand Ghars across three focus blocks of Varanasi- Sewapuri, Arajiline, and Kashi Vidyapith. With this, AAF aims to bring a positive nutrition impact by addressing malnutrition concerns among children aged 3-6 years in Uttar Pradesh. As a part of its thematic intervention on right nourishment, Nand Ghar, the flagship social impact project of AAF working towards child and women development, collaborated with Indian Institute of Millet Research (Nutri-hub, IIMR) and Hyderabad based Troo Good.

These micro-nutrient rich millet bars provide adequate amount of protein, fiber and antioxidants which is required for the optimal growth and well-being of children and has been launched in tandem with the government’s initiative to promote millets in one’s daily diet.

Speaking about this unique initiative, Smt. Anandiben Patel, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, said, “As Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has declared 2023 as International Year of Millets, our government’s efforts have been to signify the importance of millet in developing nutritional healthy diet for every growing child and women. Such initiatives will not only address the importance of millet, but also help to cure several malnutrition related diseases, thus creating a positive impact on the community. It’s good to see cause-oriented organizations such as Vedanta and Anil Agarwal Foundation aid holistic nourishment of children by including millets. I also appreciate the efforts of Varanasi Administration for smooth execution of this intervention.”

This unique nutritional pilot intervention is designed on a 6x6x6 model i.e., to deliver multi-millet bars packed with 6 powerpack ingredients for 6 days of the week for 6 months to the children attending the aanganwadis centres in the three specified blocks.

Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Chairperson of Hindustan Zinc Ltd & Non-Executive Director, Vedanta Ltd said, “Vedanta’s vision to achieve zero hunger aligns with Government’s POSHAN Abhiyan towards eliminating hunger and malnutrition from our country. Through this unique initiative, we aim to address the nutritional concerns amongst the children especially in the rural parts of India. These protein-dense millet bars are thoughtfully curated for children keeping in mind their nutritional needs, palate and preferences. We are thankful to IIMR and Govt of Uttar Pradesh in helping us commence this initiative as a small step towards creating a national movement.”

Anil Agarwal Foundation has partnered with Hyderabad based Troo Good to develop this innovative nutri-bar. Mr. Raju Bhupati, Founder and CEO of Troo Good commented, “Troo Good is elated to partner with Anil Agarwal Foundation and the Government of Uttar Pradesh to combat nutritional deficiency amongst children with its proprietary Multi Millet Nutrition bar. This will help nourish and build a strong, healthy, capable, and competent next generation for the country. For this we are thankful to Anil Agarwal Foundation for a path breaking initiative. Our association with IIMR has helped us develop millet-based products that are aimed to advance the nutrition quotient in the children. With this bar, we are rightly poised to support the millet mission of the country.”

The pilot intervention is expected to have a significant impact on the nutritional status of the children in the district of Varanasi and will be scaled up to other states gradually. Over the years, Vedanta has built many impactful CSR programs in India and is considered one of the most socially responsible corporations of the country. Its prime focus has been on children’s well-being and education, women empowerment, health care, sustainable agriculture & animal welfare, market-linked skilling of youth, environment protection & restoration, development of community infrastructure among others.

Spiritual tourism leads travel recovery; Varanasi, Tirupati, Puri, Amritsar and Haridwar are India’s top pilgrimage destinations

December 21, 2022 TeluguSuperNews Leave a comment

Telugu super news,New Delhi, 21^st December 2022: The travel recovery in India is driven by religious fervour, reveals the latest edition of OYO Cultural Travel 2022 Roundup Report. The report highlights that Varanasi is the top religious destination for bookers across India followed by Tirupati, Puri, Amritsar and Haridwar. Alongside these cities, Shirdi, Rishikesh, Mathura, Mahabaleshwar and Madurai are the other strong spiritual tourism destinations in India, witnessing maximum growth in bookers over the past year.

Varanasi is one of the top pilgrim cities for both Hindus and Buddhists which explains its popularity among the religious tourist destinations across India. With rising interest in community experiences across India, a lot of travellers are now looking forward to exploring rich cultural destinations, lesser-known locations, royal palaces and spiritual or wellness destinations. Post the festive holiday season this year, Global hospitality technology platform, OYO reveals interesting insights on spiritual and pilgrimage travel across India. As per OYO’s booking data insights, August, received the maximum demand for pilgrimage destinations.

As per OYO’s booking data analyzed between August to October 2022, Varanasi emerged as the top destination with the maximum number of bookings across spiritual destinations in India. Interestingly, the city observed maximum footfall on the 13th of August due to the festive holiday season in India. While Varanasi scored on the maximum bookings and high growth, the maximum increase in bookings have been observed across Shirdi, Tirupati and Puri at 483%, 233% and 117% respectively. Amritsar and Haridwar also witnessed strong growth. Alongside these cities, Mathura, Mahabaleshwar and Madurai are emerging spiritual tourism destinations in India, witnessing maximum growth over the past year.

Top 10 spiritual tourism destinations in India	Growth in 2022 VS 2021
Varanasi	56%
Tirupati	233%
Puri	117%
Amritsar	81%
Haridwar	78%
Shirdi	483%
Rishikesh	78%
Mathura	81%
Mahabaleshwar	149%
Madurai	127%

As per data insights, one user booked the longest stay in Prayagraj for 61 days followed by Mathura, which had the second longest single stay for 54 days.

A zone-wise breakdown of spiritual tourism in India indicates North India as the most favoured spiritual destination followed by South, West and East regions. Across the North zone, Varanasi has emerged as the most popular destination, followed by Prayagraj, Amritsar, Haridwar, Katra, and Rishikesh. Whereas travellers in South India are set to explore the cultural cities of Vijayawada, Mysore, Tirupati, Madurai, and Vellore. In the West zone, Shirdi tops the chart followed by Mahabaleshwar, Nashik, Ujjain, and Pushkar. While Puri and Goa were the most travelled destination in East India.

Long gone are the days when spiritual tourism was only for select few. Earlier, travel was bound by summer holidays, winter trips, post-exam trips but now it is way more diverse. With the need for spiritual connect taking priority, millennials and GenZ are setting new trends for the industry. With every passing day, spiritual and self-care travel are catching pace, and the demand is growing. While factors like availability of hotels, good connectivity to reach destination and enough pent-up demand for travel has supported the desire for spiritual and religious travels.

In order to boost pilgrimage tourist destinations, the Indian Railways has taken an initiative to encourage religious travel around the nation by running trains such as the ‘Swadesh Darshan’, ‘Jagannath Express’ and ‘Ramayana Express’. Many states have taken policy actions to promote cultral travel. For instance, the Uttar Pradesh Government has rolled out several initiatives to build and promote the Ramayana and Buddhist tourist circuits by investing close to 10,000 crores in the tourism sector. The state governments of Uttarakhand and Kolkata respectively, have also stepped up their efforts to ensure effective arrangements such as road connectivity to religious destinations, better air connectivity and offer essential aid with bookings, etc. for pilgrims travelling to the states. Supporting India’s strides to promote culture and spiritual destinations, OYO offers features to benefit every traveller, such as ‘Pay At Hotel’, search ‘Nearby Stays’, easy cancellation policies among others.

In today’s post-pandemic India, travel is all about flexibility and spiritual travel, alongside business and leisure travel are leading India’s travel recovery. Benefitting from this positive sentiment around travel, OYO’s H1 FY23 revenues have increased year-on-year. The company’s monthly revenue per hotel (GBV) per month has also clocked in a 69% increase year-on-year.