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About The Project

THDC India Limited, in collaboration with Mrida Group, has launched an initiative that celebrates the
entrepreneurial spirit of rural India. The project recognizes and champions the people who have
stepped forward in the areas of livelihood development and employment generation, in and around
the 28 Project Affected Villages under the Vishnugad-Pipalkoti-Hydro-Electric-Project in the Pipalkoti
and surrounding areas in Dist. Chamoli, Uttarakhand.

As the name indicates, Project 'Nayi Kiran' marks a new dawn and the beginning of a new hope for villagers and beneficiaries, while also honouring the champions and torchbearers of next-generation rural entrepreneurship.

Objective

Through Project 'Nayi Kiran', THDC seeks to empower and uplift rural individuals and communities of Project Affected Persons and Project Affected Families (PAPs/PAFs), encouraging them towards self-employment and self-sufficiency through positive interventions.

'Nayi Kiran' implies the new rays of dawn, which epitomise hope and optimism regarding the future. The Project guides PAPs/PAFs towards self-sustaining virtuous cycles of sustainable livelihoods, self-employment and holistic empowerment through innovations in agriculture, education and training, digital empowerment, livelihood interventions and women's empowerment.

Starting with Pilot Projects, the overall objective of ‘Nayi Kiran’ is to establish sustainable functioning models of rural entrepreneurship and income generation/enhancement which can be significantly scaled up over time.

Pilot Projects have accordingly been implemented across the catchment area, with the help of field workshops, training sessions, interactions between beneficiaries and other stakeholders to identify focus areas and potential interventions, and due consideration of issues, constraints, and challenges associated with such interventions.

The Project is designed to leverage throughout its duration, all forms of support from the District Horticulture, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Industry, and other relevant Government Departments.

It is expected that the Project 'Nayi Kiran' will work as a harbinger of economic transformation and uplifting lives of PAPs/PAFs, apart from serving as a model for other THDC Projects as well.

“What I like about my work is, it

changes the lives of others.”

Progress Through Purpose

As the project progresses, success stories and best practices will be shared in order to build on previous pilots and engage additional members after making necessary course corrections. This will be supported by Brand Ambassadors who are beneficiaries of the Pilot Projects themselves, and who can be expected to serve as a powerful motivating factor for other PAPs/PAFs to embark upon the path of ‘Swarozgaar’ or self-employment advocated under Project Nayi Kiran. This will also serve to make the project itself both sustainable as well as scalable over time.