Girls Empowerment Mission(GEM) – NTPC flagship project
The phrase “gem of a person” means that the person is a rare and special find or maybe with incredible talent or skill. After all, precious or semi-precious stone attains ‘gem’ status only after going through the phases of cut, polish, and engraving. But here, we are talking about adolescent girls who attain ‘gem’ status through the Girls Empowerment Mission (GEM) program of NTPC. This is true that adolescence is a unique stage of development and an important time for laying the foundations for the future. Adolescent girls experience rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial growth. It is the time when they are at most risk as well as at peak of their potential. If during this critical stage, girls are nurtured properly, the sky is the limit for them. And here comes NTPC, the largest energy conglomerate in India, with an objective of Powering India, Empowering Girls. Through its flagship project- GEM, NTPC makes efforts to help these young girls at their most vital phase of life to attain the gem status. What started as a model initiative under CSRat NTPC-Vindhyachal in 2018, the GEM program soon spanned over 23 of its projects in 2019 and 33 in 2022. Thanks to its well-structured curriculum, the GEM program is a huge hit amongst girls in the age group of 10-12 in the vicinity of its power plants. As a Responsible Corporate Citizen, NTPC conducts the four-week-long residential GEM program during summer vacation. Unlike the summer camps in metros run by corporate schools and institutions, the GEM workshop NTPC projects are free of cost. At present, 2400 girls are receiving training across 33 NTPC stations. Strengthening the flagship program of NTPC, the Southern Regions conducting the GEM workshop this year atRamagundam (Telangana), Simhadri (AP), Vallur (TN), Kudgi (Karnataka), and Kayamkulam (Kerala). A total of 360 girl students are receiving training from these camps. While Ramagundam and Simhadriare impart training to120 girls each, Vallur, Kudgi andKayamkulamare facilitate 40 girls each.
