The SNS Foundation is named after Sant Nischal Singhji, a 19th-century priest and social reformer and the spiritual mentor to Mr. Jagdish Anand, the late brother of Mr. Deep C. Anand, Founder and Chairman of ANAND. A devoted sevapanti, Sant Nishchal Singhji attained proficiency in Sanskrit and traditional Indian philosophy at Varanasi. His most memorable contributions have been in the field of education.
In 1976, inspired by the ideals and principles of his spiritual mentor, Mr. Jagdish Anand institutionalised ANAND’s community development arm in the form of a foundation that is today known and driven by companies as ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ or CSR, a passion project for the ANAND family. Thus, SNSF has consolidated the resources of 10 ANAND business entities to partner people and communities in building a socially equitable world over the last four decades. Expanding the reach to >320 villages around the manufacturing bases of ANAND, SNSF is spread across eight States of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana in the north to Madhya Pradesh in the centre; Rajasthan and Maharashtra in the west; and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south.
Much of the SNSF’s efforts have been aimed at empowering people with skills so that they can earn a livelihood for themselves, providing educational services to the marginalised sections of the society and mobilising child labourers into inclusive programmes that ensure their educational development, physical and mental well-being and protection from exploitation. Several of the interventions are based on the GAD approach, which allows SNSF to generate its own structures and processes as well as its programmes and projects.