National | October 8, 2026: The NDRF Wives Welfare Association (NWWA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mpower, a pan-India mental health service provider founded by Mrs. Neerja Birla under the Aditya Birla Education Trust (ABET), to launch Project Nirmal. The initiative will provide mental health and psychosocial support to National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel and their families across India.

The initiative addresses the occupational stress faced by NDRF personnel, who work in physically demanding conditions and are frequently deployed at short notice during disasters. The partnership aims to provide structured mental health support, promote early intervention and reduce the stigma associated with seeking help.

Project Nirmal will offer mental health awareness sessions, routine psychological screening, individual and group counselling, tele-counselling, crisis intervention and suicide prevention support. To extend services across the country, hub-based teams will be established in key regional centres. A dedicated, multilingual helpline, operated by mental health experts, will also provide round-the-clock guidance to personnel and their family members.

Smt. Priti Anand, President, NWWA, said, “prioritizing the emotional well-being of rescuers and their families is essential for maintaining force morale, readiness, and overall response effectiveness”.

Speaking about the initiative, Mrs. Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust, Mpower said, “We deeply appreciate the NDRF for recognising that mental well-being is integral to the strength of the response system itself. Through Project Nirmal, Mpower is taking a pioneering step with The NDRF Wives Welfare Association to extend structured mental-health support to frontline workers and the NDRF families. This partnership marks the beginning of a pan- India vision for Mpower to work towards systematically institutionalising mental-health care and building integrated mental-health support systems for those who are serving the nation around the clock.”

Mpower has previously worked with uniformed and frontline services, including the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and police forces across Maharashtra. Its work includes Project Mann with CISF, which brings together mental health awareness, early identification, counselling, capacity building and access to professional support.

Through Project Nirmal, Mpower plans to build on this experience to strengthen mental health care for frontline personnel and their families. The initiative is intended to make psychosocial support a sustained part of the support system for NDRF personnel, rather than limiting it to periods of visible distress.