Vedanta CSR forms "Village Empowerment Committees" to combat malnutrition in India

One in every three malnourished child in the world lives in India. Isn't it alarming? Malnutrition limits development and the capacity to learn in children. It also costs lives: about 50 per cent of all childhood deaths are attributed to malnutrition. In India, around 46 per cent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, and 47 per cent are underweight. Most of these children are severely malnourished.

The Anganwadi Project was started by the Government of India in 1975 with an aim to provide nutrition value to young children, and since then there has been an active participation by State Governments for strengthening and trying to make Anganwadi project successful. A time came when big corporates too started showing interest in joining this mission to eradicate malnutrition from India.

In 2007, Vedanta group companies joined hands with State Governments of Rajasthan and Orissa and now also with Chattisgarh to support Anganwadi Project. With a mission to provide nutrition value to under privileged children in the age group of 0-6 years, Vedanta group company, Hindustan Zinc, adopted 400 Anganwadi Centres in Rajasthan and Vedanta Aluminium adopted 400 in Orissa. With this adoption not only the nutrient supplements were corrected but Anganwadi Centres also received new utensils, water filters, medical kit, books, toys, and other necessary items, much to the needs of these centres. These Vedanta Anganwadi Centers now maintain data of each child, including the change in their height and weight.

Encouraged by the results Vedanta adopted another 600 Anganwadi in Rajasthan and another 600 in Orissa, enhancing the total number of Anganwadi adopted to 2,000, benefiting over 85,000 under privileged children living in deep rural areas.

Fascination is what catches the attention of these very young children. The teaching methodology is entirely through play way methods where the teacher teaches them through songs and rhymes, colourful pictorial books and toys. The parents of the children are also very happy as their children are being taught about health and hygiene, civic sense and their children from the Anganwadi Centers then move to formal schools.

In order to impress upon the sustainability, strengthening and monitoring system of Anganwadi Centres (Child Care Centres) adopted by Vedanta, the Company has decided to form "Village Empowerment Committees" in every village. At present 2,000 'Vedanta Bal Chetna Anganwadi Centres' are present in Rajasthan and Orissa. The Company has already formed 1578 'Village Empowerment Committees', 1000 in Orissa and 578 in Rajasthan, which have also started functioning.

There are in total 10 members in each committee, which include panchayat leaders, youth leaders, opinion makers, self-help-group members, integrated child development project field staff, elderly people, and also a representation from Vedanta Foundation. These committee members would meet once in a month and take stalk of situation. These Committees would also convince mothers to send their child regularly to the Anganwadi Centres, monitor the quality of nutrient being given to children, stock of the food grains, ensure children being given micronutrient syrup, maintenance of record of every child, and liaison with local administration for immunization program.

Vedanta group has the target to eradicate malnutrition in at least 500,000 under-privileged children through adoption of 10,000 Anganwadi Centres in the coming 2-3 years. At present, all these Anganwadi Centres operate under the umbrella of "Vedanta Bal Chetna Anganwadi Centres".

In Chattisgarh, Vedanta group company BALCO runs 537 'MAMTA' centres in 500 villages, primarily for the mother and child care. These centres take care of all aspects of mother and child care, right from educating them about social taboos to health and medical benefits. The consistent efforts has brought down Infant Mortality Rate from 85 to 42 per 1000 and Mother Mortality Rate from 115 to 60 per 1000, in the region.

Malnutrition in early childhood has serious, long-term consequences. Malnourished children are less likely to perform well in school and more likely to grow into malnourished adults, at greater risk of disease and early death.

Unicef report also says, in 2007, an estimated 9.2 million children worldwide under the age of five died from largely preventable causes. Some are directly caused by illness such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria. Others are caused by indirect causes including conflict and HIV/AIDS. Malnutrition, poor hygiene and lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation contribute to more than half of these deaths. Two thirds of both neonatal and young child deaths — over 6 million deaths every year — are preventable. Half a million women die in pregnancy each year, most during delivery or in the first few days thereafter.

Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Group says, "I want to see India as a child malnutrition free country. The Vedanta group is working towards complete eradication of malnutrition from this country. A very high percentage of Children in India are under-nourished and suffer due to malnutrition and children are under-weight.

Children are wealth of any nation and also future of Indian growth story. We need to ensure their childhood is healthy and well nourished and they get proper education."

In Vedanta Bal Chetna Anganwadi Centres, the children greet every visitor with ‘good morning’, have every day bath, brush their teeth, cut their nails, comb their hair, and wear clean clothes. One can feel the inner happiness in these children.

Vedanta has developed a successful model for combating malnutrition in India. All it needs now is to be replicated by other corporate.

Vedanta CSR beneficiaries reach 2.5 million covering 550 villages

HINDUSTAN ZINC EFFORTS SAVE 'CHOTU LAL' FROM SCOLIOSIS

Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group company, came for instant help of Chotu Lal Gurjar, a 15 year boy from Rajasthan, who was suffering from Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis with curvature of 85 degrees. As a result, his body was completely bent on one side and had developed a large hump with severe difficulty in breathing. Chotu Lal was advised surgery, with total cost ranging Rs. 450,000. The cost was much higher for this poor child, who is a son of a farmer in Bhilwara, Rajasthan. Further there was also a fear of paralysis.

Scoliosis (means abnormal curvature of spine leading to hump on the back) is a common problem in children especially of the lower socio-economic group. Scoliosis correction surgery is a complex operation done in very few centers in India like Delhi and Mumbai because it requires highly trained surgical team and tertiary level infrastructure. It is an expensive surgery requiring costly implants, intensive care and world class operating rooms. GBH American Hospital, Udaipur, Rajasthan and Save a Child Charitable trust (SACT) performs these complicated surgeries in Rajasthan.

Chotu Lal approached Hindustan Zinc, through District Collector Bhilwara, and the company immediately agreed to bear total expenses of the surgery and donated Rs.250,000 rupees to Save A Child Trust (SACT). The balance expenditure of Rs. 200,000 was borne by GBH American Hospital and SACT.

Chotu was operated for 14-15 hours on 31st August 2010 by Dr Chirayu, Dr Sood and team at American Hospital, Udaipur. The surgery was conducted successfully. 20 screws and a rod has been implanted on Chotu's back and now his bend is only 25 degree, which is like any normal human being. Now Chotu can stand straight and has no breathing problem. After 2 weeks, he walks back home with a straight spine and lovely smile.

Hindustan Zinc has given Chotu a new lease of life.

Women Bring Micro-Enterprise In Rural Rajasthan

Vedanta Group company, Hindustan Zinc, bringing difference in the lives of thousands of rural women in Rajasthan...


Women in rural Rajasthan are for a change. Their social and economic conditions are changing and they are emerging as self reliant, self independent, micro entrepreneur, and decision makers in their house. The women of rural Rajasthan are experiencing women empowerment. Their house hold income is increasing multi-fold and there is a significant change in their quality of life.The credit goes to forming of Self Help Groups that has participation of about 10-12 rural women, primarily of the same village and surrounding.

Rajasthan is emerging as one of the leading State in India in development of Self Help Groups (SHGs). Hindustan Zinc alone facilitates 215 Self Help Groups in the district of Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Rajsamand. More than 3,500 women are associated with these 215 Self Help Groups in the State. The important part is that all the Self Help Groups are linked with the banks and operate their bank accounts. The cumulative savings of these groups is about Rs. 45 Lacs and about 80% of these Self Help Groups have received a loan of about Rs. 50 lacs from the banks.

Radha Somani of Agucha village, took a loan of Rs. 10,000 and starated a Manihari Shop. Today she earns about Rs. 4,000/- per month. She says, "I am paying pack my installment and also my sons college fees. In soon my son would complete MBA and our days of hardship would change". Another women Shanti Mali is about 56 years of age, widow with one son. She was working as daily wager and fell ill. She took a loan of Rs. 15,000/- and started cultivating vegetables in 2 bighas of land. Today her daily earnings are over Rs. 500/-. She has become a small entrepreneur now.

With emphasis on self independence and improving their quality of life, about 60% members have opted and established their own micro-enterprise , viz. vegetable cultivation, mini dairy, tailoring shop, grocery shops, spice grinding units, imitation jewellery shop to name a few. This has brought a significant change in their economic conditions. On an average there has been an increase in their monthly income to the tune of Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000.

Hindustan Zinc has not only been facilitating these Self Help Groups but also linking them with banks, and guiding them for opening micro enterprises. The role of Hindustan Zinc is important in terms of making these women participate in the Panchayat affairs, decision making in issues within their houses, at village level, and also uplifting their quality of life. The Company has been educating them on savings, inter-loaning and capacity building, including, providing need based training to the members.

The exercise begins in convincing individual women for forming a group i.e SHG, their training, imparting knowledge in book keeping and continuously motivating them till they start achieving results. “There is also resistance from men in the family said ,” Bhanwar Singh Chundawal, sarpanch, Nagari village in Chittorgarh. “They fear their wives and daughters-in-law are going to become too independent for their liking.” In spite of all that, self-help groups are spurring hope and aspirations for women like Chunki Devi, 47. A widow and mother of four, she has struggled for 11 years to earn a living. Recently she joined a self , help group in Agucha and is taking a Rs 25,000-loan to buy seeds and fertilizers for her fields. “I hope my days of poverty would soon come to an end,” said Devi, a lohar (blacksmith) by caste.

Some self-help groups, such as the one in Ganeshpura village of Chittorgarh, work towards generating collective income for their members.

“Our group works together to make bags, bed sheets and rakhis,” said Chanchal Parikh, 37, its president. “We have tied up with a person for bulk orders.” The groups also give loans to its members. Their functioning is largely democratic - with regular elections to the posts of president, secretary and treasurer.

The biggest concern is that most of these women are not literate; so, they have to depend on others to operate their bank accounts and handle finances. Although the groups meet every month to discuss socially relevant issues such as childcare, family planning and sanitation, many members fail to benefit because they are not educated.

In a country where women empowerment in rural area plays an important role in the economic development of the nation, the participation of Corporates in forming of SHGs is important.

Vedanta to strengthen computer education programme in Rajasthan

50,000 children of 482 government schools in Rajasthan will get computer education every year. Govt. of Rajasthan, Vedanta Foundation and Hindustan Zinc signs MoU under "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan". Government of Rajasthan under the "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan" programme signed an MOU with 'Vedanta Foundation' and 'Hindustan Zinc' for providing e-contents in 482 government schools located in four districts of Rajasthan, which will benefit 50,000 children every year.

Under the program entitled “Vedanta e-Shiksha @ Schools” 482 Govt. Schools in the districts of Rajsamandh, Bhilwara, Udaipur and Chittorgarh will be provided e-Contents towards ‘Computer Aided Learning (CAL) and Computer Education Program (CEP). This program will primarily benefit students from the class 6th to 8th. 115 schools of Udaipur, 140 schools of Bhilwara, 118 schools of Rajsamand and 109 schools of Chittorgarh would be covered in this programme.

As per the MoU ‘Vedanta Foundation’ will provide ‘e-Contents’ which include English, Science, Social Studies and Maths, in all the 482 schools and will also take-up its maintenance. Vedanta Foundation will also train two teachers from each school, and appoint a third party supervising agency, who will oversee, monitor and do the assessment of the implementation and effectiveness of this project.

In addition to this, the Vedanta Foundation will also ensure that in order to make this 3-year long project more effective, teachers and students are constantly motivated and in this regard an award scheme is being worked out. The project cost is estimated to cost over Rs. 2 crore which will be borne by Hindustan Zinc.

Rajasthan Government has already installed computers in all the 482 schools and it was now a matter of providing them right content which Vedanta Foundation and Hindustan Zinc have taken the responsibility. “The objective of this project is to give an opportunity to the less privileged and rural children to get acquainted to computers which have become integral part of education.

This initiative will not only bring quality education in computers but would also bring enthusiasm in these children. This is likely to impact the attendance and reduce the drop out percentage” said Mr. Ravi Krishnan CEO Vedanta Foundation. The MoU was signed by Ms. Veenu Gupta- Commissioner of Rajasthan Council of Elementary, Government of Rajasthan, Mr. Ravi Kirshnan - CEO of Vedanta Foundation and Mr. Ahmar Sultan from HZL.

Vedanta launches 8th Mid-Day Meal Kitchen for Under-Privileged Children in India

Mid-Day Meal Kitchens to benefit 250,000 under-privileged children in about 3,000 schools in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Orissa

40,000 school going children of 264 schools of Korba, Chattisgarh, will start receiving hot, hygienic and nutritious mid-day meal as their school open after vacation, which should be this month itself. With the launch of Hi-Tech kitchen at Korba, Vedanta group now has 8 such Hi-Tech centralized Kitchens, providing hot mid-day meal to about 250,000 school going children of about 3,000 rural schools in Rajasthan, Orissa and Chattisgarh.

Vedanta had first set-up these Hi-Tech kitchens in the districts of Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Bhilwara in the State of Rajasthan and now has 6 such hi-tech centralized kitchens in Rajasthan, benefiting 180,000 under-privileged children in 2,400 rural schools. Recently, former Hon'ble President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam inaugurated mid-day meal kitchen at Lanjigarh, Orissa, which will benefit 20,000 under-privileged children of 273 rural schools, and now another hi-tech kitchen at Korba, Chattisgarh, that would benefit 40,000 under-privileged children in 264 schools.

Vedanta has partnered with the State Governments of Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Orissa for the Mid-Day Meal scheme with the prime objective of improving the health status of children from Class I to VIII in government aided schools, given that 41% of the children in India are under-weight. A study conducted by the World Bank at Chittorgarh assessing the mid-day meal scheme highlighted that enrolment in schools improved by 64% and an increase in the enrolment of girls by 58% alone.

The impact of mid-day meal program has been immense. Besides improving the health of these children, it has also improved the attendance in the school and also the enrolment of students. The uniqueness of mid-day meal program lies in its easy scalability and the like-mindedness of the partners. This public private partnership between the State Government, Naandi Foundation and Vedanta group has come up as a social commitment to provide quality meals on time in the remotest schools. The government brings in the food grains as per the budget allocated per child (this varies from state to state); Naandi Foundation - NGO, is implementing partner and Vedanta group has committed one time capex investment for setting up all these hygienic hi-tech centralized kitchens along with quality control measures on food, delivery and service.

Vedanta group has vision to set-up 20 kitchens in the coming four years and reach out to over 15 lakh under-privileged children.

Vedanta brings ray of hope for cancer patients in India

Vedanta is building a 360 bedded " Vedanta Cancer Hospital and Research Centre" in Raipur, Chattisgarh. This hospital is coming at a cost of Rs. 350 crore with 20% bed space for BPL.

Going by the reports of Cancer Foundation of India, it is estimated that at any given point of time there are 2.0 to 2.5 million cancer cases requiring cancer treatment in India and there is an increment of 10,000 new cancer cases ever year.

WHO report categorically mentions Cancer as a leading cause of death worldwide.

The disease accounted for 7.4 million deaths, or around 13% of all deaths worldwide, in 2004. More than 70% of all cancer deaths occurred in low and middle-income countries. Deaths from cancer worldwide are projected to continue rising, with an estimated 12 million deaths in 2030. As per WHO’s prediction by the year 2010 itself, cancer will overtake cardiac diseases and become the No. 1 killer.

It is well documented that more than 70% of disease burden is related to life-style factors such as food & beverage practices, personal habits, infections, tobacco consumption to name a few. In addition, urbanization, industrialization and increasing life-span are also known to influence the cancer pattern globally.

Taking the note of gravity of situation in India, Vedanta Group laid the foundation of “Vedanta Cancer Hospital and Research Centre” in August 2007. This 360 bedded hospital is being built on 50 acre of land with an estimated cost of over Rs. 350 crore. Once fully operational, it will employ about 125 doctors and 300 nurses besides a number of para-medical and non medical staff.

Taking special care for the under-privileged, Vedanta will be keeping 20% of the bed space for BPL families. The hospital is being built on self-sustainable basis with special concession and facilities to poor families.

Assessing the magnitude of rising cases, Vedanta Group has already started working towards the cause. Voluntary camps are being organized in remote villages and special mobile vans equipped with ultra modern equipments are screening the suspected patients on regular basis. So far about 40 such camps have been conducted in 500 villages covering 160,000 people in 28,000 house-holds. In these camps 3,125 cases were registered (May 2010) out of which 516 were suspected cases and 155 cases were confirmed cancer cases. Out of 155, 60 patients were identified for further treatment. 22 surgeries have been performed at BALCO Hospital, Chattisgarh, and build by BALCO, a Vedanta group company in aluminium business in Chattisgarh.

The cancer hospital project would be completed in two phases. The first phase of the Vedanta Cancer Hospital Project at Raipur is slated for completion in November 2011. In this Phase-I the hospital would become operative with 100 beds. Vedanta has already underlined capex expenditure of Rs. 200 crore for this year.

“Vedanta Cancer Hospital and Research Centre” will also have five satellite centres, located at strategic locations covering 16 districts of Chattisgarh to cover a large number people for screening and for further treatment.

The “Vedanta Cancer Hospital and Research Centre” will provide state-of-the-art facilities to Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa besides Chattisgarh.

In the first phase, the hospital is expected to look after 4,000 - 6,000 patients and once it becomes fully operational it is expected to cater to about 15,000 patients.

As per the data of WHO, the cancer problem needs a focused and dedicated attention. “Vedanta Cancer Hospital and Research Centre” will come up as a big relief for the treatment of cancer and provide state-of-the-art treatment to people at large.

Vedanta Hindustan Zinc Heart Hospital in Udaipur

Hindustan Zinc to up-grade 'Vedanta Hindustan Zinc Heart Hospital' in Udaipur, Rajasthan.

An MOU to upgrade the "Vedanta Hindustan Zinc Heart Hospital", Udaipur was signed recently between Hindustan Zinc and Rajasthan government in the presence of Hon'ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Shri Ashok Ji Gehlot. The MOU in this regard was signed, on behalf of Government of Rajasthan by Mr. C.M. Meena, Principle. Secretary (Medical Education) and Mr. Akhilesh Joshi, COO, Hindustan Zinc. Hon'ble Chief Minister highly appreciated the work being done by Hindustan Zinc in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility in Rajasthan.

Under the MOU, Vedanta Group company Hindustan Zinc would contribute Rs. 10 crore for the up-gradation of the said hospital. The Government of Rajasthan would meet the annual recurring expenditure required for full use of the facilities created in the 'Vedanta Hindustan Zinc Heart Hospital', Udaipur.

This hospital was built by Hindustan Zinc with the expenditure of Rs. 6.5 crore in the year 1999. Dr. S.K.Kaushik, Principal RNT Medical College, who was also present on the occasion informed that "with the time the number of patients have increased and thus the facilities also needed to be increased. With contribution of Rs. 10 crore by Hindustan Zinc, the facilities would now double and we would be able to look after much more patients." 'Vedanta Hindustan Zinc Heart Hospital' after the up-gradation will have 90 or more beds, 2 Units for cardiology and 1 unit for Cardio Thoracic Vascular Surgery.

A Project Management Committee has also been constituted under the Chairmanship of District Collector, Udaipur, Mr. Anand Kumar, to implement, monitor the progress and co-ordinate all the project related activities. The Committee will also have Dr. S.K.Kaushik, Principal RNT Medical College, and Mr. Ahmar Sultan, Associate Vice President, Hindustan Zinc as members.

The MOU ceremony was attended by Chief Secretary of Government of Rajasthan - Mr. T. Srinivasan, Principle Secretary (Finance) Mr. C.K.Mathew, Principle Secretary (to CM) - Mr. Srimat Pandey, Principle Secretary (PWD) - Mr. Dinesh Kumar Goyal, and the District Collector -Udaipur Mr. Anand Kumar. Mr. S.L. Bajaj CFO and Mr. A. Sultan AVP-CSR were present from Hindustan Zinc.

Hindustan Zinc, through CSR,is impacting the lives of more than 500,000 people in about 200 villages in the areas of health, education, livelihood, sanitation, drinking water and various infrastructure development activities, in the State of Rajasthan.

Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) - Empowering the Luano Community

Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), a company of Vedanta group in copper business is the largest copper producer in Zambia. The company is equally committed in bringing social and economic empowerment in the region. One community KCM has been focusing is, Luano community.

Chingola’s Luano area is about 22 km from the town centre and its main community occupation is farming. The economic condition of the community living in Luano are far from being satisfactory. The community struggles to just manage the basic necessities like salt, money for milling their maize and paying the school fees. Most of the members of this community are not connected to the national power grid, have lower literacy levels and poor road network. The biggest challenge is to find exactly what may suit the targeted community and the general climate for the projects. Yet there is nothing that may perfectly suit this rural community than farming projects.

To avoid creating any dependence, KCM spent over K53 million (more than USD 10,000) to source 300 goats for 100 families on condition that they pass on the first offspring to other needy families belonging to the same cooperative and who are on the waiting list. The goat passing-on project is aimed at reducing poverty levels among the non-mining community of miners.

One would wonder how KCM identified such a remote community to access its corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds. KCM manager for CSR Ms. Sampa Chitah explained that KCM had been working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to help in finding the needy communities. This has helped in breaking the chains of dependency. Over the years, the animals reproduce, leading to a greater supply of surplus products for the generation of income.

Ms Chitah said the Luano goat draft project was among many programmes KCM was undertaking. Others are sustainable livelihood programmes, mentorship of widows of former miners and support rendered to Mutende and Luwi orphanages.

The sustainability of the projects was highlighted by Chingola veterinary officer, Mr. Peter Kabungo, who urged farmers never to break the chain of recipients because through the draft goat project, the people of Luano could help families to become accountable to each other and restore their dignity and self-respect.

Dr. Kabungo said Government is happy with KCM’s quick response to the call made at the Copperbelt Agriculture and Commercial Show in which the Government appealed for diversification as noticed from the theme ‘Productivity in Adversity’. He said this was a call to diversify overdependence from copper to other minerals and agriculture for sustainability.

Dr. Kabungo also added, in conclusion, that stakeholders and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives should ensure that the farmers are helped with the needed chemicals and the Ministry of Agriculture in the district is to be in constant touch with the farmers.

Vedanta to adopt another 1,000 Anganwadi Centers in Orissa and Rajasthan

Now, 120,000 under privileged rural children to get nutrition value
through 3,000 Vedanta Anganwadi Centers

Statistics show every 3rd malnourished child in the World lives in India. It is astonishing to know that every 2nd Indian child is under-weight and 3 out of 4 children in India are anemic. India alone accounts for 40% of child malnutrition in developing countries, one of the highest levels in the World. India accounts for 57 million of the World’s 146 million malnourished children.

With a mission to provide nutrition value to under privileged children in the age group of 0-6 years, Vedanta group took the initiative of adopting State Governments run Anganwadi Centers. Initially, Vedanta adopted 800 Anganwadi Centers, 400 each in Orissa and Rajasthan, and provided nutrition value (groundnut, poha etc.), utensils, water filters, medical kit, books, toys, and other necessary items to each of these 800 Anganwadi Centers. A regular doctor had now started visiting these Anganwadi Centers for conducting medical check-ups and also for providing necessary immunization. These Vedanta Anganwadi Centers now maintain data of each child and the activities are monitored. Not only this, the company has also appointed supervisors to ensure proper implementation of the project. The impact is to be seen, as not only the nutrition value in these children has considerably increased but also the attendance in the Anganwadi Centers.

Encouraged by the results Vedanta adopted another 600 Anganwadi in Rajasthan and another 600 in Orissa, in the second phase, enhancing the total number of Anganwadi to 2,000, benefiting over 85,000 under privileged children living in deep rural areas.

Now, the Vedanta group is moving ahead to adopt another 1,000 Anganwadi Centers, 500 in Orissa and 500 in Rajasthan, which would benefit about 43,000 rural children, taking the total adoption to 3,000 and beneficiaries as over 120,000. Vedanta group has the target for reaching out to minimum 10,000 Anganwadi Centres to benefit about 500,000 under-privileged children living in deep rural areas in the coming 2-3 years.

Mr. Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Group says, "I want to see India as a child malnutrition free country. The Vedanta group is working towards complete eradication of malnutrition from this country. A very high percentage of Children in India are under-nourished and suffer due to malnutrition and children are under-weight. Children are wealth of any nation and also future of Indian growth story. We need to ensure their childhood is healthy and well nourished and they get proper education.”

The children who are going in Anganwadi Centers are also happy as they learn through play way methods where the teacher teaches them through songs and rhymes, colourful pictorial books and toys. The parents of the children are also very happy as their children are being taught about health and hygiene, civic sense and their children from the Anganwadi Centers then move to formal schools.

Today, these children greet every visitor with ‘good morning’, have every day bath, brush their teeth, cut their nails, comb their hair, and wear clean clothes. One can feel the inner happiness in these children.

From the House of Women Entrepreneurs

Hindustan Zinc, bringing difference in the lives of thousands of rural women in Rajasthan...


Women in rural Rajasthan are for a change. Their social and economic conditions are changing and they are emerging as self reliant, self independent, micro entrepreneur, and decision makers in their house. The women of rural Rajasthan are experiencing women empowerment. Their house hold income is increasing multi-fold and there is a significant change in their quality of life.The credit goes to forming of Self Help Groups that has participation of about 10-12 rural women, primarily of the same village and surrounding.

Rajasthan is emerging as one of the leading State in India in development of Self Help Groups (SHGs). Hindustan Zinc alone facilitates 215 Self Help Groups in the district of Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and Rajsamand. More than 3,500 women are associated with these 215 Self Help Groups in the State. The important part is that all the Self Help Groups are linked with the banks and operate their bank accounts. The cumulative savings of these groups is about Rs. 45 Lacs and about 80% of these Self Help Groups have received a loan of about Rs. 50 lacs from the banks.

Radha Somani of Agucha village, took a loan of Rs. 10,000 and starated a Manihari Shop. Today she earns about Rs. 4,000/- per month. She says, "I am paying pack my installment and also my sons college fees. In soon my son would complete MBA and our days of hardship would change". Another women Shanti Mali is about 56 years of age, widow with one son. She was working as daily wager and fell ill. She took a loan of Rs. 15,000/- and started cultivating vegetables in 2 bighas of land. Today her daily earnings are over Rs. 500/-. She has become a small entrepreneur now.

With emphasis on self independence and improving their quality of life, about 60% members have opted and established their own micro-enterprise , viz. vegetable cultivation, mini dairy, tailoring shop, grocery shops, spice grinding units, imitation jewellery shop to name a few. This has brought a significant change in their economic conditions. On an average there has been an increase in their monthly income to the tune of Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000.

Hindustan Zinc has not only been facilitating these Self Help Groups but also linking them with banks, and guiding them for opening micro enterprises. The role of Hindustan Zinc is important in terms of making these women participate in the Panchayat affairs, decision making in issues within their houses, at village level, and also uplifting their quality of life. The Company has been educating them on savings, inter-loaning and capacity building, including, providing need based training to the members.

The exercise begins in convincing individual women for forming a group i.e SHG, their training, imparting knowledge in book keeping and continuously motivating them till they start achieving results. “There is also resistance from men in the family said ,” Bhanwar Singh Chundawal, sarpanch, Nagari village in Chittorgarh. “They fear their wives and daughters-in-law are going to become too independent for their liking.” In spite of all that, self-help groups are spurring hope and aspirations for women like Chunki Devi, 47. A widow and mother of four, she has struggled for 11 years to earn a living. Recently she joined a self , help group in Agucha and is taking a Rs 25,000-loan to buy seeds and fertilizers for her fields. “I hope my days of poverty would soon come to an end,” said Devi, a lohar (blacksmith) by caste.

Some self-help groups, such as the one in Ganeshpura village of Chittorgarh, work towards generating collective income for their members.

“Our group works together to make bags, bed sheets and rakhis,” said Chanchal Parikh, 37, its president. “We have tied up with a person for bulk orders.” The groups also give loans to its members. Their functioning is largely democratic - with regular elections to the posts of president, secretary and treasurer.

The biggest concern is that most of these women are not literate; so, they have to depend on others to operate their bank accounts and handle finances. Although the groups meet every month to discuss socially relevant issues such as childcare, family planning and sanitation, many members fail to benefit because they are not educated.

In a country where women empowerment in rural area plays an important role in the economic development of the nation, the participation of Corporates in forming of SHGs is important.

Health, Safety & Environment - Our prime Concern and Commitment

We have a well defined sustainability framework that comprises of governance structures and policies. Our Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) processes are reviewed monthly by Business Management group at company level and overseen by a Board appointed committee at Group level every quarter.

Safety
Visible commitment by senior management, PPE compliances, structured training, safety workshops, internal and external audits and implementation of recommendations are the drivers in our safe journey. We have consistently improved our safety performance by reducing Lost- Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) by over 85% from 25.21 to 3.72 at our operation over last five years and we stay committed to have zero workplace injury.

Occupational Health
We aim to eliminate occupational illness through providing a workplace that is free from occupational health risk and hygiene hazard and proactively work with employees and contractor to contribute towards healthier lifestyles. This enables us to increase our productivity, reduce absenteeism. Occupational health experts are present across all mines and smelters for regular health examination of employees at workplaces. Specific examination like blood lead test, audiometric tests, spirometry test, ECG and chest x-rays are carried out.

Environment
Hindustan Zinc has been a key initiator in adopting clean green technology. Today Company’s plants run on state-of-the-art environment friendly technologies. “Hydrometallurgical Technology” is being used in most of the Zinc Smelters and “Ausmelt Technology” in Lead Smelter. Being a technology driven company, Hindustan Zinc project team has played a pivotal role in finding suitable eco-friendly technology that resulted in innovation in ‘Cansolv Technology’ in the lead plant at its unit at Chanderiya to control SO2 emissions by converting lean & varying SO2 concentration gas in the Sulphuric acid. In the research process the team interacted with world class technology providers such as Outokumpu-Lurgi of Germany & Cansolv of Canada. Hindustan Zinc is the first metallurgical industry in the world to use such technology and a number of companies from China, Brazil, and Kazakhstan and also within India have visited the plant to understand its operations.

We have installed Tail Gas Treatment plants (TGT) at all our smelting locations to reduce SO2 emissions below the national standards. The technology was taken from Mitsubushi Japan and invested more than 30 crores INR though cheaper technologies were available. The technology adopted does not produce any waste and effluent.
We have also been successful in reducing our water-footprints by reducing our specific water consumption (i.e. water consumed per tonne of output) at our mines and smelters by 56% and 35% respectively over last four years. All of our sites are maintaining zero discharge. Reverse osmosis plants
integrated to Effluent Treatment Plants have been commissioned at all smelters to reduce fresh water consumption.

We believe in energy efficiency and optimization, which reduces operating costs and impact on environment by reducing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Through our continuous efforts over the years for energy conservation and captive power generations, which operated at benchmark efficiency, we have been successful in reducing our specific energy consumption (i.e. energy consumed per tonne of output) of our mines and smelters by 24% and 31% over last four years.

We are harnessing green energy of 123.2 MW through wind power mills in Gujarat and Karnataka. We are also exploring to increase the capacity of our wind power mills and are looking for suitable sites.

We have three CDM projects registered at UNFCCC which includes 88.8 MW Wind power mills in Gujarat, 34.4 MW wind power project in Karnataka and 9.4 MW waste heat recovery boiler in Chanderiya smelter. Three more projects are in pipeline; host country approval received for two of them. During this year, we have sold 28,500 CERs and 2,63,000 VERs generating revenues of INR 6.4 crores.

For the gainful utilization of slag, a waste generated at pyro smelter of CLZS, extensive R&D has been carried out with premier institutions like National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM), Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), and Malviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) which indicated its gainful utilization in cement manufacturing and for road construction. Based on this, we have approached numbers of near-by cement industries. With the required approval from the statutory bodies we have been successful in utilizing this slag in cement manufacturing and so far 6.15 lac MT of slag has been utilized and old stockpile has been reduced considerably and expected to liquidate completely by next year.

Also, we are utilizing 100% fly ash generated at our power plants for cement manufacturing. All our waste including hazardous waste which are not utilized are disposed safely in secured landfills which are designed with state-of-art technologies and approved by statutory bodies. The water qualities around such landfills are monitored regularly.

All our operating sites are surrounded with dense plantation and every year plantation is done to further improve its density and increase the greenbelt coverage. The total populations of our plantation are more than 900,000 across all our operating locations.

Vedanta - Empowering Communities in Rural India Through CSR

“CSR is close to my heart and we are working day and night for the benefit of the under-privileged children in the country. Through Computer education, mid-day meal and Vedanta Bal Chetna Anganwadi Project, we would be touching the lives of about 2.5 million under-privileged children in coming 3-4 years time.” Shri Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Group.

The group is currently touching the lives of over 2.5 million people spread across more than 425 villages. With a mission to impact the lives of another 1.6 million under-privileged child; the Group has already strengthened its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes across all operating states in India and Zambia.

Our programmes on nutrition, mid-day meal, health & hygiene, women empowerment, livelihood, computer education, infrastructure development, mother and child care, agriculture development, water & electricity, to name a few, have become bench-mark in the States we operate, viz. Rajasthan, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Goa.

We are proud to serve rural community at large:-

2,050 Vedanta Bal Chetna Anganwadi Centres across India.

84,500 rural under-privileged children being provided nutrition value.

180,000 rural children being provided mid-day meal through 6 hi-tech kitchens.

100 Child Care Centres - Project 'Parvarish' - for pre-school, nutrition & health care.

540 Care Centres - Project ' Mamta' - for child care, care for adolescent girls, and expecting mothers.

350 bedded Vedanta Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, upcoming in Raipur, Chattisgarh.

53 villages covered by Mobile Health Units - covering 32,000 under-privileged families.

Vedanta Hindustan Zinc Heart Hospital in, Udaipur Rajasthan.

18 Company run hospitals and health posts - 300,000 rural people provided quality health.

200,000 children of 600 Government Schools covered under Computer Education.

500,000 beneficiaries of Computer Literacy Program spread across 320 Centres in India.

1,500 youth trained in livelihood programs for self employment.

27 company run schools and Post Graduate college for girls at Ringus, Rajasthan.

200,000 women trained through 12 Vocational Training Centres across India.

12,000 Jail inmates trained across India - 14 Jails covered including Tihar Jail, New Delhi.

1,825 Self Help Groups bringing socio-economic empowerment in 24,300 rural women.

1,050 farmers covered under micro-irrigation, cultivation,land improvement and water-shed.

75 villages under Integrated Village Development Program.

82 NGOs partners - regional, national and international.

Investment of over USD 65 million (Rupees 300 crore) in CSR by 2010.

On mission to touch the lives of another 1.6 million under-privileged children through nutrition program and computer education.


Vedanta group has an unparalleled vision not only for businesses but also for social change in India.