HINDUSTAN ZINC CONSTRUCTING 30,000 TOILETS IN RURAL RAJASTHAN

80 Villages in Rajasthan to become 'Open Defecation Free’

Hindustan Zinc, a Sesa Sterlite company in Zinc-Lead-Silver business has signed MoU with the State Government of Rajasthan to build 30,000 rural toilets for BPL families under 'Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan' scheme. The construction of these toilets will be completed in 3 years. This initiative will make 80 rural and tribal villages in Rajasthan 'Open Defecation Free’. 

The company has started the construction of these toilets in Bhilwara, Chittorgarh and Udaipur districts of Rajasthan and so far the construction of 8,000 toilets has been completed. 

The company is constructing 2 ‘Leach Pits’ below each toilet to facilitate disposal of waste. Only one ‘Leach Pit’ will be used at a time. Each ‘Leach Pit’ is estimated to be full in about 5 years. As the first ‘Leach Pit’ is full, the second ‘Leach Pit’ will be opened. Within 5 years, the waste in the first ‘Leach Pit’ will be converted into manure to be utilized by the farmer for agriculture purpose.

These newly constructed toilets will also minimize the risk of contamination of drinking water sources thus reducing the health related problems in rural India. Under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, cost of construction of each toilet is Rs. 8,500/- where Rs. 4600 per toilet is being paid by government, Rs. 3000 by Hindustan Zinc and Rs. 900 by the beneficiary.

Lack of Toilet facilities in rural areas for females has always been a matter of concern, especially during the late hours. Toilet in each house-hold provides comfort, convenience with a sense of security and dignity to each member of the house, particularly the female members. The project is also expected to improve good hygiene practices and create awareness towards health & sanitation.

“This project of constructing toilets has been undertaken by Hindustan Zinc with an objective to provide clean and hygienic house-hold toilets to the BPL families that will discourage and eventually eliminate open defecation practices in the villages. Hindustan Zinc would be spending about Rs. 8.6 crore towards construction of these 30,000 toilets” informed Pavan Kaushik, Head of Corporate Communication.

According to UNICEF report, today only 48% of rural Indian population has access to good toilet and sanitation facilities. When more than 50% of Indian population defecates in open it leads to improper disposal of the waste, sanitation issues and cause of many harmful diseases. With Rajasthan in particular, 60% of population defecates in open.

NEW HOPE FOR THE DROP-OUT RURAL YOUTHS IN RAJASTHAN

Hindustan Zinc providing Vocational Training to 500 rural youths…

10^th Pass Raju Kumawat is son of a poor farmer from Chokdi village of Rajsamand District. Being the eldest son, he had the responsibility of feeding the family of 6 people. Raju dropped out from the school and started earning for the livelihood. But due to lack of education or any training, he could not earn substantially. He came to know about professional training program being conducted by Hindustan Zinc at Debari in District Udaipur. He approached the company and was enrolled for training program in mining and drilling. Under the 3 months training program, Raju not only gained technical proficiency but also saw change in his personality. He is more confident person today and could converse efficiently.  

Instantly, through campus placements post training program, Raju was employed with a salary of about Rs. 4,000/- pm.   With time Raju progressed and is now earning Rs 12000/- pm.

There are 500 youths of rural Rajasthan from Udaipur, Bhilwara, Ajmer and Chittorgarh who are getting vocational/job oriented training from Hindustan Zinc run Vocational Training Program, in partnership with the NGO Sankalp for school drop-outs and unemployed rural youth. Most of these youths could not finish their formal education due to various reasons. The duration of each course is of 90 days.

The company will be spending Rs. 80 lakhs in one year to train these youths.   

While keeping in mind the background of the students who are mostly from rural areas, the training material in various fields like mining, welding, drilling, electrician, cutting, helpers, tailoring, embroidery, hospitality, to name a few, has been designed in such a way that it can be easily grasped by these students.

Equal emphasis has been given on class room lectures and practical exposures to the students for enabling them to develop a better understanding of the module. Since the entire course is residential, it grooms the beneficiaries in various aspects like - team effort, discipline and overall personality development, which would further help in securing sustainable livelihood in future.

For the benefit of these youths, Hindustan Zinc has also made a provision for free boarding and lodging facilities for the trainees. The cost to be incurred by company per trainee is estimated to be Rs. 15,700/-.

The training is market driven and various fields of training have been decided on the basis of market demand of skilled people and are expected to give ample opportunities to these candidates. The program also has provision to add new training activities as per changing market scenario.

Anees from Zawar Mines, one of the two sons of small cashier at co-operative shop, is another successful example of the said training program. He was never interested in studies and soon dropped-out from the school. Engaged in doing nothing, Anees daily routine stood hanging around with his friends and sitting at a tea stall without any hope.

Anees situation was a matter of concern for his father who then decided to register his name for the training program when Hindustan Zinc team approached him.

Initially, at the centre, he was the most mischievous student but soon started taking interest due to interactive training methodology. He showed keen interest in learning computers.  Anees was also benefited by the soft skills and personality development sessions. In short duration of 3 months, he not only learnt MS Office but also the design softwares like Photoshop, CorelDraw and Tally. Anees is today working as a Marketing Executive in Udaipur and earning Rs. 10,000 pm.

Similarly, Rahul from a farmer’s family in Chittorgarh is an 8^th pass student. Relying merely on Agriculture was not fulfilling the day to day demands of his family. But when he came to know about the vocational training program being conducted by Hindustan Zinc, he was quick to register himself for the training program. After getting knowledge about training modules, he chose welding sector. After 3 months of training, Rahul is now employed and is earning Rs 15,000 pm.

With the boys, even the girls are getting benefited from the program. One such girl is Kusum Rathore, a 10^th pass student from Udaipur. She is from a middle class family and her father working in Indian Railways is the only earning member in the family. When she came to know about the training program, she too decided to enroll for the program. But Kusum found it difficult to convince her parents and other family members. A team from Hindustan Zinc than approached her parents and convinced them for the training program. Kusum had keen interest in computers and thus she chose computers as her training area.

 Kusum is also employed and earning a salary of about Rs.5000/- pm. She has become a big support to the family and is also able to continue her studies.

Organizing training programs in rural India has never been easy. The unemployed youth find it easy to spend time in effortless things and are not inclined to undertake vocational training for employment. Further, for girls, it is not easy to convince family, as they find difficult to send the daughters for daily attendance or if residential program, for letting her stay away from the family.  But tiring efforts from the company, Hindustan Zinc and quality of training program has shown remarkable results in not only engaging with these unemployed youths but also giving them direction and focus in life.

DUN & BRADSTREET BEST CORPORATE AWARD 2014 TO HINDUSTAN ZINC - 6TH TIME IN A ROW

Hindustan Zinc receives the honour for Business Excellence in Non-Ferrous Metal Sector

Hindustan Zinc for the 6th consecutive year received the "Dun & Bradstreet Best Corporate Award 2014 - Non-Ferrous Metal Sector".  The award function was held in Mumbai at Hotel Palladium on 28th May, 2014. The Chief Guest of the ceremony was former Hon'ble Minister and eminent journalist - Dr. Arun Shourie. 

The award was received by Mr. Rajesh Mohata - Chief Marketing Officer on behalf of Hindustan Zinc in the presence of senior executives of leading companies from across India.