VEDANTA CSR - LANJIGARH PAVING WAY FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE

PICTURES SPEAK A THOUSAND WORD.... These pictures are the depiction of impact of community service programs being developed and implemented by Vedanta Resources.

Below are the pictures of CSR beneficiaries in Niyamgiri - Lanjigarh, Orissa showing the changing face of rural India....

VEDANTA CSR - LANJIGARH - PAVING WAY FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE

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.

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.