India CSR News Network
NEW DELHI: Vedanta Limited, India’s leading diversified natural resources company, is committed to promote awareness on sanitation and hygiene in schools and villages in India. Vedanta’s efforts in partnership with the State Government of Odisha led to 100% households in the Banjari Village in Jharsuguda District becoming Open Defecation Free. In Rajasthan, Cairn India completed construction of about 8000 household toilets till date and the project will ultimately benefit community members of 25 gram panchayats.
Under Hindustan Zinc’s sanitation project about 10,000 toilets have been constructed and the completion of the programme will benefit 80 rural villages. At Tuticorin, Vedanta’s subsidiary Sterlite Copper constructed 315 toilets to benefit 2000 people in the region and six school toilet complexes constructed benefits about 5000 students.
“Vedanta’s social investment programmes support the local governments in achieving their development goals. Accessibility to clean sanitation facilities is essential for a broad-based socio-economic development. The Prime Minister’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ is a visionary initiative that addresses crucial issues such as the importance of sanitation and hygiene in reducing the spread of diseases,” said Roma Balwani, President, Group Communication and Sustainable Development.
Vedanta’s flagship CSR project, Nand Ghar, a service delivery unit established under the Integrated Child Development Scheme by the Government of India is focused on child development and women empowerment. The Nand Ghar project is aligned with Prime Minister of India’s campaigns of Digital India, Swachh Bharat and Skill India. Across India, in three years, 4000 modern Anganwadis built with 8000 toilets will benefit an estimated 25 lakh community members.
Vedanta’s Sanitation projects include awareness programmes initiated to impress upon the villagers the importance of a household toilet. Meetings with groups of families are held on a phased manner over a period of several weeks. The villagers were educated about spread of diseases like Malaria and minimizing the risk of contamination of drinking water sources.
