Khushi

Project Khushi is in its fourth year and directly reaches 60,000 children in 3,089 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs). The AWCs are very important grassroot level institutions that cater to the health, nutrition and pre-school needs of children, in the formative 0-6 years age group.

FY 2019 performance

• 60% of the enrolled children regularly attended AWCs
• ~1,600 severely & acutely malnourished children were identified, of which 37% were successfully brought to normal category through various project interventions
• ~21,000 pre-school children were assessed at 1,522 AWCs across five districts for preschool learning assessments conducted twice a year on five development domains-language, cognitive, social, physical and creative-and an average increase of 11% was observed across all domains for the children who appeared for both the tests
• All 3,089 AWCs were evaluated using a unique Anganwadi Grading Tool and the results were positive:
• ~1,800 AWCs were assisted in setting up kitchen gardens to supply fresh vegetables for the children’s meal
• Organised recipe trials, using the dry Take Home Ration (THR)-provided by the Government to mothers for supplementing protein and fat deficiency in their diet-as the primary ingredient to teach mothers how THR can be converted into a delicious meal
• 34,000+ community meetings were held. Community contributions received at more than 44% AWCs amounting to ` 82 Lakh
• Two AWC workers, Ms. Rukmani Bhoi and Ms. Vimla Kunwar, were selected by the Ministry for Women and Child Development for the ‘National Awards for Exceptional Achievements’ in January 2019

Nand Ghar

Nand Ghar, a Vedanta group flagship programme re-imagines AWCs as state-of-the-art centres which find a place of pride in communities.

Project Nand Ghar provides children with a safe and friendly learning environment with amenities like safe drinking water, uninterrupted supply of solar power, digital learning facilities and more. Many Nand Ghars are also used (post AWC hours) for providing entrepreneurial skills training to women through another flagship project, ‘Sakhi’.

FY 2019 performance

264 Nand Ghars were constructed, taking the total count to 314

Jeevan Tarang

This programme reaches over 800 differently-abled children who have special needs (hearing/vision/ intellectual). The project’s primary objective is to make the children selfreliant through improved education opportunities, including technologybased learning.

It also aims to sensitise and spread overall awareness among the general public and employers about physically challenged individuals to build a more equal and inclusive society.

FY 2019 performance

• Undertook a job mapping and inclusion assessment for persons with disabilities in India’s mining sector—first-of-its-kind evaluation—in partnership with a nationally reputed, specialist organisation
• Organised workshops on menstrual hygiene and sexual violence for hearing-impaired girls
• Introduced Indian Sign Language to family members and teachers of hearing-impaired children to facilitate better two-way communication
• Mainstream cinema hall screenings of Bollywood movie 'Hichki' in Audio Described Format for visually impaired audience were organised in Udaipur, Bhilwara and Ajmer

Unchi Udaan

This project builds on the foundation of Shiksha Sambal and creates an opportunity for high-performing students from the project schools to enter engineering institutions of national repute. It provides residential and non-residential schooling and coaching support to selected students.

FY 2019 performance

The first batch of 24 residential and six non-residential students is prepared to take the Joint Entrance Examinations for engineering colleges in 2019.

Scholarship support for higher education

We provide merit-cum-means scholarships called ‘Yashad-Sumedha’ for youth pursuing engineering education. HZL also provides full scholarship for girls from surrounding villages around its operations to pursue higher education at the Vedanta Post-Graduate Girl’s College, Ringus.

FY 2019 performance

• 111 students received this Yashad-Sumedha scholarship
• 8 top ranking students of various streams from College of Technology and Agriculture Engineering, Udaipur were awarded scholarships
• 51 new girls were supported for higher education, taking the total number to 98 girls, at Vedanta Post-Graduate Girl’s College, Ringus

Key initiatives

Samadhan

This is our flagship programme for on-farm sustainable livelihood. We extended our support to 8,174 farmers through agriculture-based interventions and 4,295 families through livestock-based programmes during FY 2019.

Project Samadhan, as the name suggests, focusses on ‘delivering solutions’ for collective challenges, by bringing together members of various Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs), formed according to their unique circumstances such as types of landholding. The FIGs help their members in overcoming issues related to market access and product pricing, among others. During the year under review, we focussed on improving soil health, quality of agriculture seeds, horticulture plants and improving breeds of livestock, along with improving farming practices and technology.

FY 2019 performance

Agriculture

• 23.1% increase in maize production in three clusters while soyabean yield improved by ~7% compared to non-intervention areas
• During Rabi 2018, ~57% farmers (out of 3,451) adapted line sowing technique from the package of practices provided in the project
• 372 new farmers were provided support in olericulture (growing vegetables) and from the data analysis of 198 farmers, it shows that additional cash flow generated ranged from ` 5,000 to ` 25,000 per farmer
• 288 fruit orchards (WADI) were established covering an area of 142 acres in which horticulture crops like mango, lemon, guava, figs (anjeer), sapota (chikoo) and others were planted. In addition, 25 ultra-high-density plantation/high-density plantation (UHDP/HDP) wadis of mango and guava were established
• 3,835 new farmers were added to the programme through various interventions
• ~3,129 farmers actively participated in Farmers’ Day, organised successfully in five clusters

Livestock

• Introduced Sorted Semen, a cutting-edge technology that is proven to have 90% female calf birth rate
• 271 animal camps were conducted covering more than 1,00,481 animals and benefitting over 2,610 families
• 6,747 artificial inseminations were carried out through nine different Integrated Livestock Development Centres (ILDC) running under the project
• Cumulatively 3,429 calves have been born with the help of this project over the last 2.5 years, of which 1,624 are female, resulting in an asset creation of ` 78.42 Lakh for the farmers

1. HZL Mining Academy

Incorporated in FY 2016, the Academy continues to grow with three centres that are currently training ~172 students with a lucrative career in underground mining. The students receive classroom instructions as well as practical training using simulators and on-the-job training in mines.

2. HZL Skilling and Entrepreneurship Centres

During FY 2019, we started skill development centres at two of our mining locations (Dariba and Agucha). Both centres will train a total of 350 youth per year across six different trades as part of this programme. The training will be followed by placement in surrounding districts. Currently, 159 youth (including girls) are undergoing training for micro-finance, home electrician, security guard, general duty assistant, sales associate and data-entry operator.

3. ITI training at Maruti Suzuki, Gurgaon

We encourage, prepare and support youth from the villages near us to be selected for this two-year course offered by Maruti Suzuki, which offers job training for the automotive industry with a handsome stipend. The programme now hosts 152 boys from villages in our vicinity.

4. National Employability Enhancement Mission

Under this project, qualified graduates are placed as apprentices in various business units of HZL for a period of three years for receiving on-the-job training. During FY 2019, we absorbed 134 youth as apprentices under this scheme.

5. BPO training

We began this course during the year under review at two locations (Dariba and Agucha), where training was imparted to 48 youth, including 26 girls and 22 boys. Post completion of the training 70% of them were placed in jobs with salaries ranging from ` 8,000 to ` 25,000 per month.

6. Other training courses

Training programmes for employment as security guards and drivers, as well as a 45-day training on micro-entrepreneurship was introduced during FY 2019 benefitting 21 youth.

Key initiatives

Sakhi

Sakhi marshals rural women into self-help groups (SHGs) and helps develop their capacities in leadership, skill development, finance management and entrepreneurship.

FY 2019 performance

• By the end of FY 2019, we had formed 1,922 SHGs with ~23,954 members and total savings of ` 6.2 Crore and cumulative loans of ` 17.13 Crore, including credit of ` 2.7 Crore leveraged from banks
• Overall, 18,053 women availed loans from SHGs for various purposes like livelihood activities, education, debt redemption and household consumption
• 492 women initiated or expanded their micro-enterprises

During the year under review, there were two other significant developments:

Formed five federations of 23,000 women

The SHGs we support normally consist of 10 members and are brought together at the village level as a Village Organisation (VO), which are clubbed into a Federation. We assist in developing the three-tier structure for women that offers a pathway to financial self-sufficiency. The project now has 126 functional VOs and during FY 2019 we helped form 5 Federations with a base of 23,000 women.

Collaboration between our largest projects

During the year under review, we brought together two of our flagship programmes - Khushi and Sakhi - wherein ~140 women stitched uniforms for 60,000 Khushi Anganwadi children under the ‘Khushi Baatiye’ Campaign. ‘Khushi Baatiye’ is an employee engagement campaign at HZL to gift a pair of uniform and sandals to children in the Khushi Anganwadi centres.

Key initiatives

Health

Proper healthcare facilities are vital for community’s development. Therefore, we consistently strive to provide high-quality healthcare facility to the communities in our vicinity.

1. Mobile Health Vans (MHVs)

During FY 2019, we re-launched Mobile Health Vans around four of our locations to provide accessible and affordable medical care to our neighbouring communities. The project is set to positively touch lives of ~1.42 Lakh people over the next three years, especially that of women and children.

FY 2019 performance

• 42,000 patients (of which ~26,000 were women and children) received healthcare through overall 832 OPD sessions
• 1,419 rapid tests were conducted, along with 293 antenatal check-ups
• 309 villagers were referred to base hospitals in the district, as referral is one of the components to the MHU
• ~3,617 beneficiaries covered through 62 awareness sessions conducted on anaemia, women’s health, nutrition, healthy hand washing and others

Water

Water is among the most important needs of a community, especially in a state like Rajasthan. At HZL, we have always supported people in receiving access to adequate drinking water. During FY 2019, we began to activate a long-term water security strategy for areas near us. This includes working on both water replenishment/recharge and access to clean drinking water.

1. Water harvesting

Widespread water harvesting is the only sustainable solution to water scarcity for the same. We are collaborating with the State Government on this mission

FY 2019 performance

• 34 water harvesting structures were built/repaired with a capacity to hold 4,675 m3 of rainwater
• Commissioned a water resource assessment to make a rainwater harvesting plan for our Dariba SBU. The assessment employed state-of-the-art technology, including remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools

Key initiatives

Culture

1. Festivals or concerts

We supported a three-day World Music Festival in Udaipur which was attended by 150 artists from 15 different countries and over 42,000 spectators. Additionally, we continued to support Smritiyaan and Maharana Kumbha Sangeet Samaroh, which was graced by leading classical music artists like Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Prakhar Jojan, Ustad Asghar Husain and others

2. Cleaning Ajmer Dargah

We are the CSR partner under the Government of India’s Swachh Iconic Places initiative as part of Swachh Bharat Mission. It is a special clean-up initiative focussed on select iconic places in the country from heritage, spiritual or cultural perspective. This initiative was rolled out by the Prime Minister of India, under which we are partnering with the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s Dargah and the Ajmer Municipal Commissioner to make the Dargah into a clean and iconic place. During FY 2019, a tripartite MoU was signed between the Ajmer Dargah Committee, Municipal Corporation of Ajmer and HZL, along with all the Anjuman Committees

Key initiatives

Sewage Treatment Plant

In 2014, we set up Udaipur’s first Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) with a capacity of 20 MLD, with the twin objective of preventing untreated sewage from entering the city’s lakes, and to reduce the freshwater consumption for industrial purposes. Given the huge success of this intervention, this financial year we were invited by the city administration to enhance the capacity to more than double. Hence, during FY 2019, another STP with capacity of 25 MLD was completed.

Community solar lights

We installed solar street lights in villages to improve safety and convenience of villagers.

FY 2019 performance

• 396 solar powered street lights were installed in 23 core villages

Connecting farms with zinc areas

As an initial step of linking Samadhan beneficiaries‘ produce with the market, employees and their families purchased their fresh produce to support the initiative

Mentoring Shiksha Sambal students

Employees volunteered during the summer and winter camps held for children under the Shiksha Sambal project.

Audio-described movie

In its second year, a well known film ‘Hichki’ was screened in Audio Descriptive format for the visually impaired in Udaipur, Bhilwara and Ajmer. More than 100 employees attended the screening of the movie along with about 250 visually impaired children, adults and elderly. 140

Khushi Baatiye

In its second year of continued commitment to gift a pair of clothes and sandals to 60,000 children enrolled in Khushi Anganwadis, the campaign received support from 875 donors (739 employees and 136 contractors/others) with contributions of over ` 24.17 Lakh.

CraftAbility

Organised in support of deaf children of Badhit Bal Vikas Samiti, Ajmer, employees purchased Diwali diyas that were handcrafted by the students