Vedanta Ties up With NRHM to Fight Sickle Cell Anaemia in Odisha

Source: Business Line

Mumbai, March 29: The National Rural Health Mission that has endeavoured to fight sickle cell anaemia on a war-footing, especially in western Odisha, got a fillip by teaming up with Vedanta Aluminium and its CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities.

Sickle cell anaemia is an inherited blood disorder characterised primarily by chronic anaemia and periodic episodes of pain leading to organ damage.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India has around l lakh sickle cell disease patients, with about 8,000 new sickle cell anaemia patients born each year in the country.

Though ICMR has set up prenatal diagnostic facilities across Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka and Punjab, the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) had a strategic initiative to focus on western Odisha.

This was borne by the fact that more than 5 lakh people in Odisha are affected by the disease, according to the State Health Department, of which nearly 80 per cent are found in 13 western Odisha districts.

Tie-up

The V.S.S. Medical College in Burla, which has a sickle cell clinic that is sponsored by NRHM, recently teamed up with the Vedanta Hospital at Lanjigarh in Odisha’s Kalahandi district, to conduct a sickle cell screening camp.

Around 197 people turned up for the screening from the nearby 47 villages of Lanjigarh, like Basantpada, Jagannathpur, Jodabandh, Biswanathpur and Balabhadrapur.

Mukesh Kumar, COO, Vedanta Aluminium, Lanjigarh, noted that a lot of people are affected by sickle cell anaemia in the Lanjigarh area. The screening camp aimed at getting them free treatment through the NRHM.

Prior to the camp, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) team of Vedanta Aluminium, Lanjigarh, educated villagers on sickle cell anaemia in order to get more people to come for the screening.

Incidentally, central institutes such as AIIMS, the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education at Puducherry, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research at Chandigarh and the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital at Delhi have facilities for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Parents Meet DAV Vedanta School Management for Sustainable Function

Two months after the closure of the Vedanta Alumina refinery at Lanjigarh the community living around the peripheral areas interacted with the management of the DAV Vedanta International School and requested to sustain the only English Medium School in the region which provides quality education to their ward and assured full support of the entire community for the resumption of the operations soon.

Parents more than 500 in numbers from Lanjigarh, Biswanathpur, Ambodala, Muniguda and other nearby villages came to the Parent-Teacher meet, convened by the Principal of the school Mrs. Shukla Chakrobarty, where Management Committee of the School was present. President & COO – Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), Lanjigarh and Chairman of the Management Committee, Dr. Mukesh Kumar was present along with other members of the School Management Committee.

The parents informed the Committee their concern arises due to temporary closure of the plant as this may impact the function of the school. The management committee Chairman, Dr. Mukesh Kumar reiterated that this plant have been set up with the cooperation and support of the people and if people want Vedanta to continue, there is no threat and further development of the area shall be ensured by taking up the cause jointly so that such threat is not arises in future. Mrs. Shukla Chakrobarty informed the parents that nearly Rs. 4000-Rs. 5000 per children per calendar month is born by Vedanta and without such support, functioning of the school is not possible.

Radha Ratha, a resident of Lanjigarh, said, “Our children are fortunate that Vedanta is bearing all the cost for the education in this school. The quality of the education is incomparable. We want the plant to stay in our region so that community can be benefitted by more developmental activities of the company.” Many parents voiced their opinion and were thankful to VAL for its continuous support to school in such a tribal dominated place even after the crisis being faced by the company. Along with Mr. Rath many other parents such as Mohan Sahu, Gagan Sahu, Kamini Rai expressed their satisfaction with the progress & assured full support to the company and hoped that the plant shall stay forever.

Dr. Mukesh reiterated that the International school will continue to provide quality education the children in the locality. “This year onwards class XI and XII will be added consequently a biology lab has also been facilitated. A degree science college is also on the pipe line. Vedanta will take all possible steps to provide quality education to the inhabitants of Lanjigarh and its nearby areas as per Vedanta’s vision of making Kalahandi and especially Lanjigarh a developed area known for education, Health & Industrial Development.”

Author: Sweta Upadhyaya

Vedanta Foundation Partners with Government of Odisha to Help Impart Quality Education to 2,00,000 Children in Odisha

Vedanta through its foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Odisha (S.T. & S.C. Development and Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department), to help 2,00,000 underprivileged children  across 1000 government run upper primary & secondary schools under SSD Department in Odisha under the Vedanta E-Shiksha@Schools Programme.

The 1000 schools are spread across 30 Districts which include predominantly tribal districts like Rayagada, Kalahandi, Kolaput & Kandhamal.

The MoU was signed between Mr. Ravi Krishnan, CEO Vedanta Foundation and Mr. Sushil Kumar Popli, Director  S.T. & S.C. Development and Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Odisha. The function was presided over by Mr. Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, S.T. & S.C. Development and Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department. Mr. Lalbihari Himarika, Hon. Minister S.T. & S.C. Development and Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Odisha was the Chief Guest.

Over 2,00,000 underprivileged students from 6^th to 10^th standard will benefit from this initiative that aims to make learning interesting & interactive through the use of Technology aided learning. The MoU allows Vedanta Foundation to help educate Odisha’s underprivileged as well as tribal children of communities like Kondh.

As per the MoU, Vedanta Foundation will provide hardware as well as software solutions like LED Pico Projectors with memory and battery backup and text book based educational software i.e. e-content based on course curriculum in local language (Odia). Training to teachers in the use of the material will also be conducted.

Speaking about the MOU, Mr. Ravi Krishnan, CEO Vedanta Foundation said, "Our Chairman has been a strong advocate of right to equal education opportunities for all students specially students who are studying in government schools across the country. Through Vedanta Foundation’s E-Shiksha programme we are working towards providing quality education tools to underprivileged students. We are very proud that this MOU will enable us to help enhance the quality of education for these 2,00,000 students across Odisha."

Vedanta through its foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Odisha (S.T. & S.C. Development and Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department), to help 2,00,000 underprivileged children  across 1000 government run upper primary & secondary schools under SSD Department in Odisha under the Vedanta E-Shiksha@Schools Programme.

The 1000 schools are spread across 30 Districts which include predominantly tribal districts like Rayagada, Kalahandi, Kolaput & Kandhamal.

The MoU was signed between Mr. Ravi Krishnan, CEO Vedanta Foundation and Mr. Sushil Kumar Popli, Director  S.T. & S.C. Development and Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Odisha. The function was presided over by Mr. Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, S.T. & S.C. Development and Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department. Mr. Lalbihari Himarika, Hon. Minister S.T. & S.C. Development and Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Odisha was the Chief Guest.

Over 2,00,000 underprivileged students from 6^th to 10^th standard will benefit from this initiative that aims to make learning interesting & interactive through the use of Technology aided learning. The MoU allows Vedanta Foundation to help educate Odisha’s underprivileged as well as tribal children of communities like Kondh.

As per the MoU, Vedanta Foundation will provide hardware as well as software solutions like LED Pico Projectors with memory and battery backup and text book based educational software i.e. e-content based on course curriculum in local language (Odia). Training to teachers in the use of the material will also be conducted.

Speaking about the MOU, Mr. Ravi Krishnan, CEO Vedanta Foundation said, "Our Chairman has been a strong advocate of right to equal education opportunities for all students specially students who are studying in government schools across the country. Through Vedanta Foundation’s E-Shiksha programme we are working towards providing quality education tools to underprivileged students. We are very proud that this MOU will enable us to help enhance the quality of education for these 2,00,000 students across Odisha."

Vedanta Supports Quality Education For Tribal Children

Vedanta through its Foundation has funded education for tribal children in the Rayagada district of Odisha with an objective of providing an equal opportunity to underprivileged children from the tribal population, including Dongria Kondhs, to pursue formal education.

Vedanta Foundation has sent 100 tribal students between 5-8 years of age to Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS), Bhubaneswar. More students would be sent there in the second phase. In this regard a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Vedanta Foundation,

KISS and Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), Lanjigarh. The children have been identified from Muniguda and Kalyansinghpur blocks of Rayagada district which is predominantly inhabited by Dongria Kondh community.