The right to quality education is at the heart of our education programme. We are committed to providing quality education to children and improving their learning outcomes. By quality education, we mean that we focus on learning outcomes of children. Keeping this in mind Project Connect initiated, it aims to enhance the learning environment in nearby government schools by fostering a supportive environment that improves student grades, offers career counselling, and encourages employee volunteering.

In FY'24, we supported 1625 students from grades 9th -12th through regular classes in government schools and remedial centres, focusing on Science, English, Maths, and Accountancy (SEMA) Subjects. We enhanced practical learning with Science Exhibitions, Summer Camps for extracurricular skills, developed worksheets to aid self-assessment and promote independent learning and Winter Camps for board exam preparation.

Career Counselling for 10th and 12th graders guided students in making informed academic and career decisions. We also conducted capacity-building sessions for government teachers, focusing on modern teaching pedagogy and practical-based models to improve teaching effectiveness.

Community Connect drives engaged parents, teachers, and PRI members, successfully re-enrolling dropout children and distributed learning materials to dropout youth, rekindling their interest in education. Through Shiksha Sahayogi, the employee volunteering initiative, employees also provided financial support for their re-enrollment.

The project is currently being run in partnership with Vidya Bhawan.

It is a comprehensive health initiative providing quality Primary health care services with special emphasis on Maternal & Child health, particularly targeting the malnutrition and awareness campaigns on HIV, Deaddiction & TB. In FY'24, The program reached out to over 49,000 people through curative and preventive healthcare services.

Our three Rural Health Posts offer essential OPD services, treatment, and general testing to the neighbouring communities, benefitting over 5000 people. Additionally, in collaboration with the District Health Department under the Mukhya Mantri Haat Bazar Swasthya Yojana, we have organized health camps in remote villages, providing accessible healthcare services to over 3500 beneficiaries.

Maternal and Child Health, our efforts to reduce malnourishment among children include identifying and intervening in cases of malnutrition. We have provided targeted interventions, including Positive Deviance (PD) hearth sessions and referrals to Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs). Additionally, we have trained mothers on nutritious recipes from Take Home Ration (THR) and developed nutrition gardens at Anganwadi centres and in households for an overall impact. In FY'24 over 3000 mothers learned caregiving practices and addressed over 900 identified malnourished children through our varied interventions. As a result, a significant number of children have moved out of the malnourished category.

Anaemia Reduction, addressing anaemia in pregnant and lactating mothers is a critical component of our health initiatives. Through anaemia screenings and focused reduction camps, we educated 1148 mothers on iron-rich diets and the importance of IFA consumption. Follow-up home visits ensure sustained improvements, leading to healthier pregnancies and births. Our 'Nava Pahuna Goth' initiative also provides family counselling for newly married couples, emphasizing family planning and pre-pregnancy care.

HIV and TB Awareness, we have undertaken extensive awareness campaigns for HIV and TB. Our HIV awareness activities includes canopy camps, counselling sessions, and mass awareness campaigns, training youth as changemakers to promote peer-based learnings. During the year through our varied activities, we generated awareness to over 26000 people across communities. For TB awareness, we have capacitated frontline workers from local health bodies to educate the community on TB identification and treatment, further raising awareness to over 600 community members. Through the Nikshay Mitra initiative, we supported the diet of TB patients across 56 neighboring villages, significantly aiding their recovery.

Deaddiction Efforts, our deaddiction camps have sensitized over 1000 youth in schools and communities about the dangers of drug addiction. We have formed 8 action groups comprising local health bodies and self-help groups to work towards building addiction-free communities.

For Sustained health outcomes revived & capacitated, local health bodies like Mahila Arogya Samiti & Village Health, Sanitation & Nutrition Committee covering over 600 PRI members & local health workers.

The project is currently being run in partnership with Social Revival Group of Urban Rural and Tribal (SROUT).

Menstrual Health is one of the most stigmatised topics in our society that needs to be addressed for improving the overall health and empowerment of women. Project Nayi Kiran aims to demystify myths and taboos surrounding Menstruation, developing sustainable hygiene practices during menstruation, and raising awareness about product choices through capacity building on Menstrual Health Management (MHM) and promoting MHM friendly environment in institutions to ensure safe reproductive health.

During FY'24, project sensitized over 57,000 women, men, adolescent Girls & Boys through awareness generation and capacity building activities and have strengthened its roots across all the 5 blocks of Korba district.

MHM at Schools - Towards promoting MHM Friendly environment at schools, conducted sessions on MHM 60 Govt middle, secondary & Higher secondary schools of Korba District sensitizing over 14,000 Adolescents. Capacitated over 70 Teachers across district as 'MHM Sathis' for enabling supportive environment at schools.

Promoting inclusivity - As a step towards inclusivity, we also conducted the Special needs MHM sessions & Workshops with over 90 specially abled Adolescents & caregivers and developed Specialized modules (Braille & Terracotta) for Sessions with Specially-Abled for sustained learning outcomes. Also conducted first ever Reusable cloth pad stitching workshop with specially abled for providing safe menstrual health management alternatives, reducing dependency, and fostering inclusivity.

Promoting Sustainable Solutions - To ensure the availability of sustainable and affordable menstrual hygiene solutions, created awareness on informed choices & sustainable solutions like Reusable cloth pads, for providing safe, accessible, affordable & environment friendly menstrual health management alternatives to rural & tribal communities towards a sustained adoption of hygienic practice and ending the challenges of period poverty. 'Stitch My own Pad Campaign' capacitated over 3000 women, adolescent girls, teachers & health workers on stitching & hygienic use of Reusable cloth pads. Also involving 'Men in Menstruation' by training over 1300 boys for an inclusive & supportive enabling environment.

Cleanliness & Sanitation - To foster community ownership on Community Cleanliness & Sanitation along with Menstrual health & hygiene for an overall healthy environment. Sensitized and Conducted Cleanliness Drives (Safai Mahotsav) with Municipal Corporation Department ensuring sustainable waste management and fostering community ownership towards clean neighborhoods. Over 3000 adolescent girls, boys, and women, along with the presence of the village residents, Panchayat members, Teachers, cleaning staff members and the Sarpanch/Parshad, actively participated in the drives.

Sustaining Change at Grassroots, to bring about sustained behavioural change, we capacitated over 200 Frontline workers (Anganwadi workers & ASHA) across the district as Master trainers- Torchbearers cum leaders of change in the community. These frontline workers have further sensitized 2000+ adolescent girls & women, fostering the change at grassroot levels.

The project is currently being run in partnership with Sarthak Jan Vikas Sansthan (SJVS).

The Mobile Health Van provides healthcare at the doorstep through fortnightly visits, camps and consultation services addressing the problems of inaccessibility, inability to afford and non-availability of basic primary health care.

During FY’24, more than 15,599 people availed health care services through fortnightly visits, specialized services, and Multispecialty health camps. This year, we also launched an additional Mobile health van, significantly expanding our total outreach to over 70 villages.

To bring specialized care to communities, we organized 8 Multispecialty Mega health camps (Orthopedics, Dental, ENT, Pediatrics, Gynecologist, Physiotherapist, Blood & Sugar etc.) and also held Awareness camps for sensitizing people on Cancer, Vaccination and other matters of health and hygiene.

For elderly & specially abled, initiated Assistive Devices distribution drive basis need identification, in the first phase 34 people were aided with devices viz. Walking stick, Tripod, crutches, walkers & wheelchairs enhancing mobility, leading to an improved quality of life.

As a first step towards community Mental Well-being, organized Mental Health Awareness training for capacitating community-based volunteers on identification of mental health issues.

The Program is being run in partnership with HelpAge India.

Women’s empowerment is defined as promoting women’s sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence socio-economic change for themselves and others. Keeping this in mind, Project Unnati initiated with a focus to empower and mobilize women into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and develop their capacities and skills for entrepreneurship.

During FY'24, we worked with 531 SHGs (Self Help Groups), engaging 5741 women members. We are strengthening these SHGs through regular meetings, bank linkages, connecting them to government schemes and thereby creating entrepreneurial opportunities.

Economic Empowerment - We economically engaged 2087 women through Micro enterprises, Nano enterprises and various rounds of Capacity building trainings on SHG functioning, Financial & Entrepreneurship development and Legal Rights. Our efforts are aimed at providing these women with the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.

Microenterprise Units, Promoting Business & Entrepreneurship - we established 7 Microenterprise units including UnaTex (Textile), Dekoratti (Art & Craft), Chhattisa (Food items), UnaTea (Tea Unit), Cleanaila (Cleaning Products), UnNaree (Sanitary Pads), and a Mushroom Unit. In FY'24 over 1400 women were trained under these units. Additionally, exposure visits have been organised, providing women with valuable insights into product development, sales, and marketing strategies, thereby honing their entrepreneurial acumen.

Supporting Nano Enterprises, Small Businesses, Big Impact- 60 Nano enterprises run by SHG women, such as Tiffin services, Cosmetic sales, and Stitching businesses, were supported to promote entrepreneurship and provide additional income.

Showcasing Unnati Products, Unnati products have been showcased at various prestigious National & International platforms like Pali Mahotsav, Technex'24 at IIT BHU, State Mining Minister's conference in Bhopal and were also marketed at Vedanta Cultural Festival in Delhi Haat highlighting the recognition garnered by its products.

Celebrating Women's Empowerment, On International Women's Day “Unnati Utsav” is zestfully celebrated with community women, adolescent girls, and employees. The celebration witnessed Women linked with various Micro & Nano enterprises also exhibited their entrepreneurship skills by setting up food 20+ stalls. 16 zealous community members were recognized and felicitated who had contributed immensely for the development of the community in the areas of entrepreneurship, bringing social change and community leadership for benefit of all.

The project is currently being run in partnership with GPR Strategies & Solutions (GPRSS).

Mor Jal Mor Maati is creating sustainable livelihoods through integrated water and farming systems. By improving surface water management with existing resources, augmenting irrigation facilities, equipping farmers with the latest farming techniques, promoting multi-cropping & climate resilient practices to reduce the dependence on rainfall. It is also bringing farmers into the fold of Fishery, Goat rearing and Poultry farming, fruit orchards & innovations like Lac cultivation, diversifying their livelihoods for ensuring income generation opportunities round the year.

The initiative completed its phase third this year and cumulatively benefited 4749 Farmers (85% farming families into the fold) in 32 villages.

Integrated Farming Approach, the project has been focusing on improving the surface water management with existing resources, augmenting irrigation facilities, equipping farmers with the latest farming techniques like (SRI) Systematic Rice Intensification, Trellis & Organic Farming etc, and promoting climate resilient cropping like Millets (Kodo & Ragi), Groundnut, Scented rice to reduce the dependence on rainfall. Vedanta Agriculture & Resource Centre (VARC) has also been setup to serve as a one stop solution for farmer's needs like training and input support.

Enhancing Water security, Recharge and Promoting Multiple cropping, 107 water structures (Community ponds, Check Dams & Dug wells) are created generating cumulative water storage capacity of 1,06,061 CuM. These structures have contributed to increasing soil moisture content and maintaining groundwater levels, thereby positively impacting the agricultural ecosystem, and promoting multiple cropping opportunities in the region.

Livelihood Diversification, it is also bringing farmers into the fold of animal husbandry, horticulture and Lac cultivation under non-timber forest produce, ensuring income generation round the year.

Institutionalizing Farming Practices, establishment of VDC (Village Development Committees) and Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) - Korba Krushak Unnayan Producer Company Limited (KKUPCL) has led to institutionalization of agriculture through business model development. The FPO has established its input & output business centers for nearby farmers.

Synergized Action, for sustained outcomes the Project also converges and leverages various Govt schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Chhattisgarh State Saur Sujla Scheme and encourages community contribution in activities like construction of farm ponds, dug well, poultry & Goatry sheds, soil bunding, SRI and irrigation equipment etc.

The project implemented in partnership with Action for Food Production (AFPRO).

The surging economy of India requires huge manpower to maintain the momentum of growth especially from rural India. Korba region of Chhattisgarh has majority of tribal population with more than 60% of the youth engaged in traditional jobs with unstable income. Looking at the opportunity, BALCO has established three centralized skill schools namely Vedanta Skill School in Korba, Surguja and Kawardha region of Chhattisgarh to impart free of cost residential vocational training support to rural youth and link them with gainful employment opportunities.

The training process has been designed as per the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) guidelines and the training is provided to youths in 6 different trades- Welder, Fitter, Hospitality, Sewing Machine Operator, Solar PV technician and Electrician. So far, these centres have trained over 12,000 youths and in FY'24, 1241 youth were trained, placed & self-employed in reputed organizations across India like Adani, Volvo Eicher, Barbeque Nation, Tata Mobile Manufacturing etc.

During the year Korba centre reassessed and received 5-star rating from the Skill Management & Accreditation of Training Centres (SMART) program by NSDC (National Skill Development Co-operation) and SSC (Sector Skill Council) in overall Chhattisgarh. This testimony of our exemplary performance has invited the trust of many government and private partnerships through various schemes like MMKVY, NABARD, Skill India Impact Bond (SIIB), Generation India etc.

The project is currently being run in partnership with Social Empowerment & Economic Development Society (SEEDS).

• In order to promote safety in communities, conducted safety trainings on Road, Fire & Home safety were organized reaching out to over 2000 community members & school children and students at Vedanta Skill School in FY'24.
• Created Master trainers from our partner team on safety with the objective of fostering a zero-harm culture in the communities where we operate. As a result of our initiatives, these master trainers are now conducting additional sessions on safety in the communities.
• 35 Traffic signs have been installed across 10 areas to enhance road safety for both drivers and pedestrians. These road safety-related signs have been put up in various, strategic places, raising awareness among 4000+ community members, drivers of moving vehicles and walkers alike.

The intervention aims at addressing the infrastructural gaps in the socio-economic development of the communities with upgradation of the existing facilities.

Villages in India often lack the essential infrastructure needed for a decent standard of living. Infrastructure development in the communities provides an opportunity to improve their quality of life. The intervention aims at addressing the infrastructural gaps in the socio-economic development of the communities with upgradation of the existing facilities. The activities of FY’ 24 included:

• Enhancing Learning Environment: In our commitment to fostering educational and childcare development, we have successfully renovated 14 government schools and 18 Anganwadi centres. These renovations provide better learning environments and support early childhood development, ensuring a brighter future for the young members of our communities.
• Improving Connectivity and Accessibility: Recognizing the importance of reliable infrastructure, we have constructed over 2100 meters of cement concrete roads in 4 villages. This significant enhancement improves transportation and connectivity, facilitating easier access to essential services and opportunities.
• Building Bridges, Connecting Lives: The construction of a Box-Culvert Bridge is another key structure aimed at enhancing community connectivity. This infrastructure not only ensures safer and more efficient travel but also strengthens the overall integration of community members.

Through these comprehensive infrastructure development initiatives in FY'24, we have positively impacted the lives of over 6500 community members. Our efforts in upgrading facilities and improving accessibility contribute significantly to the overall well-being and socio-economic growth of the communities we serve.

In FY'24 we initiated drives for Animal welfare in line with The Animal Care Organization (TACO). The initiatives included Reflective Collar drive for over 1500 stray cattle, enhancing their visibility for nighttime safety, minimizing accidents, and ensuring their well-being on roads and in communities, Vaccination of over 100 stray dogs on International Rabies Day towards making the community rabies free.

Other Initiatives like Water Bowl Challenge to alleviate the adverse effects of scorching heat on stray animals and birds by placing ecofriendly earthen water bowls in the communities. Apart from this, we also spread awareness on wildlife conservation, feeding drive for stray dogs in the community on International Dog Day and Free Animal Health Camps for farm animals at Nand Ghars were undertaken towards the welfare of animals for a peaceful coexistence.

Towards establishing a connect between the community members and employees, various employee engagement activities are done round the year. During the year, 508 employees and 427 Business Partners volunteered, contributing 410+ manhours, cumulatively for activities like:

• Wish Tree Initiative, gifts to the kids of the nearby communities, fulfilling their wishes.
• Mentoring - Taking classes of Students on various subjects under Connect.
• Value Added Modules - Taking soft skill building sessions in Vedanta Skill School.
• Blood Donation Drive - Highest single day contribution at district & state level.
• Let's Do Ropai - Sowing in the fields of farmers for transplantation of paddy.
• Rejuvenation Drive - Collective action for restoring check dam and community Pond at Dondro village.
• Cleanliness Drive - Joining hands for cleaning water body site at Parsakhola village.
• Science Mitrase - Mentored students from govt. schools for preparing & presenting science models.
• Nikshay Mitra - Financial support for six months for Nutritious Diet to TB patients undergoing medication.
• Shiksha Sahayogi - Financial support provided for re-enrolment of Drop out children.
• Able Minds Able Hearts - Connecting with specially abled through Art & storytelling.