Vedanta Ltd on Thursday said it has spent Rs 331 crore in 2020-21 fiscal on its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes that positively impacted the lives of 4.23 crore beneficiaries.
Releasing its maiden social impact -- CSR report, the company said it has spent Rs 331 crore in the last financial year on various CSR activities with a focus on pandemic relief works, children's well-being and education, women empowerment, healthcare, sustainable agriculture and animal welfare, environment protection and restoration, development of community infrastructure, among others.
"Vedanta Ltd has positively impacted the lives of 4.23 crore people across the country through its various social development initiatives," the company said in a statement.
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As part of its many interventions, Vedanta said it also extended significant support towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vedanta has committed Rs 201 crore in the battle against COVID-19, including Rs 101 crore donation to PM-CARES Fund and an additional Rs 100 crore corpus for supporting communities, daily wage workers, preventive healthcare and welfare of employees, contract partners or business partners.
As many as 15 lakh have benefitted from Vedanta's Covid Care initiatives.
Additionally, this year under Vedanta Cares, field hospitals were set up with 100 critical care beds with oxygen and ventilator support across 10 locations, and over 20 lakh litres of oxygen to Covid-affected patients were supplied.
Earlier this year, Vedanta announced the social development roadmap through the Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF) and pledged Rs 5,000 crore as part of their 'Give Back' towards its rural upliftment programmes.
The company said AAF's 'Swasth Gaon Abhiyaan' will provide end-to-end healthcare services across 1,000 villages in 12 states, impacting the lives of more than 2 million people.
AAF is also running its flagship Nand Ghar programme, in partnership with the Ministry of Women & Child Development (MoWCD), that aims to provide critical access to nutrition, healthcare, education and women empowerment.
Around 2,400 Nand Ghars have been set up across 11 states with the vision of transforming the lives of 7 crore children and 2 crore women across 13.7 lakh Anganwadis in India, it added.
On the occasion of the release of the report, Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal, said, "Over the years, Vedanta has been positively impacting lives, through healthcare, education, skilling, and livelihood providing inclusive development of our communities and developed trust with our communities. We will continue to scale this up as much as possible”.
Vedanta Resources Director Priya Agarwal Hebbar said the company has built over the years one of the most impactful CSR programmes in India, but this time around the company went beyond its scope of traditional activities with a stronger focus on protecting lives during the pandemic.
"We believe every mother and child should get the opportunity they deserve to grow and with this purpose in mind we developed the Nand Ghars program," she said.
The company is also launching a first-of-its-kind animal welfare project, which will provide world-class infrastructure, veterinary services, training facilities and shelters in partnership with global academic institutions and knowledge partners, she added.
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