The COVID-19 pandemic has humanity facing one of the toughest crises
in recent history. Countrywide lockdown confined children to limited spaces and locations.
To keep children engaged and sustain hope in their hearts, Vedanta Group companies,
Cairn Oil & Gas and Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL), have come forward and initiated
several programs in the field of education and learning. Through their initiatives in
Rajasthan, both the companies are encouraging kids to become leaders of change and
continue their journey of learning amidst the crisis, inspiring the world to live each day to
the fullest.
Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Ltd., said, “Vedanta is committed to
transforming the lives of children at the grassroots level, and providing them quality
education, especially during these challenging times, is an important part of this vision.
Cairn Oil & Gas and Hindustan Zinc have taken up innovative and technology-backed
initiatives to ensure that students adapt to new ways of learning and children are not made
to suffer.”
Some of the flagship projects under the aegis of Vedanta Group companies are:
1. Project e-Kaksha – a unique digital education initiative for rural children studying in Rajasthan by Cairn Oil & Gas
E-Kaksha is aimed at imparting education through digital platforms to the students of
class 6th to 12th in partnership with Department of Education, Government of
Rajasthan for all subjects with special attention on key subjects like Maths, Physics
Chemistry, Biology, English, etc. Under this project, over 300+ videos have been
developed so far, as the initiative aims to benefit more than 1.7 crore students in over
65,000+ government schools across 33 districts in the state. The e-content will be
delivered through government’s digital mediums like Shiksha Vani, Shiksha Darshan
(Doordarshan Rajasthan), Smile Program as well as ICT lab and smart classrooms in
every government schools along with official YouTube channel of RBSE e-kaksha.
Ujjwal project, which was focused on providing remedial and bridge classes to weaker
and out of school students in 20 government schools in Barmer, Rajasthan, has
continued to provide education at their hamlets and clusters post lockdown.
Speaking about the project, Govind Singh Dotasra, Education Minister, Rajasthan
said, “The closure of government schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic has
disrupted children’s education. Rajasthan government has, under the leadership of
Ashok Gehlot, CM, Rajasthan, strived to make education accessible to the children of
Rajasthan. It delights me to announce that the leaders at our education department
have worked enthusiastically to provide education to children stuck at home at such
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difficult times and signed MoU with Vedanta & Mission Gyan.” Mr. Anshdeep, IAS,
District Collector, Pali, appreciated the e-Kaksha project.
2. Ghar Baithe Gyan Ganga – Education Project by Cairn Oil & Gas
Launched in Gujarat to improve the quality of education in schools, this project set-up
smart classes and introduced innovative teaching methods for experiential learning.
So far, the education project has catered to 1700+ children by providing them quality
education and learning.
3. Shiksha Sambal by HZL
The Shiksha Sambal project is aimed at quality teaching of the key subjects like
Science, Maths and English (SEM). The project places additional teachers into
schools and builds a strong conceptual foundation among students using innovative
learning techniques & activities such as group learning, worksheets, learning camps,
science fairs, etc. The project has benefitted 64 government schools and more than
7,300 students of class 9th to 12th. During this pandemic, the project team connected
with students through online platforms and home visits to keep the learning going.
4. Mindpsark by HZL
Mindspark Learning Lab is a personalised adaptive learning program which provides
customized and adaptive cloud-based learning solution to strengthen language and
Mathematics learning for classes 1 to 8. Currently, the program is reaching out to 38
government schools benefiting more than 6000 students.
5. Unchi Udaan by HZL
Hindustan Zinc’s ‘Unchi Udaan’, an educational Excellence initiative is built on the
foundation of Shiksha Sambal and aims to identify young meritorious students from
Govt. schools in communities around the company’s operational areas and mentoring
them to enter engineering institutions of national repute. Each year, the company
selects 25-30 students from rural areas of its operational districts, through rigorous
selection process conducted across 6 districts – Udaipur, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh,
Rajsamand & Ajmer from Rajasthan and Pantnagar from Uttarakhand and provide free
coaching to appear and get through the IITs and other prestigious Engineering
Colleges. The project provides residential schooling and coaching support to select
group of students. The project is being implemented by Vidya Bhawan & Resonance
Edu ventures. At present four batches from class 9 till 12 are running in Unchi Udaan
program & the project is benefitting 134 students.
About Cairn Oil & Gas, Vedanta Ltd.
Cairn Oil & Gas, Vedanta Ltd., is the largest private oil and gas exploration and production
company in India, accounting for more than a quarter of India’s domestic crude oil
production. It has a world-class resource base, with a current interest in 58 blocks in India,
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including the 41 blocks under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round I auction,
five blocks each under Round II and Round III, and two awarded under the Discovered
Small Fields (DSF) Round-II. In 2004, Cairn made the largest onshore discovery in more
than two decades in India at Mangala, Rajasthan. In its operations of 20 years, Cairn has
opened four frontier basins with numerous discoveries, 38 in Rajasthan alone.
Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading
Oil & Gas and Metals company with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver,
Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa, Namibia, and
Australia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing significantly to nation building.
Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta’s strategy, with a
strong focus on health, safety, and environment. Giving back is in the DNA of Vedanta,
which is focused on enhancing the lives of local communities. Under the aegis of Vedanta
Cares, the flagship social impact program, Nand Ghars have been set up as model
anganwadis focused on eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare,
and empowering women with skill development. The company has been featured in Dow
Jones Sustainability Index, and was conferred CII-ITC Sustainability Award, the FICCI
CSR Award, Dun & Bradstreet Awards in Metals & Mining, and certified as a Great Place
to Work. Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock
Exchange in India and has ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information please visit www.vedantalimited.com
About Hindustan Zinc Limited
Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group Company, is one of the world’s largest and India’s only
integrated producer of Zinc-Lead and Silver. The Company has its Headquarter at
Udaipur in the State of Rajasthan where it has its Zinc-Lead mines and smelting
complexes. Hindustan Zinc is self-sufficient in power with captive thermal power plants
and also has ventured into green energy by setting up wind power plants. The Company
is ranked 1st in Asia-Pacific and globally 7th in Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2020
amongst Mining & Metal companies. Hindustan Zinc is a certified Water Positive
Company, a member of the FTSE4Good Index and has scored ‘A’ rating by CDP for
climate change.
As a socially responsible corporate, Hindustan Zinc has been relentlessly working to
improve the lives of rural and tribal people residing near its business locations. The
company is amongst the Top 15 CSR Spenders in India and are currently reaching out to
500,000 people in 184 core villages of Rajasthan and 5 in Uttarakhand. As a market
leader, Hindustan Zinc governs about 77% of growing Zinc market in India.
