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Social Initiatives

EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES

We, at Hindustan Zinc, have prioritised Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a focal point for our inclusive growth strategy. By working to strengthen the local economy and improve the quality of life, in alignment with UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), we have deepened our footprints in the areas of education, sustainable livelihoods, community asset creation, environment & safety, women empowerment, health, water & sanitation and sports & culture. Our CSR framework enables us to respond proactively, and with agility, to the urgent developmental needs of the underserved sections of society in key intervention areas. It helps us stay engaged with communities and other stakeholders across vital areas, identified jointly for their development and progress.

During FY 2021-22, our CSR programmes benefited the local communities in:

184Villages in Rajasthan

34Villages in Uttarakhand

16Villages in Gujarat

234Total villages

2Cities - Udaipur & Chittorgarh (through provision of Sewage Treatment & Water availability respectively)

We reached out to 377 villages through COVID-19 initiatives, focussed on life, livelihood, oxygen, and treatment facilities.

Going beyond, our long-term CSR initiative – Khushi Anganwadi Nand Ghar programme is implemented across 2,328 villages beyond 234 villages.

We have benefited over 1.4 million beneficiaries through long-term CSR initiatives and through COVID-19 initiatives in FY 2021-22.

OUR CSR PHILOSOPHY

We believe in strengthening social performance in our areas of operations with a well-rounded focus on sustainability, inclusive growth with positive impact on social life and environmental protection. We received our licence to operate not only from the government but also from communities in our project areas. We are committed to:

OUR CSR APPROACH

We have in place a comprehensive policy for the realisation of our CSR philosophy. The policy is structured around seven thematic areas, linked with the most impactful SDGs of social empowerment.

SDGs impacted

STRENGTHENING CSR COMPLIANCES

We have in place robust governance and compliance protocols, designed to align with the evolving CSR framework since the implementation of these initiatives. During FY 2021-22, we aligned our protocols to the latest Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2021 by redesigning the Company’s CSR policy. Thus, we further strengthened implementation of our CSR initiatives and support systems by ensuring that our programmes reach the last mile. We enable this through continual and rigorous efforts for ongoing sustainable development of the community, across our operational areas and beyond.

GOING BEYOND

In terms of statutory compliance, the Company has shown high readiness for the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2021 by completing Impact Assessment of five CSR flagship programmes, incorporation of a Section 8 Company – the Vedanta Zinc Football & Sports Foundation – for implementing the Zinc Football Academy programme and mapping its programmes as Ongoing and One– time programmes.

We have three modes for the implementation of our CSR initiatives

  • Third-Party implementation through partnerships with civil society and community groups, corporations and Section 8 companies
  • In-house design and delivery of projects
  • Implementation with like-minded organisations

Projects are implemented in various combinations of the above-mentioned modes. The partnership approach is our preferred route for implementation, and we work closely with the government, NGOs, other corporates, and multilateral agencies, etc., to steer our CSR agenda.

GOVERNANCE

With transparency and accountability at the core of our governance approach, we have put in place robust systems/ processes and multi-tiered reviews to ensure sustained quality and impact.

COMPANY LEVEL

CSR Board Subcommittee

Executive Committee

Implementation & Monitoring Committee

CSR FUNCTION LEVEL

CSR Concurrent Audits

Project Steering Committees (PSC)

Project Advisory Committees (PAC)

GROUP LEVEL

Group CSR ManCom

Governing Documents

Audits

OUR CSR FRAMEWORK

We have adopted a holistic approach of social performance for strengthening the community connect, and thereby enhancing stakeholder engagement and our effective grievance redressal mechanism. Our CSR initiatives are focussed on enhancing the local economy and improving the quality of life in the community. We partner with the Government, local communities, and credible NGOs in the execution of these projects. Our CSR policies and systems are framed and implemented efficiently to ensure seamless deployment of resources for accomplishing sustainable impact at the grassroot.

During FY 2021-22, we focussed on strengthening the community ownership by creating grassroot level institutions that are designed to be owned and led by the communities themselves, resulting in the implementation of long-term, impactful, and sustainable CSR initiatives. Our CSR drive is strategically designed to incorporate baseline and endline assessments as a critical component of the programme. Third-party needs and impact assessment is undertaken every three years to chart the roadmap for community intervention measures in carefully implemented programmes. Regular meetings with the community and proactive engagements on different platforms also supports us in identifying the needs of the community.

As a responsible corporate, ESG is key to our business decision-making, which further gets strengthened through alignment with our CSR Framework.

RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR COMMUNITIES

Progress on our Goals

The Company has framed its Vision 2025, which is focussed on strengthening two crucial pillars of the community – improving the quality of life and enhancing the local economy through well-rounded base of education. We have implemented various initiatives in alignment with these objectives in FY 2021-22.

Understanding Our Communities

Understanding the communities is a critical effort that lies at the core of our CSR activities. Before engaging with the communities, we undertake a detailed exercise of baseline, need and impact assessment in our operational areas by engaging with the social stakeholders through independent third party. The Company then ensures establishment of effective stakeholder management systems as well as adherence to these structures. We also conduct independent third-party impact assessment of our initiatives as per the mandate and going beyond we have also conducted Perception study. Five of our CSR flagship programmes – Sakhi, Samadhan, Khushi, Shiksha Sambal and Jeevan Tarang, were reviewed to assess the impact created at the grassroot level.

The key highlights of these impact assessments were:

Study for Sakhi, a women empowered programme, showed that the average saving for every self-help group (SHG) member under the Sakhi programme is more than double that of the SHG members surveyed from the control group. A higher proportion (14.5%) of project SHG members were reported to be involved in income generation activities (IGAs) as compared with members under the control SHG (5%).

Study for Samadhan, a sustainable livelihood programme for enhancing the income of farmers through scientific agricultural and improved livestock management, showed 22% increase in income per unit land for Samadhan farmers and improvement in milk productivity to 7-10 litres/farmer.

Study for Khushi Anganwadi – Nand Ghar, a programme that aims to strengthen the efficacy of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) department and enhance early childhood intervention across 3,145 Anganwadi centres in five districts of Rajasthan, has had a positive impact. The study showed that 93.9% of the Khushi Aanganwadi workers acknowledge that the Khushi programme impacts children at the AWC positively, as seen in the children’s improved learning outcomes – better retention rates and reading abilities. Additionally, 81.8% Khushi Anganwadi workers stated that the intervention programme had impacted the children at the AWC through improved nutrition status. About 65% of the 3,034 children identified with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) during the last two years were cured.

Study for Shiksha Sambal, a flagship educational initiative, showed that schools with pass percentage of 91% had increased from 24% to 43% schools during 2016-19, 74% of SS students had access to extra classes during 2020-21, as compared with only 47% in control schools.

Study for Jeevan Tarang, a programme that helps persons with disabilities to develop and enhance their skills, showed that 100% of the students used technologies like daisy player, screen reading software, screen magnification software and Braille translation software for cheaper and faster access to academic content. Further, 100% of the students reported positive impact on their academic performance, reduction in expenses on learning materials and increased self-confidence as a result of classes on beneficial technologies taken by our VI consultant.

Social Value Creation by each of these projects were assessed basis which one was able to access the investment made by the organisation.

KEY CSR INITIATIVES OF FY 2021-22

EDUCATION

SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

COMMUNITY ASSETS CREATION

HEALTH, WATER & SANITATION

SPORTS

VOLUNTEERING

COVID RESPONSE & INTERVENTION

Hindustan Zinc undertook several concerted initiatives during the year to support communities in the battle against COVID-19, and to make them self-sustaining and self-reliant.

IMMEDIATE SUPPORT
  • Established 350-bedded COVID-19 hospital by transforming DAV school and built 100-bedded makeshift hospital at Dariba Rajsamand
  • Set up 4 PSA Oxygen plants at Government Hospitals – one each at Amethi and Varanasi and two in Bhilwara
  • Provided 570 oxygen concentrators to Rajasthan State. Also, 13,861 oxygen cylinders were supplied to the District Administration and 239.34 MT liquid oxygen to MB hospital
  • Set up Bottling Plant at Dariba, Rajsamand
  • Solidification of health institutions by providing ventilators, RTPCR machines, COVID ambulances, PPE kits, medical kits, vaccine vehicles, etc. COVID-19 kits given to frontline health workers
  • Support to community by providing dry ration kits, sanitisers and conducting COVID-awareness sessions
  • Support for animal welfare during the pandemic
PROGRAMME STRATEGY

Carried out assessment through Khushi programme to study the impact of the pandemic on Anganwadi Workers and the community. More than 24,500 beneficiaries were surveyed from across 2,909 AWCs, which showed that 93% of Anganwadi beneficiaries affected by COVID-19 had recovered

AWARENESS & EDUCATION
  • CSR initiatives focussed on promoting COVID-appropriate behaviour. These included collaborating with Azim Premji Foundation through ‘Chetna Rath’ initiative and creating COVID-19 awareness through wall paintings under Sakhi initiative covering 129 villages across 4 locations
  • Online platforms were leveraged for imparting education to the students of Shiksha Sambal project. More than 10,000 online classes and 30,000 home visits by professional teachers were undertaken and this also aided in staying in constant connect with the parent. Focussed interventions ensured not only improved learning outcomes for young minds as well relieving them of their anxieties through strengthening of the entire learning eco-system. Softer elements of COVID behaviour were also looked at
  • Skill Development as one of the most important initiatives for making the rural youth employable, took COVID-19 outbreak as an exposure for the Security Guard trainees deployed on COVID-19 and REET duty as part of OJT
  • Hindustan Zinc Limited extended doorstep medical facilities through its Mobile Health unit by providing preventive, promotive and curative health care services, sessions of awareness on COVID for vaccination were undertaken across 112 villages. Strengthened 11 government health institutions such as District Hospitals, PHCs & CHCs through COVID interventions
  • During COVID times, we reached 377 villages benefiting 4 lacs+ population through COVID initiatives – RTPCR machine provided at Chittorgarh District, 2,000 COVID & Medical Kit and other medical equipment provided such as oxymeter, nebulizer, etc. 1,99,000 Cloth masks distributed, 3,000+ Dry Ration packets provided, Mass sanitisation drive, 500 litres of Sanitiser distributed and support for converting argon gas tank into oxygen tank

Building a ‘Suraksha Kavaj’

During the continuing pandemic crisis, we undertook various focussed initiatives for communities close to our operations. We regularly provided them support in the form of sanitisation drives, PPE kits and vaccination awareness drives. Our focus was on collaborating with them to create and implement aggressive plans and actions to beat the COVID-19 outbreak in the rural areas by creating a ‘Suraksha Kavaj’. On-ground COVID-19 Committees were created to jointly work on various fronts, including promoting awareness on vaccinations, providing COVID-19 safety kits to frontline health workers, and strengthening of existing health set-ups in villages etc. Efforts were made to implement a holistic approach for Life and Livelihood.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

In recognition of the various impactful initiatives undertaken at the grassroot level during the year, Hindustan Zinc won a total of eight awards for its CSR activities. These included:

BRICS SOLUTION FOR SDGs AWARDS 2021

Level: International-I

Awarded By: BRICS Business Council and FICCI

Category: Zero Hunger

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

In recognition of the various impactful initiatives undertaken at the grassroot level during the year, Hindustan Zinc won a total of eight awards for its CSR activities. These included:

THE CSR JOURNAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2021

Level: National-N

Awarded By: The CSR Journal

Category: Women & Child Welfare, Sports

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

In recognition of the various impactful initiatives undertaken at the grassroot level during the year, Hindustan Zinc won a total of eight awards for its CSR activities. These included:

19TH FICCI CSR AWARDS - APPRECIATION PLAQUE

Level: National-N

Awarded By: FICCI CSR Awards

Category: Food Security and Agriculture

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

In recognition of the various impactful initiatives undertaken at the grassroot level during the year, Hindustan Zinc won a total of eight awards for its CSR activities. These included:

LEADERS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE AWARD

Level: National-I

Awarded By: Socio Story Foundation

Category: Women Empowerment

Strategic Outlook

Going forward, we have envisaged our CSR Vision for 2025, articulated to meet our goals of improving the quality of life and the economic well-being of the community. We are focussed on the overall development of the community as well as villages through the Model Village approach. We are dedicated to building grassroot institutions, initiated and led by the community through strong community ownership focus. We have worked hard to also strengthen our social performance, thereby ensuring the social licence to operate and sustain our stronghold in the community and creating an economy which not only brings in development at the village level but contributes to the larger nation building and our vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Hindustan Zinc has always believed in walking the talk with respect to its corporate governance principles. As a socially responsible corporate, it remains committed to boosting the local economy and uplifting the lives in the earmarked communities around its operations. Our focus is on creating self-sustaining on-ground community institutions and promoting ownership within the communities. Our thrust areas encompass targeted interventions in healthcare, nutrition, education, water sufficiency, livelihoods, skills etc., through innovation and introduction of technology. While being all-encompassing, our programmes are designed, in particular, to support rural women. In FY 2021-22, 0.2 million of the 1.4 million lives we touched were women. We aim to further scale up our efforts to nurture rural women as entrepreneurs or agriculturists to empower them to contribute better to the local economy and the development of our targeted villages

Anupam Nidhi Head - CSR