Vedanta to feed children

Tathya.in, Feb 13, 2009
Bhawanipatna:13/February/2009

Vedanta Aluminum Limited (VAL), Lanjigarh is eager to extend its support for Mid-Day-Meal Program in the poverty stricken Kalahandi.

So a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on 13 February here by VAL with Kalahandi District Administration and Naandi Foundation (NF) for providing mid-day meal in Lanjigarh block of the district.

The program will provide nutritious food to 17000 children in 235 schools in Lanjigarh block.

The project aims at improving the nutritional status of children in classes I-VIII in government aided schools and encourage poor children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to arrest drop outs.

R S Gopalan, Collector, Kalahandi, Mukesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, VAL, Lanjigarh and Leena Joseph, National Head (Mid-Day Meal), Naandi Foundation signed the MOU.

Dr. Mukesh Kumar said, “In line with the Millennium Development Goal (MDG), the program will further to minimize the cases of malnutrition.

He said initiative is being taken by providing nutritional cooked food prepared in the centralized kitchen managed by internationally renowned professional body, NF.

The program is being guided by Dr. Mona Sharma, IAS, Secretary of Women and Child Development

As per the MOU, school children shall be provided freshly cooked food under this program.

Vedanta will develop a centralized kitchen, where the food shall be cooked and sent to schools.

The company will also bear the cost of transportation.

NF shall be responsible for cooking and management of the centralized kitchen and also for delivering the food at the doorsteps of the schools.

The district administration shall provide ration and other necessary items as per the Mid-Day-Meal scheme of the government.

Rajesh Rajan, Manager CSR, VAL, Jagannath Mohanty, Sub-Collector, Dhramagarh and Dr. Ajay Mishra, Professor, Government Women’s College were present in the MOU signing ceremony.

Education and nutrition has always been focus of Vedanta’s CSR Initiative.

The company is running 39 childcare centers, where children are provided pre-school education and nutritious food in different villages of Lanjigarh block.

NF is one of the leading social sector organization, founded by Dr Reddy’s.

The organization based in Hyderabad and has interventions in health, nutrition and education areas.

MDM through centralized kitchen is one of the flagship interventions by the development organization.

At present NF provides noon meals to atleast 10 lakh school children in four states.

In Orissa, Naandi has similar program in Ganjam district, which has been recently launched by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.