With an aim to provide an equal opportunity to underprivileged Tribals, including the Dongria Kondh community, to pursue formal education, Vedanta through its Foundation has funded education for 100 children in the tribal-dominated Rayagada district of Odisha.

In the first phase of the project, Vedanta Foundation has sent 63 tribal students between 5-8 years of age to Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS), Bhubaneswar - the sister concern of KIIT.

The rest 37 students would be sent there in the second phase. For this a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Vedanta Foundation, KISS and Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL), Lanjigarh, Company sources said today.

Vedanta Foundation would be supporting the project with an amount of Rs 25 Lakh per annum, they said.

Speaking about the initiative, Mukesh Kumar, President and Chief Operating Officer of VAL said, “As a responsible corporate it is our prime responsibility to provide quality education to the tribal children around us because it is the only medium which can bring them into mainstream and help them live a better life.”

Quality education would ensure a bright future for these children and eventually, bring prosperity to the community, he said.

Beneficiary students of this project have been identified from Bissumcuttack, Muniguda and Kalyansinghpur blocks of Rayagada district which is predominantly inhabited by Dongria Kondhs.

VAL has set up a Greenfield Alumina Refinery in Lanjigarh, Odisha with a capacity of 1 Million tons per annum.

It is also operating a 0.5 MTPA Aluminum Smelter and a 1215 MW Captive Power Plant at Jharsuguda, Odisha.

The Group Company Sterlite Energy Ltd has also set up a 2400 MW Independent Power Plant at Jharsuguda.

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