The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
LANJIGARH, JUNE 14, 2023
Vedanta Aluminium’s Lanjigarh unit, India’s premier producer of metallurgical grade alumina achieved a significant milestone in its endeavours to promote grassroots sports in Odisha, with Sanjaya Majhi and Bikram Majhi from the Vedanta Archery Training Initiative helping Odisha emerge victorious in the inaugural edition of the Janjatiya Khel Mahotsav 2023, a national level sports competition held at Bhubaneswar from June 9 to 12.
Their win is especially significant, as this is the first time in seven years that Odisha has secured a medal at a national-level archery competition. Sanjaya and Bikram, students from Vedanta’s Archery Training Initiative, were part of Odisha’s eight-member archery contingent. They competed with determination against over 150 archers from 28 states of India. The efforts of Vedanta Lanjigarh’s archery students contributed to the state securing the bronze medal and finishing third in the overall rankings for the men’s teams.
Sharing his delight on the achievement, Vedanta Limited Deputy CEO (Alumina Business) GG Pal said, “Vedanta Lanjigarh dedicates a significant portion of its community development efforts to the advancement of sports at the grass root level. The role of sports in helping the holistic development of youths and endowing them with essential life skills is well-known. We enable this process by ensuring access to best-in-class training facilities that have repeatedly produced national and state-level champions in both archery and karate.”
Congratulating the students and the Odisha team for this remarkable achievement, Pal said, “I believe it will inspire our communities’ youth to actively participate in sports.”
“I would like to thank Vedanta for actively increasing participation of people in archery and providing them with proper training and equipment. They have successfully encouraged the youths of Kalahandi district to participate in sports, presenting them with different avenues for progress in life,” said Sampurnananda Das, Secretary, Odisha Archery Association, while congratulating the students.
Over 15 students from Vedanta Aluminium’s training program represented Odisha at the national level and bagged a total of 37 medals in various state-level competitions last year.
The company has deployed multiple community development programs in the areas of education, healthcare, livelihood, grassroots sports and art & culture. Within the domain of sports, over 40 students are undergoing training in archery and 60 students in karate at the SSD High School, Lanjigarh, supported by Vedanta. The company provides them with quality equipment, professional coaches, scheduled training programs, and supports them for participating in various competitions.
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.29 million tonnes in FY23. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 2nd in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) 2022 world rankings for aluminium industry, a reflection of its sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
