The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR/TIKIRI, DEC 15, 2022
Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Limited of the Aditya Birla Group, recently received numerous awards and commendations from major national groups like FICCI, CSR Times, and UBS Forum for its admirable contributions to society through its CSR, CR, and Sustainability initiatives.
UAIL has been tenaciously working to improve the quality of life of the local communities in tribal-dominated Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of Odisha through its various social development projects.
Utkal Alumina was awarded the FICCI CSR Award 2020-21 under the category-5 “Food Security & Agriculture” for its CSR project “Sugandha”.
On behalf of Utkal Alumina, Unit Head & President Mazhar Beig, Head-CSR, CR & Sustainability Lopamudra Priyadarshini and Head-CSR (Mines) Manoj Das received the prestigious award from Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda and Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development Chairperson Rajshree Ji Birla at a glittering ceremony at FICCI Federation House in New Delhi on December 12. Aditya Birla Group’s Group Executive President-CSR Dr. Pragnyan Ram was present on the occasion to encourage the team.
UAIL’s Project Sugandha, meant for wasteland development by cultivation of lemon grass, has increased the income of local farmers three-fold and taken them towards lucrative cash crop cultivation.
Utkal Alumina also won the CSR Times Award 2022 under the category of ‘Livelihood’ for its Project UANAT (Utkal’s Action for Agriculture Transformation). Tanmaya Mohanty, heading the Sustainability and CR function of Utkal Alumina, received the award from Lok Sabha member Janardan Singh Singriwal, CSR Times Executive Committee Member S. Ravi Shankar and Ambassador of Republic of Serbia Sinisa Pavic during the 9th CSR Summit held in New Delhi on December 8.
UANAT is a large scale multisectoral livelihoods initiative under the CR & Sustainability vertical of Utkal Alumina.
The CSR wing of Utkal Alumina added one more feather to its cap when it won the Best Innovative CSR Project Award from UBS Forum at the 6th Edition of Corporate Social Responsibility Summit & Awards 2022, for its CSR and Sustainability work in the fields of rural infrastructure, healthcare, sustainable livelihood, and education. These programs are created to address community needs that have been identified scientifically through community need assessments. Head-CSR (Mines) Manoj Das received the award at a function in Bangalore in November 2022.
UAIL works on a targeted and strategic approach to development while contributing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. It is putting every effort to bring holistic and sustainable community development in their operational districts of Kalahandi and Rayagada.
As a responsible corporate citizen, UAIL is deeply engaged in executing its peripheral development work under its CSR &CR & Sustainability initiatives in 2 districts i.e Rayagada & Kalahandi catering to two block of these two districts encompassing 232 villages of 12 Gram panchayats. Under ABG’s 5 Pillar of intervention i.e education, healthcare, sustainable livelihood, and rural infrastructure and addressing the issues of social concern, overall UAIL is touching lives of more than 2,00,000 people. UAIL’s unique multi-stakeholder based initiatives have been enriching lives for more than wo decades now.
