The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
JHARSUGUDA, AUGUST 19, 2022
Members of Subhalaxmi Co-operative, one of India’s largest rural women’s co-operatives supported by Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, responded to the Prime Minister’s clarion call of ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ by stitching more than 4000 national flags for the public.
Employees of Vedanta Aluminium’s Jharsuguda plant volunteered to distribute these flags to thousands of homes and shops, so they could fly the national flag on India’s 76th Independence Day, as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations.
The tricolours were stitched at Subhalaxmi Co-op’s tailoring training centres, which were established to enable rural women with tailoring skills to create alternative avenues of livelihood and catalyse their socio-economic growth.
Elaborating on Vedanta Aluminium’s community endeavours, Vedanta Ltd. Jharsuguda CEO Sunil Gupta said, “We were delighted to partner with the women of Subhalaxmi Co-operative to celebrate our country’s 75 glorious years of independence. We were proud to see our national flag, lovingly stitched by these women, fly high across thousands of homes in Jharsuguda. Vedanta Jharsuguda, one of the world’s largest aluminium smelters, continues to be a proud contributor to India’s journey of ‘Aatmanirbharta’ and an equally committed partner in the progress of our local communities. Subhalaxmi Co-op is a shining example of what corporates and community partnership can achieve when coming together for the common good.”
Saraswati Mehr, tailor and member of Subhalaxmi Co-op, who was an integral part of the initiative, added, “It is a matter of immense pride for me to be personally associated with the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign. Hearing the Prime Minister’s call to see our national flag flying in every house of India, many of us in the tailoring trade came together to stitch 4000 Indian flags in the span of one week. It was heartening to see the results of our hard work play a central role in our community’s celebrations. What better way to celebrate 75 years of independence of our nation!”
Subhalaxmi Co-operative, the flagship community development initiative by Vedanta Aluminium at Jharsuguda, works in the realms of sustainable livelihood and women’s empowerment. From 10 members in 2008, it has over 4100 women members today – a testimony to the company’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals of Zero Hunger and Gender Equality. The co-operative enables aspiring women with micro-finance, skill development, financial literacy, market linkage and a support system of thousands of equally ambitious women. It also bridges them to various welfare schemes developed by the Indian Government for their socio-economic empowerment. Women of Odisha who barely ventured beyond their homes and hamlets earlier, own and run micro-enterprises like fast food centers, poultry & vegetable farms, grocery stores, beauty parlors, tailoring centers and many more, today. The impact of this initiative is evident in the fact that Subhalaxmi Co-op now has presence in 72 villages of Jharsuguda and continues to grow in strength year on year.
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.26 million tonnes in FY22. The company operates a world-class 1.75 MTPA aluminium smelter and 3615 MW thermal power generation facility at Jharsuguda, in Odisha. The only Indian smelter in the global ‘1 Million Tonne’ production and export club, Vedanta Jharsuguda is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications across core industries. With its state-of-the-art facilities, unparalleled engineering prowess, R&D and innovation abilities, the company is working towards a sustainable and greener future for all by spurring emerging applications of aluminium, the ‘Metal of the Future’.
