Gets the top billing in Sports Development for its landmark work in the development of grassroots football in Udaipur and Goa
Udaipur : Vedanta Limited was awarded for its work in Sports Development at the ET NOW presents CSR Leadership Awards, organised by World CSR Day. The glittering awards function, which was held in Mumbai, had the top names in the country in the Corporate Social Responsibility space in attendance and saw Vedanta Limited recognised for its initiatives to develop grassroots football in the country.
World CSR Day is an independent and not-for-profit, guided by the Advisory Council. Its purpose is to make “work and working lives better”.
Through its initiatives – Hindustan Zinc’s programme Zinc Football in Udaipur and Sesa Football Academy in Goa, Vedanta Limited has pledged its support to the development of Indian Football with particular emphasis on social and economic upliftment, youth development, community building, women empowerment and promoting healthy living.
Hindustan Zinc’s programme Zinc Football, is a one-of-a-kind initiative in the country which lays emphasis on promoting grassroots football in India by providing coaching to over 2500 passionate children by skilled football trainers at 64 community football centres in Rajasthan. At the heart of this initiative is a residential academy at Zawar, near Udaipur, with world-class facilities and the country’s first ever ‘technology-hinged football training’. The academy is currently training its first batch of 32 children, all of whom are under 14 years.
The other grassroots development project, SESA Football Academy in Goa which started in 1999, provides youngsters an elite football training programme to groom them into professional footballers. The programme runs two state-of-the-art residential academies in Goa, training 70 boys who have come from various parts of the country. The academies also train over 250 kids on a non- residential basis. The initiative also has a significant community outreach programme with Vedanta Football Schools covering over 500 kids in 16 villages in Goa.
Mr. Annanya Agarwal, President of Vedanta Football Project, said, “We are really proud of this achievement and I thank World CSR Day for this wonderful award. This is another stepping stone towards the sports development initiatives that Vedanta Limited has taken over the years. Recognitions such as these motivate and inspire us to work harder to achieve the goal of holistic development of the local youth through football. We will keep the spirit of football alive in India and keep nurturing players at the grass root level.”