Vedanta's Hindustan Zinc Nourishing Students of Rural Government Schools

Daily mid-day-meal to 180,000 rural students of 2000 schools

It was morning hours and I was going through the local newspapers, just to brush-up with what is happening in the country. Generally, you tend to look for good news in the papers, after all its morning time and one has a full day ahead.

My eyes went to a news that stated “ASSOCHAM awards Hindustan Zinc with CSR Excellence Award”. The news came in the middle of my thoughts on the need for upliftment of rural poor, particularly in deep rural and tribal areas.

The news also mentioned the work being done by Hindustan Zinc in different areas. Few areas that were new to me were mid-day meal to school going children, agriculture & live-stock development, and computer education. I had seen the work done by Vedanta’s Hindustan Zinc in women empowerment, nutrition to children, shiksha sambal program for students, training to rural youth for employment and health & medical facilities in rural villages.

My first fascination came for knowing about the mid-day meal program of Hindustan Zinc. The news had stated that the benefits of the same are reaching to about 180,000 rural students of government schools in Rajasthan.

It is not difficult to get information about Hindustan Zinc in Rajasthan. I only needed to speak to the Principal of the school I had met for the Shiksha Sambal Program. The Principal Dr. Rupa Pareekh informed me that Hindustan Zinc has 6 mid-day-meal kitchens in Rajasthan – Chittorgarh (4), Bhilwara (1) and Udaipur (1). She also gave me the reference of Mr. Arvind Trivedi from Naandi Foundation. Naandi Foundation and Government of Rajasthan are partners of Hindustan Zinc in running the kitchens.

I called up Arvind Trivedi who invited me to visit the kitchen in Salumbar, about 90 minutes drive from Udaipur city. As Udaipur was new to me, I asked Arvind to meet me near the Udaipur Bus-stand. I reached Udaipur in the afternoon and he was waiting for me.

Arvind informed me that the basic objective of starting the mid-day meal was to provide a daily hot and healthy meal to the rural children. The meals are cooked in the most hygienic way and all measures were taken to ensure that the food reaches schools well in time. It is a responsible job, after all we are dealing with rural school children.

“Mid-day-meal program must have also impacted the attendance in the rural schools”, I asked Arvind. “Yes very much”, he replied. In fact there has been a tremendous increase in the enrollment of students and they do not miss school now, he continued. Children eagerly wait for the meals. It was not surprising that this effort would have brought a significant change in attendance, as most of these schools are in rural areas and children attending schools come from poor families.

I wanted to know how the food is made ? How are these hi-tech machines ? How many people are engaged in the process ? I wanted to see everything. Arvind informed me that the kitchen is closed during the afternoon hours and also till late evening. This is the time when the utensils that we receive back from the schools are cleaned along with the machines. The kitchen starts operating almost in the middle of night as we need to prepare the meals by 6 AM. If I need to see the kitchen then I need to visit at around 2.30 AM in the mid-night or should I say early morning.

I agreed. Arvind will pick me from my hotel at 2.00 AM in the night and we shall be visiting the kitchen at Salumbar in Udaipur.

Now, I had time to see the beautiful city of Udaipur, one of the most sought after destination of foreign tourists across the world. I could see City Palace, Crystal Gallery and had camel ride at Sukhadia Circle.

Arvind came to pick me up as we decided and we departed for the Kitchen. Arvind informed that all these kitchens are hi-tech and operated by trained operators. Utmost care is taken also to ensure the hygiene of the workers and also packing of the food.

Six hi-tech kitchens are being operated by Hindustan Zinc in association with Government of Rajasthan and Naandi Foundation. The kitchen at Bhilwara is biggest, which caters to about 45,500 children of 530 schools. Kitchen at Salumbar is catering to 36,500 children of about 450 schools. Overall about 180,000 rural children of 2000 government schools are provided mid-day-meals.

We reached Hindustan Zinc’s Salumbar kitchen. It was like a small factory, very clean and hygienic. Almost 18-20 people were working, well dressed, wearing gloves, caps and aprons.

I could see chapatti making machine, vegetable making machine and large container making rice. Indeed it was all hi-tech structure. It was amazing to be a witness to chapatti making machine where hundreds of chapattis were being made instantly. I could also see large boxes lined up together. On my asking Arvind informed that these are the containers which carry the meals. Further in these containers, we would keep boxes that carry vegetables, rice and chapattis. Plates are available in the schools.

But how are these containers carried to schools, to which Arvind replied, “we have our own transport system, the mobile vans, which are responsible for delivering these large boxes on time”. I could see all of them lined up and ready to carry the boxes.

Arvind informed that besides the government department, Hindustan Zinc officials also pay surprise visit to these kitchens to ensure that the objective of setting up these kitchens is fulfilled.

I was thrilled to see the contribution of public private partnership in providing such delicious hot mid-day meal to the school going children.

Before, Arvind could say anything, I could not resist myself and picked-up a plate and went ahead to get some potato-tomato vegetable which was well cooked. With some rice and two chapattis I began my morning breakfast. You can understand the temptation of having the hot freshly cooked food, particularly when you have the steam coming out of the rice. No, I did not use a spoon for the rice, I preferred my fingers. It was too delicious to be described in words.

I wanted to speak to the Principal of a school to know the reaction and how this has helped the school and the children. Arvind informed me that I could visit a school near Jaisamand Lake in Udaipur and see the lake as well.

Together we moved to visit Mahadev Ka Phala School, near Jaisamand Lake. We met the Principal Mr. Shambu Singh Chundawat. He informed that students are quite happy with the mid-day meal and wait eagerly. The menu of the meals also changes so that meals are not monotonous for the children. He informed that there is a mid-day meal in-charge in every school that tastes the food before it is served.

On asking about the children attendance, he informed that the schools attendance has increased to almost 90% and girls alone attendance to about 70% due to the mid-day-meal program.

Arvind informed that Hindustan Zinc has also applied Waste to Wealth Concept in one of their kitchen, where an Organic Waste Converter has been set-up that converts waste into organic manure. The company is in the process of implementing it in all its kitchens.

I believe the thought to change and give value to the system is utmost important. There are many reasons and ways to find how things cannot be done. But important is putting an effort to ensure that things can be done systematically. Vedanta’s Hindustan Zinc, Naandi Foundation and Government of Rajasthan were perhaps doing the same, nourishing students of deep rural schools.

The movement in the school corridors had increased. I realized it was time for them to have lunch. The students had lined up and sat in rows and sang a small prayer before starting their lunch.

My heart felt sitting with students and having one more round of meals. But I knew, I had to move and let the students enjoy their meals.

Arvind left for his work and I towards the Jaisamand Lake. But I know, my journey will continue..