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Proving Their Metal: IMFA Award for Saura tribesman

September 7, 2015

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‘SUPERHEROES need no muscles and metal parts… All they need is a heart!’ If Odisha-based mining major India Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA) needed to borrow a line from a Shah Rukh Khan potboiler, this would be it. IMFA’s wp arm, the Bansidhar & Ila Panda Foundation (BIPF), has been focusing its wp energies on the Saura tribe of Southern Odisha, where its core businesses are based, as part of its inclusive growth model. Recently, BIPF awarded Saura tribesman Krishna Sabar with its first Shambhavi Puraskar, an award instituted to encourage local effort, for spending the last 15 years developing a computer software for the Saura script.

A rather dwindling jungle tribe mainly spread across Rayagada district, most Sauras have little access to education or awareness about basics like health and hygiene. Sabar’s effort, it is believed, will go a long way in uplifting their standards of living. BIPF’s key focus areas are among the tribes of Orissa, spreading awareness about critical issues like preventive healthcare, sanitation & hygiene, and immunisation.

Shaifalika Panda, Trustee & CEO, BIPF, underlining the purpose of the award, says, “Behind the success of critical development issues, is the commitment and hard work of many who go unnoticed. It is pertinent to recognize such contributions and boost the morale of those who work relentlessly towards the upliftment of their communities.”

While the award is a symbol of the company’s intentions, Corporate Social Responsibility for IMFA goes beyond symbolism. Multi-pronged social upliftment programs are already at different stages of development in all five districts of Odisha, where the company has manufacturing units and power plants. Efforts include setting up of Industrial Training Centers to impart vocation training, and an initiative called Janani Express to reduce infant mortality rate, among other water and sanitation programmes.

Clearly, at a time when battle between industry and local communities gets more complex than ever before, IMFA has set an example of mining with a mandate.