“No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile unless it serves the needs and interests of the Country and its people” – JRD Tata
Tata Steel’s Corporate Social Responsibility Policy is rooted in the belief that the primary purpose of a business is to improve the quality of life of the people. It takes into account every single person in its sphere of development and ensures that its socio-economic initiatives touch the lives of all stakeholders in a positive way. Therefore, in and around the operational areas of Tata Steel, whether it is a functioning facility or a project in the implementation stage, the emphasis is on all-round growth. This encompasses initiatives in income generation, education, healthcare, water, electricity and all other basic services.
Tata Steel through its operations in Odisha, provides community outreach programmes that are specifically designed to cater to the needs of the Odia population. The community which comes under displacement requires an adequate development strategy to cope with the changing environment and to lead a life with dignity in harmony with the mainstream.
To systematise the community development efforts, Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS) was established in1979 and thus has traveled more than 30 years providing services to the rural people. TSRDS Kalinganagar was formed to address the socio economic needs of the people to be displaced and of the people living in surrounding areas of the new venture.
The initiatives undertaken by the CSR team of Tata Steel and by TSRDS towards integrated development of rural masses have been discussed below under three sections.
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Health & Hygiene
Extending better healthcare facilities to the people has always been a priority in Tata Steel's periphery development and CSR plan. To this end, the Company has set up new hospitals, improved the existing ones and held regular medical camps as well as health check-up facilities through mobile health units. Gobarghati hospital - Tata Steel is building a hospital in Gobarghati rehabilitation colony. The hospital would be setup on an area of four acres of land. The setting up of this hospital is primarily dedicated to those families that were affected in Tata Steel’s Greenfield project at Kalinganagar, in the Jajpur district of Odisha and also for the people in periphery villages. The civil construction has almost reached its last lap. It will be a 200-bed hospital and would cater to around 10000 people from the neighbouring villages apart from Tata Steel Parivar members. The hospital would also be well equipped with round-the-clock service, pathology laboratory, OPD, an outdoor complex, paramedical staff and specialist doctors in Medicine, Paediatrics, Surgery and O&G. The ceremonial puja for this hospital has already been performed at Maniapatla. Mr. Hridayeshwar Jha, Vice President, Odisha Project of Tata Steel, graced this occasion. The hospital intends to plan health services like rural health check-up programmes, health camps during epidemics and awareness building activities for people once it is functional. However, presently Tata Steel is running a dispensary at Gobarghati so that it can provide the villagers with basic health services. The dispensary has all necessary infrastructure along with experienced doctors and paramedical staff. Large number of villagers from far-off areas throng the dispensary. In fact it is the overwhelming response to this dispensary that had motivated Tata Steel to setup the Gobarghati hospital. The Lifeline Express - The Lifeline Express, which caters to the remote rural areas lacking medical services, is undoubtedly the world’s first hospital on rails. It has ideally used the Indian Railway Network in such a way that it offers a modern operation theatre well equipped for diagnostic and surgical treatment. It also looks after the prevention and curative interventions for the physically challenged patients as well. Of the six occasions the Lifeline Express has been hosted in Odisha, two have been in Jajpur. Since the main purpose of the Lifeline Express is to serve the rural populace, it has received an overwhelming response on all the occasions. Villagers availed the services of free medication as well as health checkups. Many villagers also got their required treatments. Of these, the most significant was the treatment of a girl whose deformity in leg got cured at the Lifeline Express. Medical aids and appliances were also provided to some of the patients. The concept of this kind of a hospital received a positive response from the villagers and also from several eminent personalities. Dispensary – While the hospital is coming up steadily, Tata Steel runs a dispensary at Gobarghati to meet the basic health services to people in the periphery villages. The dispensary is equipped with necessary infrastructure and treats a number of patients regularly. Medical Camps - Various health services related activities, like rural health check-up programmes, health camps during epidemics and awareness building sessions have been regular events on Tata Steel’s CSR agenda and will also be planned through the hospital at a later stage. The Company has set up community health centres (CHC) at Kuhika and Bari in Jajpur district. To provide services in a wider range regular health camps organised by the Company in the community includes -
Mobile Clinics – These provide primary attention through a team of doctors, paramedics and lab technicians. The services include general health check-ups, antenatal & postnatal check-ups and regular immunisation. The facilities and medicines are provided free of cost. Safe Drinking Water - Safe drinking water is a health priority for the community. To that end, tube wells are being constructed by the Company with voluntary labour support from the people. The CSR team makes dedicated efforts to orient the community about how to use the water judiciously. School Healthcare Programmes - In the Kalinganagar area TSRDS has taken up five tribal residential schools under the school healthcare programme with the objective of taking care of children through regular health check-ups and free medicines distribution. Some of the schools coming under this initiative include Bandhagaon Residential School, Tamka High School, Tamka Residential School, Phuljhar Residential School and Rampilo Kanya Ashram.
Tata Steel has so far built or facilitated the building of more than 200 schools in Odisha. In order to encourage world-class education among tribal children belonging to Tata Steel Parivar (the relocated families of Tata Steel's upcoming steel project at Kalinganagar) and the peripheral regions around the Industrial Complex, the Company has signed a MoU with the Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). At present about 251 children from the rehabilitated families of Kalinganagar are studying in various residential schools in the state and also in KISS. TSRDS helped in repairing the school buildings of Kapileswar High School, Hingula High School and Satyanarayan Memorial High School owing to which the numbers of students have been growing. TSRDS also conducts debates, essay writing contests and quiz competitions regularly to sensitise students about health concerns like malaria, AIDS, cholera, tuberculosis etc. Tata Steel's initiatives in terms of imparting employment among the Kalinganagar tribals cannot be ignored. The Company has provided training in skills development to more than 400 people at Kalinganagar. Further, Tata Steel has engaged CAPS Foundation for imparting employability training and entrepreneurship development skills in Jajpur and Keonjhar districts of Odisha with placement facilities in various service related ancillaries of the main industrial set-up in the locality. The programme includes courses on customer relationship management, computer education, welding technology and various practical skills training in electrical and mechanical streams. These courses have facilitated the tribal youths in the interiors of Jajpur and Keonjhar to be equipped for mainstream employment and majority of them have found suitable placement. More than 2000 students have been benefitted from this in last couple of years. Tata Steel Parivar Scholarships Fifteen tribal students from Tata Steel Parivar families have been awarded Tata Steel Parivar Scholarships for the year 2010-2011. The scholarships are awarded so that they can pursue their education in various technical institutions. The total number of tribal students who have been benefited from the Tata Steel Parivar Scholarship programme has now gone up to 54. Highlights of Tata Steel Scholarship Programme
To ensure comprehensive progress of the State in all spheres, it is essential that development should reach the villages of Odisha. With this realisation, Tata Steel has taken a leading effort to develop the peripheral villages in its areas of projects and operations. Apart from going ahead with its model rehabilitation activities, Tata Steel is facilitating socio-economic empowerment for Tata Steel Parivar members and for the people living in the region adjoining the rehabilitation colonies and transit camps. Creating Employment Opportunities - Tata steel ensures that opportunities for livelihood are facilitated for the project affected people in a sustainable way so that the community can make the optimum utilisation of available resources to meet their present need and keep it ready for the future generation as well. The Company has helped tribal men and women to form ‘Self Help Groups’ and trained them in various kinds of income generation programmes like -
Tata Steel has also helped build market linkages of their products in nearby markets ensuring them a good return for their investments and effort. The SHGs are provided financial assistance in the beginning to start any income generation activity. Empowering Women – As a founder member of UN Global Compact, Tata Steel is committed towards the Millennium Development Goals of UN, which lays stress upon promoting gender equality and empowering women. The ‘Tejaswini Programme’ is one of Tata Steel’s initiatives to empower women by creating for them role models who will define the way forward in society as well as in industry. This year women, including the members of Panchayati Raj Institutions of Kalinganagar in Jajpur district, were given training in Gandhi Labour Foundation (Puri) on topics such as empowerment, sustainable development and their rights and duties as citizens. In order to identify the ‘Tejaswinis’ of Kalinganagar, a five-month long competition has been initiated amongst the community of women, through self-help groups, to asses their creative and leadership qualities. It is estimated that around 1,000 tribal and non-tribal women precipitated in this assessment process from 50 peripheral villages of Kalinganagar, through 65 women SHGs. Preservation of Ethnic Identity - The majority of the people affected its greenfield project in Kalinganagar being tribal, Tata Steel takes proactive efforts to support and preserve their indigenous cultures and practices. Every year Tata Steel celebrates the Odia New Year’s Day and Maha Bishubha Milan at Joda in Keonjhar district and Duburi in Jajpur on April 14, where thousands of villagers from peripheral villages participate. The Company also encourages observation of tribal festivals to sustain their ethnicity. The 2010 celebrations in Duburi were marked by the finals of Pragati inter-village football tournament and Tejaswini SHG competition for the ladies. Around 65 villages of Jajpur district participated in the inter-village Pragati football tournament that was initiated six months back. Similarly more than 1000 ladies participated in the five-month long Tejaswini inter-SHG competition which culminated on this day.
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