The Tatas are poised to announce a gift to the nation — either a state-of-the art paediatric hospital in Mumbai or an adult education institute in New Delhi. The final decision on this has  yet to be taken but the hospital could cost Rs 100 crore to Rs 120 crore; the cost of the adult education institute to spread adult literacy in India could run into “hundreds of crore rupees,” a senior Tata group source told Business Standard.

The gift to the nation will commemorate the 100th death anniversary of group founder Jamsetji Tata and the 100th birth anniversary of J R D Tata and Naval Tata, which fall in July and August.

JJ Irani, Tata group director, said that the group had looked at 15 ideas and that the choice had narrowed down to two. He declined to specify the two. “Two independent bodies of eminent people are working on this. They have been assured of adequate funds,” Irani added.

But another senior Tata group source confirmed that the paediatric hospital and the adult literacy institute were in the running. “Mumbai does not have a state-of-the-art paediatric hospital in the private sector,” the source pointed out.

A Tata trust will manage the project, whether it is the hospital or the adult literacy institute and this will be run on the lines of the Tata-promoted Indian Institute of Science (IIS) in Bangalore. The coming announcement on the gift to the nation will be part of a series of Tata group initiatives that are in the offing.

On July 23, President A P J Abdul Kalam will deliver the JN Tata Memorial Lecture at the IIS, Bangalore. 

The president will also open a special exhibition that is to be taken around 8 major towns. Also in the offing are a press and TV campaign around the third week of July highlighting Tata values, quiz contests, a series of short TV films by Population First, the Mumbai-based NGO, a comic book  on JRD Tata (Irani, however, prefers to describe it as an illustrated children's book) which will  be published by Amar Chitra Katha, special Titan watches for Tata companies and employees and a  45-minute Zafar Hai film on J N Tata, J R D Tata and Naval Tata.