Many years ago, when Vasant Sathe was the union minister in charge of steel, I remember him thundering at a seminar on how he had visited the Posco Steel factory in South Korea and how impressed he was by the fact that Posco was the world’s cheapest manufacturer of steel. "Why can’t Indian steel manufacturers be the cheapest," he wondered aloud in a sarcasm-laden voice. The jibe was clearly meant for Tata Steel. Well, I’m happy and proud, as an Indian, to record the fact that Tata Steel is indeed the world’s cheapest steel manufacturer today.

At every single stage of the process - coke, sinter, hot metal, liquid steel and slab caster - Tata Steel’s manufacturing cost is lower than that of the world’s top steel companies. The latter list includes not only Posco of South Korea but also CSN of Brazil, BAO of China and NUCOR of USA.

I don’t want to reveal the detailed cost break-up owing to commercial considerations, but if you take Tata Steel’s cost for making hot rolled coils at 100, the others’ scores for making this (albeit not necessarily identical) product are: CSN - 126, Posco - 139, BAO - 143 and NUCOR - 158. These figures speak for themselves: Tata Steel wins the cost competition hands down!

It is indeed a stupendous achievement. It is true that the whole thing is a group effort, so let’s collectively give three cheers to the Tata Steel team and to Mr Ratan Tata, its captain.

Dilip Thakore’s new intitiative
I quite agree with Dilip Thakore, founder-editor of EducationWorld - the one and only national magazine devoted to the cause of education - that education, sadly, is one of contemporary India’s most neglected sectors. If 10 per cent of the HRD minister’s energy, currently being misspent on the issue of MBA fees, was spent on addressing pressing child education issues, that would be a giant leap for India. For over four years now, Dilip has kept EducationWorld going with a crusader’s zeal and optimism, I might add. And now, in a move that deserves plaudits, he has taken the initiative to launch a national-level award for teachers. With the philanthropically minded Tata Consultancy Services having volunteered its support, it is being called the TCS-EducationWorld National Teacher Awards. The scheme will be announced soon and each region will take in applications, run transparent and demanding evaluation processes and declare a winner and a runner-up. With eight awards being offered, the scheme is pan-Indian by definition. Dilip has several innovative ideas in mind. Corporate chieftains interested in supporting the cause of education in India are welcome to contact him in Bangalore.

Madhu Neotia’s serious philanthropy
Philanthropy, I’ve noted in my column before, is serious business. A lot of hard work is required to do good work! The other day, I was delighted to get an attractively produced newsletter from the Bhagirathi Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre, Kolkata, which is just over a year-old. The two focused attributes of this communication exercise between the medical facility and its wider constituency, so to speak, are its attitude, or, in director Madhu Neotia’s words, its "essential belief" of caring for the customer and of creating a platform for its staff to be recognised. Two initiatives are worth mentioning here. One is the Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth (HRIDAY) programme started with the intention of imparting health education to school-going children and the other is the Bhagirathi Neotia Lecture Series where specialists are invited regularly to conduct specific health awareness sessions for the woman and her family. Clearly, Madhu Neotia takes her philanthropy very seriously indeed. The result is that the Bhagirathi Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre at Kolkata is a truly world class institution.