Towards improving the quality of life of the people
The Hindu Business Line — August 29, 2007

"In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business, but is in fact, the very purpose of our existence."

"There is one kind of charity common enough among us, and which is certainly a good thing, though I do not think it is the best thing we have. It is patchwork philanthropy… What advances a nation or community is not so much to prop up its weakest and most helpless members as to lift up the best and most gifted so as to make them of greatest service to the country. I prefer this constructive philosophy". Those were the words of the Founder of Tata Steel, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, a visionary and a man ahead of its times.

In subsequent years, the vision of the Founder evolved into a tradition and has become part of the DNA of the Tata Group and its culture.

JRD Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group from 1938 to 1993, had said: "Let industry established in the countryside adopt the villages in the neighbourhood… it is also clearly in the interests of industry that surrounding areas should be healthy, prosperous and peaceful."

Over the years, that tradition has been translated into policy. "I do believe that we, in the Tata Group, have held a view and sense of purpose that our companies are not in existence just to run our business and to make profit but that we are responsible and good corporate citizens over and above normal operations", says Mr Ratan Tata, incumbent Chairman of the Tata Group. The above statements are just not pious platitudes expressed by subsequent chairmen of the Tata Group. The House of Tatas has, in fact, ensured that no stone is left unturned in its endeavour to meet the expectations of the community and the environment within which it exists. And forefront in this regard is Tata Steel, a company that has incorporated its responsibility and mandate in this regard in its articles of association.

Articles of association
"The company shall have among its objectives the promotion and growth of the national economy through increased productivity, effective utilisation of materials and manpower resources and continued applications of modern scientific and managerial techniques in keeping with the national aspirations, and the company shall be mindful of its social and moral responsibilities to the consumers, employees, shareholders and the local community", is what was included by Tata Steel in its Articles of Association in 1970.

CSR policy
Unveiling Tata Steel's corporate social responsibility policy on February 1, 2003, its managing director, B Muthuraman, had said: "Tata Steel believes that the primary purpose of a business is to improve the quality of life of people. Tata Steel will volunteer its resources, to the extent it can reasonably afford, to sustain and improve the quality of life of the people of the areas in which it operates".

Tata Steel's commitment to its corporate social responsibility (CSR) also finds reflection in its adoption of the Corporate Citizenship Index, Tata Business Excellence Model and the Tata Index for Sustainable Development. Tata Steel spends 5-7 per cent of its profit after tax on several CSR initiatives. Broadly speaking, the company's CSR initiatives are spread across three core areas — employee welfare, the environment and the welfare of the community at large. Under this broad spectrum, diverse areas are covered. These include environment management, economic development, employee relations, civic amenities and community services, healthcare, sports and adventure, relief during natural calamities, education, arts and culture and social welfare.

Welfare organisations
And to achieve its desired objectives in this regard, Tata Steel supports various social welfare organisations. They include the Tata Steel Rural Development Society, Tribal Cultural Society, Tata Steel Foundation for Family Initiatives, National Association for the Blind, Shishu Niketan, School of Hope, Centre for Hearing Impaired Children and the Indian Red Cross Society, East Singhbhum.

Tata Steel has hosted 12 Lifeline Expresses in association with the ministry of railways, Impact India Foundation and the government of Jharkhand. It has served over 50,000 people. Five thousand people have availed of surgical facilities and over 1,000 people received aids and appliances. In all, over seven lakh rural and another seven lakh urban population have been benefited by the CSR activities of Tata Steel.

CSR initiatives on the rural front include training in agriculture that is provided to villagers in the Saraikela Kharsawa area through the village development committees. In collaboration with the ministry of non-conventional energy and the Confederation of Indian Industry, focus is laid on renewable energy for rural livelihoods. Integrated wasteland development programmes have been taken up as also watershed development programmes for rain-fed areas. The National Horticulture Mission programme that has been taken up in collaboration with the government of Jharkhand has already benefited more than a thousand households. Over 500 self-help groups are currently operating under various poverty alleviation programmes. Of this, over 200 are engaged in activities of income generation thorough micro enterprises.

SHGS
Women's empowerment programmes through self-help groups have been extended to 700 villages. Between 2003 and 2006, the maternal and infant survival project had a coverage area of 42 villages in Gamharia block in Seraikela Kharsawa even as a replication project was taken up in Rajnagar block. To provide portable water to rural communities, 2,600 tubewells have been installed for the benefit of over four lakh people.

Healthcare projects
Other CSR activities of Tata Steel include facilitation of child education, immunisation and childcare, plantation activities, creation of awareness of AIDS, healthcare projects and promotion of sporting activities such as football and archery. In its 100th year, the Tata Steel Centenary Project has just been announced. A programme aimed at economic empowerment through improvised agriculture will be taken up in three backward tribal blocks in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. A corpus of Rs100 crore has been earmarked for the purpose and the programme is expected to benefit 40,000 tribals living in over 400 villages in these three states.

Family initiatives
Says Shakti Sharma, Tata Steel's chief of social services and family initiatives: "Business sustainability will depend upon social sanctions rather than anything else." As such, the focus in Tata Steel is on inclusive growth and affirmative action. The idea is also to facilitate empowerment through "capacity building of communities for self-reliance". Under the Tata Steel Rural Development Society, there are 30 live projects currently, Sharma informed. These include the Integrated Wasteland Development Programme, the National Horticulture Mission and Rishta, the adolescent reproductive healthcare programme.

Low key
For Tata Steel, discharging its CSR mandate is something that is generally kept low key. And that is how the company's visionary founder wanted it to be, when he said: "We do not claim to be more unselfish, more generous and more philanthropic than other people. But we think we started on sound and straightforward business principles, considering the interests of the shareholder, our own, and the health and welfare of the employees, the sure foundation of our prosperity."