Water’ being one of the focus area for Tata group, we started with a small water conservation project in 2017 in aspirational district of Osmanabad, he said.
Integrated Rural Development Project is currently in its third year and aims to fulfill underprivileged populations in the Osmanabad district in Maharashtra. The program focuses on a multi-development model covering- the promotion of technical education in schools, increasing awareness about health and conducting multiple health camps, and training the farmers. Tata Technologies has been instrumental in bringing relief to Osmanabad in Maharashtra where they adopted 9 villages and implemented key programs like Shikshan Ranajn Kendras in schools, water and soil conservation, and horticulture programs that covered a population of over 10,000. In an interview with India CSR, Ajit Habbu, Corporate Sustainability Manager at Tata Technologies, spoke on key CSR activities by the company.
The responses to be attributed to Ajit Habbu, Corporate Sustainability Manager, Tata Technologies.
Why is Tata Technologies emphasising more on skill development and what are the training initiatives taken so far?
As part of our CSR policy and initiatives, one of the key focus area is to enhance employability of graduate Engineers, and to do so, we undertake series of skill development trainings under our flagship program called ‘Ready Engineer’. Being one of the leading service provider in automobile engineering-design space, our subject matter experts have developed multiple courses on the design domain by putting their live experience and expertise directly from design studios to college classrooms. Apart from technical courses, we also provide soft skills trainings and employability assessment tests which helps students during their interviews. We offer these courses to third year and final year engineering students. Additionally, we undertake series of initiatives for supporting innovative projects of students such as Idea Innovation Accelerator Program, MSME Innovation program etc.
How Tata Technologies is addressing major skill gap which is the need of the hour as not everyone will be able to afford the skill development courses?
One of the major aspect of skill development courses of Tata Technologies is that these are developed by highly skilled and highly motivated employees of Tata Technologies as part of their volunteering efforts, in a sense to give it back to the society. So we leverage the organisational strengths in our CSR programs and this helps a lot in keeping the cost low. Further, we have also developed collaborations with like-minded organisations such as industrial associations, incubators etc. who in turn support in our CSR programs. We also leverage our own training LMS platform iGET-IT for hosting and delivering the training courses to the students.
Tell us about rural development project initiative?
We implemented a comprehensive and integrated rural development program last year under our CSR initiative. ‘Water’ being one of the focus area for Tata group, we started with a small water conservation project in 2017 in aspirational district of Osmanabad. Over 4 years, this project further was transformed into a rural development project with five major focus areas – education, water infrastructure, agriculture, livelihood trainings and health. We adopted 9 villages from Osmanabad district wherein we implemented this project. The results of the project were amazing and proved the dire need of such projects. The project covered over 10,000 population. Some of the key initiatives were setting up of Shikshan Ranjan Kendras in Schools, developing check dams, CCTs, deep CCTs for water and soil conservation, agriculture related trainings and awareness programs, horticulture and vegetation plantations, livelihood supports for landless families, Covid relief support activities and other health initiatives were undertaken.
Do you think CSR activities by Corporates help in balancing the industry ecosystem?
Yes. Though CSR is an obligation in India as per law, Corporates see it more than just an obligation to spend and in fact connect it with its longterm Sustainability goals, which in turn helps to develop a balanced ecosystem. Apart from mere funding, Companies also needs to leverage its core strengths and expertise into designing, creating and implementing their CSR programs. Tata Technologies programs – ‘Ready Engineer’ and ‘4-Pillar STEM Education Program’ are such self-developed programs to state an example and showcase how employees of the companies can create and implement comprehensive CSR programs. Both the programs helps promote innovation both at colleges and School levels with an objective to provide well-equipped trained and ready resources for the industry today and in future.
What is the plan of action of Tata Technologies for achieving net zero emission?
Enriching environment through green workplaces has been a practice at Tata Technologies. All our major workplace infrastructures are certified green buildings which follows – waste and water recycle, energy and water conservation through innovative operating practices thus reducing the carbon footprint and emissions of the organisation. Further we undertake multiple tree plantation and environment awareness drives by our employee volunteers throughout the year.
(Copy Right @ India CSR)
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