Community
Every major business has an impact on the communities and societies in which it operates. In all its operations throughout the world, Tata Steel contributes to local and regional economic and social development in myriad ways.
Health – Tata Steel has introduced numerous community health programmes in India addressing such important issues as mother and child health, adolescent reproductive and sexual health and HIV/AIDS. The Lifeline Express, the world’s first hospital on rails, offers on-the-spot diagnostic, medical and advanced surgical treatment for preventive and curative interventions across rural India.
Water and sanitation – In remote Indian villages where safe drinking water is scarce, Tata Steel provides potable water to communities through tankers or piped water distribution systems and hand pumps. The Company has also constructed or reinstated wells that have so far made over 50,000 people self-sufficient in water, and the Tata Steel Rural Development Society has set a goal of providing every single household within the Company’s operating areas with a secure supply of safe water.
Human capital – Tata Steel helps to create sustainable livelihoods for people in all its communities around the world. UK Steel Enterprise, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, was established to improve the economies of areas most affected by plant closures within the UK steel industry. It has helped to establish many new and successful businesses, providing practical advice and information as well as loans and investment funds. NatSteel’s programme, ‘Building Beyond Borders’ empowers the disadvantaged youth and children.
Education – Support for education is an area of special emphasis for all Tata companies, and Tata Steel provides a wide range of scholarships and programmes in all our main operating locations to encourage quality education, to enable the least privileged people to achieve functional literacy, and to support deserving students financially.
Agriculture – The Tata Steel Rural Development Society is undertaking several projects in India to improve agricultural productivity and so raise the living standards of poor farmers and their families. These initiatives are making a real difference: improved crop yields have led to a dramatic increase in household income, every household now has year-round food security, almost all the children in these households now go to school, and health has improved measurably among both young and old.
Sports – Tata Steel has always recognised the value of sport in contributing to both physical and mental well-being, and sponsors many sporting events and activities.
In the UK, for example, the Company sponsors the British Triathlon Foundation, and its ‘Kids of Steel’ programme encourages the development of triathletes from an early age.
In the Netherlands, Tata Steel sponsors the Telstar Football Club, near the IJmuiden Works, helping to improve facilities at the Club’s stadium in Velsen.
In India, the Tata Football Academy develops and trains young footballers in a scientific way, and has an outstanding record of producing players for the national team.
Disaster relief - The Tata Relief Committee (TRC) is a voluntary organisation to serve society’s poorest, whose lives have been affected by natural calamities. Tata Steel and TRC aided the people in the state of West Bengal in the wake of cyclone “Aila” and also at Leh soon after a cloud burst, which destroyed villages, leaving hundreds of people homeless. NatSteel was also active in the support of people affected by the floods in Vietnam’s Quang Binh province.