Tata Motors, India’s leading automobile company, released its 9th Annual CSR Report, highlighting its extensive efforts towards addressing some of India’s most critical and social challenges across the domains of Health (Aarogya), Education (Vidyadhanam), Employability (Kaushalya) and Environment (Vasundhara). Collectively, these efforts have benefitted more than 60 lakh lives over the past 10 years, with a significant percentage of beneficiaries belonging to the marginalised communities.
In 2014, Tata Motors designed and adopted a comprehensive 4-pillar approach to harmonise its CSR initiatives across the country. Capabilities, experience and expertise acquired by individual units and teams in each identified fields led to the creation and execution of focused interventions with clearly defined outcomes and remarkable results. By harmonising programmes across locations, leveraging digital technologies, fostering partnerships with diverse stakeholders, and strengthening trust with the communities, the company effectively surpassed its projected impact.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vinod Kulkarni, Head of CSR at Tata Motors, said, “At Tata Motors, our CSR efforts are deeply rooted in our unwavering commitment to promote inclusive growth, thus contributing to nation-building. We are humbled to have positively impacted millions of lives through our efforts. In fact, several of our CSR ideas and programmes have grown to become marquee projects, worthy of being emulated as models for community development. Using the novel approach of ‘More for Less for More’, we have narrowed the gap between our aspirations and the available resources, achieving pan-India scale for numerous projects. Our commitment to advancing our CSR agenda remains steadfast, as we strive to create a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable India. By meticulous planning and effectively utilising our financial and human resources, we aspire to make a progressively greater impact with each passing year.”
Here’s a quick glance into the company’s select marquee projects in the areas of Health, Education, Employability, and Environment, that have made a significant impact in terms of convergence, scale and reach, over the last ten years.
Addressing Malnutrition Through Community-based Interventions
Tata Motors has made significant strides in addressing the issue of malnutrition among children. By shifting its focus from institutional-based clinical approaches to community-based health interventions, the company has been able to create a sustainable impact. Despite having high levels of severely acute malnourished and moderately acute malnourished children in some of the targeted states, the company has successfully moved more than 91% of malnourished children to healthy zones in the past decade.
Empowering Leprosy Patients with Early Detection and Care
Tata Motors has been actively involved in raising awareness about leprosy and providing early detection and care to affected individuals. Through annual door-to-door awareness campaigns in hard-to-reach villages, the company has screened thousands of households, identified and treated over 4,000 leprosy patients. The company’s community-based Leprosy programme in Jharkhand, a state with a high incidence of the disease, is the first of its kind initiative in the country to eradicate the disease.
Bridging the Educational Gap through Digital Empowerment
Tata Motors’ flagship remote learning programme, ENABLE, has helped talented students from over 550 Jawahar Navodya Vidyalayas access resources and guidance for admission to the top engineering and medical institutions. Over the past decade, this programme has benefitted over 20,000 aspirants from underprivileged backgrounds, many of whom have secured admissions in prestigious institutions such as in IITs, AIIMS and government-run engineering and medical colleges. Additionally, support classes are being conducted for students in grades IX and X in state-run government schools, utilising both digital and in-person modes. This approach has proven to be effective in improving the pass rates and academic performance. Notably, this model has been successfully implemented in about 200 schools under the Thane and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Maharashtra.
Skilling Unemployed Youth for a Brighter Future
The LEAP programme, part of the Kaushalya initiative by Tata Motors, focuses on skilling unemployed youth, especially in Automotive courses and facilitating their entry into the workforce. This programme has also enabled young women to overcome stereotype barriers and attain financial independence. Over the past decade, this skilling initiative has grown from 2 to 60 institutes. About 85% of the trainees have secured placement with an average salary ranging between Rs. 15000 to 18000, thereby creating a positive impact on their lives and the economy.
Restoring and Expanding Rural and Urban Forest Cover
With the objective of creating sustainable livelihoods for the farmers through Agro-Forestry plantation and transforming unused land into cultivable areas by prioritising government convergence, the company has successfully planted nearly one million trees, ensuring the survival of over 90% of them. In FY24, an additional one million trees are planned to be planted.
In collaboration with the Forest Department (GOI) and TERRE Policy Center, a significant expanse of 16.5 hectares of forest land in Warje (urban Pune) has been reforested. This initiative has led to the creation of micro-habitats that support a diverse range of flora and fauna. Over the past decade, the project has expanded to cover an area of 200 hectares, contributing to the restoration of urban forest cover and the preservation of biodiversity.
Water Security
This year, the company announced an ambitious project of creating 100 Amrit Sarovars with a capacity of storing one crore litres of water each, leading to enhanced water availability in 75 sites in Palghar district and 25 sites in Pune & Satara district.