A d d i n g s h e e n t o
t h e i r m e t t l e
Over three months, the female workers
were trained to operate heavy mobile equipment and taught the finer aspects of the
equipment to be manned by them. To make them self-confident at the workplace, they were
introduced to broader workplace issues such as Safety, Quality, sexual harassment, the
steel manufacturing process, fire fighting, team building, positive thinking and
interpersonal skills.
The programme created an unprecedented level of enthusiasm among female workers at the
grass roots level, especially the semi-literate and literate, once the first batch of
“Tejaswinis” arrived at the shopfloor. They saw in the programme an opportunity
to join the mainstream at Tata Steel. “Earlier we would see a new male worker join
the workforce and before our own eyes rapidly grow in responsibility and position. We
would feel defeated, as we had nowhere to go ahead. Now all that has changed,” says
P. Gyaneswari of the first batch.
Two trained and experienced instructors, Mr. Ran Vijay Singh and Mr. Sushil Kumar, were in
charge of training the first batch. The extremely successful, accident free completion of
the training gave the entire batch the confidence of rejoining the Tata Steel workforce in
an entirely new role. |
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Jaswant Kaur
Department : Raw Materials Handling In-bound
Educational Qualification : Class VIII
Earlier job : Tea lady
Current Assignment : Loco Driver
National Award : Shram Virangana
“My life today is hard. I get up 3
a.m. to organise my home and children before getting to work at 6 a.m. everyday. I take
care of everything singlehandedly at home and then work at Tata Steel as a Junior
In-Charge. This programme has brought the national level “Shram Virangana” Award
to me. I now want a global outlook so that I can contribute to my Company”.
P Gyaneswari
Department : Equipment Maintenance Services
Educational Qualification : Matriculation
Earlier job : Sweeping/Cleaning
Current Assignment : Ambulance Driver
“We were sent by Tata Steel on exposure trips to companies across
India. At one organisation, an officer told us he and his colleagues could not see Kalpana
Chawla in person but in us they had seen the real Kalpana Chawlas of India. The sense of
pride we felt is difficult to imagine. Had it not been for this programme I would have
retired a reja!
We have been featured on Zee TV, Sahara TV, national dailies, and in Company films and
exhibitions. These are honours we could have never dreamt of earlier.” |
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