Jamshedpur was built on the ideology that it would comprise not merely the Steel Works but embody a step towards building a new Nation. Within years the area leased to the Company was transformed into a well-planned township, largely due to the vision of the Founder Jamsetji Tata, whose name it bears today.

In the early days, the population of the steel city of Jamshedpur, home to Tata Steel, comprised a very large proportion of employees. Over time, however, the population has come to be dominated by non-employees. The transformation from 18 widely scattered villages, with a direct or indirect association with the steel plant, to a bustling and vibrant urban township saw the emergence of several rural islands. These were unplanned settlements, with a high density of population, acquired by non-employees from the indigenous people of the area.

The Company’s commitment to society saw it take the initiative to assist in eliminating the imbalance in civic amenities between Company leased areas and other non lease areas. It, therefore, encouraged the people to partner it in the formation of a Committee and work with it for the progress of their areas. It has extended amenities such as electricity, water, roads, sanitation, handpumps and borewells to these areas.

The responsibility for providing civic amenities to a city spread over an area of 64 sq kms, has been taken by Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company Limited (JUSCO), formerly Tata Steel’s Town Division.

In addition to improving the quality of life through civic services, the Company provides playgrounds, clubhouses and community halls, libraries, classrooms and water harvesting structures.

Planned Social Change Through Civic Growth

The desire of Independent India’s first generation of skilled workers, technologists and scientists was to work with the one Company which till then was virtually the only representative of heavy industry in the country. Along with them also came many thousands of rural folk who saw in its hearth the hope of a new home. When Max Weber, the German Sociologist was advocating the transformation of traditional society into a modern one through industrialisation, Tata Steel had already transformed the jungles of a few remote villages into the thriving steel city of Jamshedpur, where the community lived in idyllic conditions.

Tata Steel sought to involve this growing body of people in helping themselves improve their economic and social conditions. The Company began implementing urban community development schemes, which embraced employees and non-employees. It brought about planned social change, with a view to making the community at large a beneficiary of its enterprise. Tata Steel conducted its first socio-economic survey in 1958, on the basis of which a Social Welfare Department was established.

Today, a Company with about 40,000 employees provides civic amenities and community services to a population of over 7,00,000. Tata Steel’s wholly owned subsidiary, Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company Limited (JUSCO), is the only ISO 14001 certified service-provider in the country.

Tata Steel has:

• Created 524 kilometres of roads

• Supplied 57.6 million m cube/ annum of clean water

• Provided comprehensive public health services and emergency fire services

• Built markets, libraries and centres of education and higher learning

• Set up the 225 acre Jubilee Park with a Zoological Society; parks and gardens dot the city

A catalyst for growth

Tata Steel is constantly augmenting town infrastructure to stimulate economic growth. Jamshedpur is a hub of industrial activity in eastern India, with a large number of medium and small industries located within Jamshedpur as well as in very close proximity to it.

Tata Steel and network of associate and subsidiary companies provide business opportunities to a large number of ancillary units and self employed entrepreneurs.

Urban Engagements

REACHING OUT FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW

The training and technical skills imparted by Tata Steel has created an enormous resource pool of skilled personnel, which these industries tap for further growth.

A world-class Company, Tata Steel constantly encourages the industries around it to draw from its knowledge, know-how and management learnings to facilitate their own advancement. The Company has brought together 17 professional organisations, housed them at a facility provided by it, to create the Society for the Promotion of Professional Excellence (SPPE). In addition, it is a most generous supporter of local chapters of a large number of professional organisations, with interests ranging from Cost Accountancy and Chartered Accountancy, Management, Ceramics, Materials Management, Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy as well as other disciplines.

Rural Livelihood

Strong industrial progress augurs well for the urban community, but in a country with 70% of its people dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, progress can truly be achieved if tangible benefits reach the rural community.

Tata Steel, therefore, devised the unique concept of taking its resources and management tools to the grass roots while consciously aligning itself with the poorest of the poor in this country. It works in conjunction with the governments, district administrations and international organisations to create a strong and resilient rural economy.

Twenty-five years ago with the creation of the Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS), it leveraged its abilities for the growth and development of the Nation. The income generation schemes promoted by it has allowed villagers in over 700 villages to enjoy the fruits of their labour, without having to tear themselves away from the land that provides them with their very identity.

A mother NGO in rural areas

Tata Steel has since its inception authored a vital social role for itself. The Company, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, initially undertook social welfare functions through its Rural and Community Services Division. However, the complexities involved, as well as the fundamental differences between rural and urban drivers for development prompted Tata Steel to separate them into individual units - Community Development and Social Welfare (CD & SW) and Social Services & Family Initiatives (SS&FI) for rural & tribal areas and family initiative.

Years of involvement, first directly and then through the Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS), for the uplift of the rural community has enabled it to give food security, water and empowerment to idle hands, barren lands and empty stomachs. In the process, it has become one of the largest non-governmental agencies to be engaged in rural development in the country.

TSRDS has, from the very onset sought to build capacity within the community. The role that TSRDS has carved for itself is that of a pathfinder. It has provided the impetus for growth to villagers by supplementing their income and giving them direction. Over two and a half decades, it has brought thousands of acres under multi-cropping, created and sustained water resources and implemented scores of projects.

The roadmap for development created by TSRDS has been embraced with gusto by the villagers. Once satisfied with food that would feed their families for only half the year, they have journeyed to become self sufficient and confident enough to operate bank accounts, explore urban markets and seek access to development.

India’s foremost in Corporate Social Responsibility

Established:

Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS)
Community Development & Social Welfare Department (CD&SW)
Tribal Cultural Society (TCS)
Tata Steel Family Initiatives Foundation (TSFIF)

Supported and nurtured leadership among self help groups and village advocacy groups

Encouraged multi cropping and irrigation across thousands of acres in over 700 villages

Earmarked dedicated resources for social welfare, rural and tribal development and programmes for community empowerment