“We cannot change what is, but can
change what can be” |
corporate
social responsibility |
Adolescent Reproductive Health
Programmes draw their vision from the premise that, “we cannot change what is, but
can change what can be.” On July 29, 2005, the Social Services and Family Initiatives
Department of the Company commemorated the 101st birth anniversary of JRD Tata by
conducting a panel discussion on “Adolescent Reproductive Health : A Future
Perspective”. “For JRD Tata”, Mr A N Singh, Deputy Managing Director,
Corporate Services, Tata Steel said in his inaugural address, “there can be no other
befitting homage than to continue from where he left off in an area so close to his
heart.”
In the last several years the focus of
the family initiatives effort undertaken by Tata Steel have grown to include adolescents
or those between 10-19 years of age. It is during these years that the most amount of
opportunity exists to influence behaviour, while the level of risk is also the highest.
The discussion was chaired by Mrs Shakti
Sharma, Head, SS&FI, who invited the speakers to drawn from their experience and
expertise on how to manage the complexities of adolescent reproductive health. The panel
of speakers included Mr A R Nanda, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India, Mrs
Vijayam Kartha, President, Kerala Samajam Public School, Mrs Ratna Choudhry, Eastern India
Trainer, Lions Quest Skills for Adolescent Programme and Mrs. Dilith Castleton of Tata
Steel Family Initiatives Foundation. All members of the panel - made several interesting
observations about the challenges of working with adolescents.
“Catch
them Young” for a prosperous and healthy India |
The greatest challenge
before India is to convert its adolescent population into an asset. The mechanism, many
believe is to educate and empower them as well as ensure better health for them. JRD Tata
was among the first to do so.
Having served for several decades as an
IAS officer, in charge of districts and then departments in the Government of India,
including the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Mr. Nanda had on several occasions
interacted with JRD Tata.
“JRD Tata had the vision of
appreciating that Family Planning or contraception by themselves are not going to hasten
the process of reducing the population growth rate or fertility rate. He believed that we
need to create an environment where people who are poor could themselves be convinced of
the advantages of a small family,” Mr. Nanda explained while providing a sense of JRD
Tata’s thoughts. The Family Planning Foundation, which is now called the Population
Foundation of India, was thus set up by him in 1970. “I came to realise that
education for women is very important for reducing the fertility rate,” JRD Tata had
said during his lectures on the subject. |
A
rights-based and gender-sensitive approach to Family Planning was always insisted upon by
JRD Tata. In Jharkhand, adolescent girls are married off without their consent ever before
their legal age to do so; less than a fourth receive antenatal checkups; only a third
receive iron-folic acid supplements and half are covered by Tetanus Toxide injection. An
alarming number of deliveries - three of every four - take place in unsafe conditions,
with nearly nine out of ten taking place at home.
Mr. Tata’s keen interest in the
issue prompted all Tata companies to work in the area of Family Planning. The
Foundation’s programmes, especially for adolescent reproductive health are currently
being implemented by Tata Steel Rural Development Society in Jharkhand, among others and
Tata Motors in Uttar Pradesh.
Even in Jamshedpur, a city which leads
the country in demographic indices, the challenge is far from over, according to Mr.
Nanda.
The most compeeting challenge faced by
Jamshedpur is the constant migration of people from rural areas to the city. “People
tend to forget about migration while considering family planning but it is very
important,” Mr. Nanda warned. “Secondly, with adolescents comprising a large
segment of the population, their health concerns are important. The city also needs to
create a perspective plan for the city, with population growth integrated within it,”
Mr. Nanda advised.
| The challenges
before India are much the same as JRD Tata had delineated them to be over a decade ago. They are :
- to manage the population into an asset
- to provide reproductive health services and prevent girls
from dropping out till ready for marriage
- to motivate society not to opt for sex selection and to
value a girl as much as a boy
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| Adolesent
Reproductive Health initiatives undertaken by Social Sevices & Family Initiatives |
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| Tata Steel Rural
Development Society |
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- School Awareness Programmes
| Tata Steel Family
Initiatives Foundation |
- Programme for school students
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