Jamshedpur, the city that has the proud privilege of bearing the name of the Founder of the Tata Group, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, never fails to flaunt this association every year when it is time to celebrate his birth anniversary on March 3. Such is the intensity of emotion and feeling with which the city and particularly Tata Steel remember the Founder that even the Chairman of the Tata Group, Mr Ratan Tata never gives its celebrations a miss. This year he flew in from overseas to be with the Jamshedpurians to celebrate the 166th birth anniversary of the Founder.

The Chairman pays homage to the Founder

All divisions, departments as well as associate companies used the opportunity to share their latest achievements and at the same time pay homage to the Founder. The main celebrations were held at Steel Works and at the Post Office Park, enabling a large number of the city’s denizens to participate in the show and pageantry.

The Chairman arrived on March 3 to join the celebration. He immediately drove to the Tata Motors to pay homage to the Founder there. Thereafter, he proceeded to the Steel Works to pay homage to the Founder at the statue of the great visionary at the Works Main and met officers, employees, their families and invitees. Along with the Chairman, Dr Jamshed J Irani, Mr Ishaat Hussain and Mr R K Krishna Kumar, all Directors of Tata Sons and Mr P K Kaul, Director, Tata Steel were present to pay homage to the Founder.

Through creatively designed floats and slogans each of the contingents, which participated in the march past at the Works highlighted developments such as the contribution of Blast furnance A-F to the extra production during the “G” Blast Furnace shutdown the determination of the Community Development & Social Welfare Department to contribute to Vision 2007 by continuously improving the quality of life of the communities the Company serves; the latest development in the Flat Products and the endeavour of the service departments to serve the Company through professionalism, ethical behaviour and team work.

Among the highlights of the morning was the arrival of Mr Subir Kumar Majumdar, a former employee of the CD & SW department, who had driven a motorcycle blindfolded all the way from Kolkata to Jamshedpur to mark the Founder’s Day celebrations.

Immediately after the march past the Chairman went to the site of the new Sinter Plant 3, which is under construction, where senior Company officials apprised him of the rapid progress achieved by the project team. Mr Tata visited two exhibitions organised to showcase the change augmented by innovations at the Steel Works and the transformation of Jamsetji Tata’s dream into a modern Indian city.

The Founder's Day celebrations at the Steel Works

Founder's Day Sports

The impressive effort put in by International Archer Rita Kumari at the Athens Olympics was recognised and rewarded by Tata Steel with the Sportperson of the Year title for her at the 2005 Founder’s Day Sports. She was presented the honour by Mr P K Kaul, Director, Tata Steel who was the chief guest for the meet. An annual event, it was organised at the Maidan on the afternoon of March 3, 2005. Fierce competition and at the same time a healthy spirit of camaraderie were the hallmark of the competition. Hundreds of sportspersons from numerous divisions and departments of the Company participated. The Overall winner of the Company-level title was Mines Division with 65 points. The Division was the recipient of the Sir Jehangir Ghandy Trophy. The runners-up with 34 points was the West Bokaro Division of the Company. The overall winners in the Ladies Category was Shared Services, while General Offices was the runners-up.

Mr Kaul (left) and Dr Irani relive the history of Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur through the ages

Mr Kaul inaugurates the show

A spectacular exhibition was developed to trace the tranformation of the Founder Jamsetji Tata’s vision of an ideal township into the modern and vibrant steel city of Jamshedpur today. Entitled “Kal Aaj aur Kal” - yesterday, today and tomorrow - the exhibition was inaugurated on March 3 by Dr Jamshed J Irani and Mr P K Kaul. The exhibition showcased the years of struggle and early growth to establish a township in the middle of thick jungles as well as the progress made by the Company and the township as India’s first planned city managed by the only ISO 14001 servie provider in the country. The programme that the Company runs in the city through its various agencies and the the plans it has for the future were expained through visuals, words and models.

Understanding the contribution of employees

Innovation at the rate of people

An exhibition on “Innovations at the rate of people” was organised at the Steelinnium Hall within the Tata Steel Works to the contribution the company’s employees have made to its growth and progress through innovative ideas, new methods and processes adopted by them. The exhibition attracted the interest of all members of the top management of the Company, including the Chairman Mr Ratan Tata, Dr Jamshed J Irani, Mr P K Kaul and Mr B Muthuraman.