The Prime Minister of India visits Jamshedpur to celebrate Tata Steel’s centenary
It is a moment of pride for Tata Steel and the citizens of Jamshedpur as the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh will be visiting the Steel City on April 22, 2008 to participate in the Centenary celebrations of Tata Steel.
On his arrival in Jamshedpur, the Prime Minister will address a gathering at JRD Sports Complex. Amidst the august gathering the Prime Minister will plant a Banyan tree sapling, in the same manner as Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru did on the 50th anniversary of the steel company in 1958. Dr. Manmohan Singh will launch a special postage stamp specially created to mark Tata Steel's centenary year by the Government of India's Ministry of Communications.
The Honourable Prime Minister's visit to Jamshedpur, definitely adds immense value to the Centenary celebrations of Tata Steel. It serves as a motivator and morale booster for Tata Steel to commit itself to continue to strive for India's economic progress. His visit will also spur the Company's goal of expanding its capacity from 5 MTPA to 35 million tons per annum to meet the country's future needs of steel, estimated to reach 200 MTPA by 2020. This expansion drive will see the Jamshedpur Works expanding from 5 MTPA to 10 MTPA and an addition of 23 MTPA capacity through Greenfield projects in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
The Centenary celebrations of Tata Steel began on August 26, 2007. True to its commitment to the welfare of society, the company, as a part of its Centenary celebrations, has announced two major social initiatives. The first project being the Land and Water Management Programme in association with Sir Ratan Tata Trust in the three states of Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh that targets more that 400 villages. The second major initiative is in the field of education where Tata Steel will open schools for the children of tribal communities and scheduled caste families to provide education and train them to become self reliant. There are other projects that it has launched for the citizens of Jamshedpur which includes the construction of the 'Centenary City Centre' and a promenade at River's Meet.
A 100 year old legacy of integrity, trust, ethics and selfless service, known as Tata Steel came into existence in 1907, as a result of the vision and foresightedness of a legend, who dared to think ahead of his times and kickstart the process of industrialisation in India - J N Tata. The company started off with its plant in a small village called Sakchi. Under the able guidance of the successors of the Founder of Jamshedpur, this localised steel plant has today become the world's 6th largest steel producing company with its operations in 27 countries across 4 continents.