~In its fifth year, the regional editions cover six locations across Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand~
~99 participants, representing 22 tribes from 20 districts across 4 States in the two-day meet at Raipur~

The fifth regional edition of Samvaad 2018, a platform for discourse amongst tribal communities of India, was organised at Xavier Institute of Social Action, Raipur from September 29-30. Focused on the theme of ‘Coming Together for Social Change’, the two-day meet was aimed to deconstruct concerns of the tribal communities and identify solutions across a range of subjects.

Organised by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Tata Steel, the Raipur edition was attended by 99 participants, representing 22 tribes of Central India. Apart from Chhattisgarh, tribal communities from Maharashtra, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh also participated in this two-day function. Tribal communities like Gond, Korku, Madia Gond (PVTG), Oraon, among others took part in the discourse.

Some of the issues that were discussed at length comprised tribal culture and identity, land and forest issues, future of children in tribal communities and malnutrition.

This is the fifth round of regional Samvaad. The first four dialogues have been held at Odisha (Gajapati), Tamil Nadu (Madurai), Rajasthan (Udaipur) and Nagaland (Dimapur) that reached out to over 500 participants from over 100 tribal communities in the Eastern, Southern, Western and North-East regions of the country.

“The Raipur edition of Samvaad was been extremely encouraging as our participants were forthcoming in sharing their views on issues that abound in their communities. We are both privileged and humbled for having extended this platform that encourages a discourse of vital issues, and for the faith that our communities repose in us,” said Mr Sourav Roy, Chief, CSR, Tata Steel.

The regional Samvaad meets in 2018 are a series of six community-sourced dialogues among tribal communities, culminating in the main conclave from November 15-19, 2018 at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. The sixth and last regional Samvaad meets for this year will be hosted in Ranchi. 

About Samvaad:

‘Samvaad’, a platform to exchange ideas and thoughts turn five this year. Over the last four years, tribal communities across the length and breadth of the country and overseas have converged on this platform and taken the lead in initiating discourse on issues that govern them. Samvaad is now fast growing as an eco-system where tribal thoughts and voices manifest in various forms – be it a discourse, a work of research, music, food and cuisine collaboration or even documentaries. Since its inception, Samvaad has witnessed a flurry of discussions and activities under identified themes including Preservation, Protection and Promotion of Tribal languages (2015), Tribal Health Systems (2016) and 'Aspirations of Tribal Youth & Leadership for Future' (2017).

The concept of regional Samvaad was initiated in 2016 with the objective of reaching out to more tribal communities in the hinterland and factor unheard voices therein.

About Tata Steel                  
Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2018. It is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Group recorded a consolidated turnover of US $20.41 billion (INR 133,016 crore) in FY18. Tata Steel Group is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000. Tata Steel retained Industry Leader position in FY18 and ranked second overall in the DJSI assessment, 2017. The Company has been recognised as the Climate Disclosure Leader in ‘Steel category’ by CDP (2017). Besides being a member of the World Steel Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel was felicitated with several awards including the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2014-15 and 2015-16, Best Risk Management by CNBC TV18 (2018) and ‘Corporate Strategy Award’ by Mint (2018). The Company also received the ‘Most Ethical Company’ award from Ethisphere Institute for the sixth time (2018), Steel Sustainability Champions (2017) by the World Steel Association, Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards (2017 & 2018), Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award by Institute of Directors (2017) as well as 'Asia's Best Integrated Report' award by the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (2017), among several others.

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