‘Arunima’ concludes on a vibrant note

The three-day CSR meet, Arunima, concluded today. The event brought together over 2000 beneficiaries across Bamnipal, Sukinda and Kalinganagar. The aim was to showcase the progressive journey that this region in Odisha stands a witness to. The theme for Arunima this year is "Save Water", a theme selected based on a strong felt need to focus on water in the ecosystem and also inspired by the United Nations mission of declaring 2018-19 as the Water Decade. This endeavour of Tata Steel has inspired youth and farmers to save water which is a need of the time.

On the second day, a total of 700 youth participated in ‘Dhwani – A Youth Conclave. The third day was dedicated to ‘Vaarta – An Agriculture Meet’ where 600 farmers were present for a cross learning of experiences in different aspects of agriculture. During Dhwani, three local youth icons – Ms Swarnalata Dalai, a girl from Kalinganagar who had summited Mt. Everest, Ms Purnima Hembrom, an international athlete from Mayurbhanj district, and Mr Yubraj Rana, MD, Common Service Centre, Odisha – shared their experiences and knowledge with the youth. While Ms Swarnalata narrated her difficult journey to the summit of Mt Everest, Ms Purnima spoke about how youth could make a career in sports. Mr Yubraj Rana sought to impart knowledge on cybercrime. A skit competition on "save water" was also organised with an aim to sensitise youth about the importance of water. A total of four teams participated in this competition.

On the concluding day, experts from different government departments spoke about organic cultivation, government schemes for horticulture and animal husbandry among others. A few progressive farmers also shared their experiences. This year’s ‘Vaarta’ had a two-fold objective: conserving water and implementing agricultural activities in a controlled environment.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ambika Prasad Nanda, Head CSR, Odisha, said, “Our objective is to strengthen the livelihoods of the community members so that industry and agriculture can flourish together. In this respect, we build the capacity of the farmers to adopt the climate resilient agriculture to ensure there is optimum utilization of water. In this regard, as UN has come up with the "Decade for Water” campaign, we would surely make an attempt that our farmers make the economical use of water for agriculture and also have access to safe and potable drinking water."

Deputy Divisional Manager of NABARD in Jajpur district, Mr. Subrat Sahoo, Assistant Director, Horticulture, Mr. Loknath Jena and Chief District Veterinary Officer Jajpur, Mr Kartik Sahoo joined as Guest Speakers for Vaarta. They highlighted various government schemes available to farmers. Mr Ansuman Pattnaik from Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Odisha, delivered a talk on organic farming.

About Tata Steel
Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2018. It is the world's second-most geographically-diversified steel producer, 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 nearly 74,000. 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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