Tata Steel: Improving lives

It is very usual to see companies working in the healthcare industry doing CSR activities. However, there are companies from other industries as well that are equally concerned about the health of the Indian population. Tata Steel is the world’s leading steel manufacturing company which has launched activities like maternal and newborn survival initiative, Sparsh etc.

Biren R Bhuta, Chief, CSR, Tata Steel informs, “Project MANSI was born of the need to reduce maternal and child mortality and morbidity in Seraikela block of Seraikela-Kharaswan district in Jharkhand. MANSI has covered 167 villages in this district, the population covered was around 83,000 between the year 2009 and 2013. Training workshops for nearly 196 Sahiyas were conducted on home based maternal, newborn and child care.”

He adds, “Focused interventions over the last four years have led to significant results. Child mortality has come down from 67 to 50. Infant mortality rate has come down from 54 to 39. Percentage of deliveries at home decreased by 45 per cent. Percentage of low birth weight has decreased from 21 per cent to 15 per cent.”

Outcomes of CSR

Tata Steel’s CSR initiatives have shown promising changes among the target population. Deliveries at home decreased by 45 per cent, child mortality rate has decreased by 26.5 per cent, infant mortality has decreased by 26.5 per cent while neo-natal deaths has decreased by 32 per cent. There is increased health awareness and demand for healthcare services among the communities in the project area as MANSI front-line workers along with Sahiyas conduct various village and panchayat level meetings and involve different stakeholders (community based operating partners, Mahila Mandal, Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committee) in the meetings.

And the award goes to…

• Tata Steel was awarded the Sustainability Prize in Category A for Large Independent Company at the CII-ITC Sustainability Awards 2012 and 2013. In fact, the jury of the Deming Prize cited the MANSI project as (one of the) top five things that TATA steel does, and (asserted) that it could be a model for India and rest of the world. They are quite impressed with the project, the approach to implementing, the processes that it has followed, and the impacts and results in the last few years.

Tata steel-an agent of change

“Tata Steel has successfully changed life of the population and empowering them to an independent life socially and economically. Tata Steel is committed to engage in activities for community and social welfare and will continue to serve the society at large. The services are focused on improving the lives of people by investing in health, education, skill development, sports and ethnicity,” informs Bhuta. The company says the present programmes will continue and they will also continue to add more programmes which will help them sustain its culture of serving the society.

Key CSR initiatives

• SPARSH (the healing touch): Referral Centre, a joint initiative of Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS) and LEPRA Society to cater to the needs of people affected with leprosy and lymphatic filariasis, was initiated in 2009, as there were high incidences particularly among those residing in the vicinity of the coal mines of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. The mission of LEPRA India and Tata Steel to serve humanity better led to the establishment of SPARSH with an aim to ‘Improve the quality of life of people, particularly those having disabilities, by improving their health’. The disability care centre at Jharia in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand provides OPD treatment along with physiotherapy, self-care training and counseling, information dissemination to reduce stigma, manufacture and distribution of protective footwear etc to the people suffering from leprosy and lymphatic filariasis.
• Project MANSI (the Maternal and Newborn Survival Initiative): Issue of maternal and child mortality is a global concern being addressed through the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG 4 & 5). While India is committed to the MDGs, Human Development Index is poor. India ranks 136 out of 186 countries globally. Life expectancy at birth being a component of HDI, maternal and child survival is a major issue. Jharkhand, one of the states in which Tata Steel operates, ranks 23rd out of 35 Indian states, on infant mortality. Since 2009, MANSI, a public-private initiative, is being implemented by Tata Steel Rural Development Society in partnership with American India Foundation and the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Jharkhand.