January 12 is National Youth Day
India boasts a demographic dividend like no other country. According to the UN World Population Prospects, India has more than 600 million people aged between 18 and 35, with 65% under the age of 35. It brings the nation a unique potential to realise its monumental aspirations of growth and global leadership. It also puts an onus on all citizens to create means to redirect this vast pool of young energy in the right direction. Tata Steel, throughout its history, has encouraged and developed India’s young generation through various initiatives.
The Tata group founder, Jamsetji Tata, was a keen sports enthusiast. It was Jamsetji’s belief in sports as a force for good that seeded the Tata culture of supporting different games and the athletes who excelled in them. In his blueprint for Jamshedpur, in the form of a letter to his son Sir Dorabji Tata, in 1902, Jamsetji Tata asked him to “reserve large areas for football, hockey and other sports”.
In India, Tata Steel spearheads the corporate promotion of sports through its relentless and constant encouragement to professional sportspersons, amateurs, and its own employeesto pursue sports and excel. In 1920, since an official Indian Olympic body did not exist at that time, Sir Dorabji personally financed four athletes and two wrestlers for the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. In 1924, he became the first President of the Olympic Association. Even a century later, the Company continued this association with archers trained at Tata Archery Academy participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The tradition continues as the Company remains one of the foremost corporate promoters of Indian sports – having built academies for football, archery, athletics, hockey, and sport climbing. The local community has always been at the core of our activities. For the communities living around Tata Steel’s operations, the sporting infrastructure offered by the steel major is a huge opportunity, giving young children the launchpad they need to soar into a better future.
More than 3500 children and youth have been trained in various sporting activities and more than 1500 trainees participated in different regional, state, and national sporting events. In our efforts to reach the most underserved sections of society, we run programmes like ‘Masti Ki Paathshala’ to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. So far, the initiative has reached more than 1500 children and around 400 children have been mainstreamed to different schools.
Tata Steel also runs community initiatives – like Jyoti Fellowship, Tata Steel Scholars, Akanksha Programme, and Green School Project – to promote education through scholarships and special coaching. Tata Steel continues to also be conscious of the specific nuances of tribal communities who form a significant proportion of the population in the operating geographies and at a larger pan-India level through the Samvaad ecosystem including its platforms – Tribal Leadership Programme to engage tribal youth leaders, and Samvaad Fellowship.
To facilitate the flow of India’s young energy into the nation-building workforce, the JN Tata Vocational Training Institute (JNTVTI) – run by Tata Steel – provides skill-based vocational training in various sectors for employability based on demand and entrepreneurship opportunities to the eligible and interested youths. It runs 27 full-time vocational courses and more than 100 short-term courses in the domains of steel manufacturing, mining, and construction. Since its inception in FY2016, JNTVTI has trained more than 14,000 students with 100% employment. We also run initiatives to connect with school children and young adults enrolled in various educational institutes. Tata Steel Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS) seeks to identify and promote the talents of school students in the field of space science. ‘Steel-a-thon’ is an annual business challenge for premier B-Schools in India. It offers students the chance to work on real-life business challenges as well as provide an opportunity to get mentored by Tata Steel Senior Leadership and Management. Another campus connect programme launched by Tata Steel is ‘TomorrowLAB’ with a mission to proliferate Entrepreneurial DNA amongst student community for future of India.
‘MaterialNEXT’, an Open Innovation event targeted towards post graduate and doctoral student in an effort to increase the richness factor of the innovative ideas in advanced materials domain. The ‘Ananta Quest’ case-study competition is Tata Steel’s industry-first initiative aimed at inducting bright Persons-with-Disabilities from technology and management campuses across India. We ensure that the youngsters joining Tata Steel find the workplace conducive and engaging to be able to deliver their best. For a long period, due to its structure, the steel industry has remained a male-dominated industry. However, with the advent of time, the nature of the workforce has been changing.
As the proportion of the younger workforce increases, we are witnessing a stronger participation of women and people of diverse backgrounds. Building an equitable culture and a diverse leadership team is a responsibility we take seriously. It is a key focus area not only in terms of gender but also, for persons with disability, and LGBTQIA+. There has always been sensitivity with respect to diversity in culture, geographies etc. It is our goal to have 25% of our workforce comprised of diverse groups by the year 2025. At present, 50% of our current management trainee batches and 40% of our current trade apprentice batches consist of women. Tata Steel is the first company in India to deploy women in all shifts in mines.
We have also onboarded 38 women as HEMM operators under the intervention ‘Tejaswini’. ‘Women of Mettle’ is a unique scholarship programme wherein women engineering students are provided with scholarships and internship opportunities with the Company to create a talent pipeline of young female officers for the organisation. We are also proud to be the first Indian company to recruit transgender individuals as Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM) Operators in its mining operations.
Tata Steel has successfully hired over 100 transgender individuals across operating locations since, including Jamshedpur, Kalinganagar, West Bokaro and various office premises. Programmes like ‘QUEERious’ invite LGBTQIA+ talent from renowned B-Schools and T-schools across India to explore employment opportunities with Tata Steel. We are also adapting to the new ways of exchanging and disseminating knowledge. Tata Steel has initiated partnerships with renowned content providers and new learning platforms to offer more choices to learners and enhance their upskilling experience.
The conscious adoption of ‘Virtual Reality and simulation-based training’ has enabled experiential learning for our employees. We have come a long way, and shall continue to move forward, transforming ourselves and our surroundings. It is undeniable that, with its tremendous young potential, India is destined to lead the world in the new age. Tata Steel remains committed to being the partner the country needs to fulfil the promise of a brighter tomorrow.
