Tata Chemicals' new initiative, Desh Ko Arpan, is a remarkable example of how companies and non-governmental organisations can work together to change lives

At 10, fatherless Radhi had not heard of schools. The Hanuman Van Vikas Samiti, Udaipur, slowly but surely weaned her away from her daily household chores to finally send her to a government school. Today Radhi helps other girls by reading out stories to them.

Piyali, a prostitute's daughter, was a victim of sexual abuse, molestation and rape. Just when she was about to be sold off for Rs 1 lakh, she was rescued by the Jabala Action Research Organisation, a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Kolkata. Piyali today works to rescue girls like her.

Her parents' separation drove Maheshwari to drop out of school. But the timely intervention of the local NGO, Kaingkarya Social Welfare Organisation, not only reunited her parents but also sent Maheshwari back to school.

The Hanuman Van Vikas Samiti, the Jabala Action Research Organisation and the Kaingkarya Social Welfare Organisation are just three of the 100 projects supported by Child Relief and You (CRY), the trust that works towards making a difference in the lives of underprivileged children.

These three projects are among the six that are today part of Tata Chemicals' new initiative, Desh Ko Arpan, which is committed to championing socially relevant causes. A glowing example of how companies and NGOs can work together to change lives, the programme, now in its first phase, is set to benefit 12,000 underprivileged children in different parts of India.

Desh Ko Arpan is a cause-related marketing effort directed at benefiting needy sections of society. The Tata Salt brand image is that of a leader. As an extension of its latest advertising campaign, Maine desh ka namak khaya hai, the brand now seeks to set an example and give back to society what it has received, in order to improve the lives of the underprivileged.

How Desh Ko Arpan works
Under Desh Ko Arpan, 10 paise from every 1-kg pack of Tata Salt sold is earmarked for funding a socially relevant programme. In the first phase of the programme, TCL has teamed up with CRY to support six projects. These projects, spanning different states and regions, are essentially focused on providing education to underprivileged children, with a special emphasis on the girl child. They are the Dalit and Adivasi Liberation Trust (in Orissa), the Gram Vikas Foundation (Jharkhand), the Hanuman Van Vikas Samiti (Rajasthan), the Jabala Action Research Organisation (West Bengal), the Kaingkarya Social Welfare (Tamil Nadu) and the Lok Vikas Samajik Sansthan (Maharashtra).

On the basis of the current monthly sales of nearly 300 million packs of Tata Salt, TCL's contribution to this initiative is Rs 33 lakh. This amount will be used to finance the total requirements of these six projects for a period of 12 months.

"The contribution will impact the lives of children in 45 slums and 19 villages," explains Ingrid Srinath, director, resource mobilisation, CRY. "The funds will enable the functioning of 22 non-formal education centres, two balwadis, two coaching centres and help improve the functioning of 27 government schools."

How the idea was born
The Desh Ko Arpan programme was conceived as a natural corollary to the new marketing position that Tata Salt has chosen. The new ad campaign portrays every Tata Salt consumer as a person with great character and high principles. In consonance with the advertising message — Maine desh ka namak khaya hai — and the images of ordinary people doing their bit for the community and the country, Tata Salt seeks to demonstrate its commitment to society and set an example for others to emulate. Desh Ko Arpan attempts to act on that idea.

Desh Ko Arpan is what Tata Salt seeks to do for its consumers. Based on the same precepts as the ad campaign, it makes a meaningful contribution back to society. Besides, the Tata Group has a legacy of philanthropy, and being a flagship brand of the group, Tata Salt is only reinforcing a tradition.

Desh Ko Arpan is as much a part of TCL's corporate social responsibility as it is a brand-building exercise, and should not be mistaken for a sales promotion drive. The company aims to forge closer ties with its consumers by moving them up the loyalty curve and bringing in more consumers from competitive brands by involving them in this effort. The fact that they are contributing to a national cause by patronising the salt brand will add value to the consumers' experience.

The beneficiaries
TCL zeroed in on education as the object of Desh Ko Arpan, in order to make a long-term impact on the destiny of the nation. The girl child was selected as a focus area because a girl's education can ensure the betterment of the whole family and even future generations. TCL's decision to support education was further strengthened by a survey conducted by IMRB last year which ranked children's education as the cause most worthy of support.

To translate the decision into action, TCL selected CRY, a professional and highly committed body in terms of direct involvement with projects in this chosen area. CRY currently runs 100 projects directly under its overall supervision and has well-documented monitoring norms in place to ensure maximum impact.

"In its aim to build a people's movement for the rights of India's children, CRY would like to include individuals as well as organisations, and partnerships with corporates allow us to reach out to diverse consumer segments, employee groups and shareholders and affords corporates a means of honouring their social responsibility objectives with the assurance that the funds will be used both effectively and efficiently," says Srinath.

All of the six star projects selected for the programme were chosen because of the superior quality of work being done by these organisations, the high reputation of the people running the projects, and the impact they will have in the area. CRY has applied a stringent audit mechanism in making the selection.

"These projects represent all parts of the country, a multiplicity of children's issues and are some of the most promising CRY initiatives in terms of their impact on the situation of underprivileged children," explains Srinath.

While other projects tend to focus solely on specific areas like health, education and so on, star projects address all aspects of the child rights model equally. All six projects satisfy the four criteria of the holistic child rights model, where the community takes responsibility for the well-being of the children: survival, protection, development and participation. These six projects will take care of the education and infrastructure requirements of over 12,000 children, predominantly girls.

"Apart from ensuring over their rights to survival, development, protection and participation for a year, CRY and Tata Salt will provide millions of consumers across the length and breadth of India a unique opportunity to participate in a mission. This is a scale of reach that only a mass market, successful brand like Tata Salt could enable," sums up Srinath.