Tata Chemicals' Desh Ko Arpan programme makes a donation towards child education

When Tata Chemicals relaunched the Tata Salt brand in August 2002, with the slogan 'Maine Desh Ka Namak Khaya Hai', it also adopted a new philosophy. "We wanted to capture the purity of day-to-day activities diligently performed by simple people and equate that with the purity of salt," says Kapil Mehan, senior VP (sales and marketing), Tata Chemicals.

Tata Chemicals translated this philosophy into action on August 15, 2002, with the launch of its Desh Ko Arpan programme, which is committed to supporting socially relevant causes that can help transform the quality of life of the underprivileged. Through the auspices of this programme, Tata Chemicals contributed 10 paise for every kilo of salt sold in the span of a month (August 15 - September 15), to Child Relief and You (CRY), the organisation chosen as the beneficiary of this welfare initiative. "We cannot take such a high platform and not think of going beyond our business," explain Mehan, one the supporters of this programme.

On December 19, 2002, Tata Chemicals managing director, Prasad Menon handed over a cheque of Rs 33 lakh to CRY, in the presence of children from the CRY-supported project, Lok Vikas Samajik Sansthan, Nashik - one the projects funded by Tata Chemicals. "The Desh Ko Arpan campaign has strong synergies and the belief in the power of ordinary individuals to make a difference. More importantly, Desh Ko Arpan provides millions of buyers of Tata Salt, an opportunity to make a contribution that will transform the lives of children across India," says Menon.

Tata Chemicals has identified child literacy, with a special emphasis on the girl child, as the cause to be upheld by the Desh Ko Arpan programme. Tata Chemicals prioritised child education, as it has the maximum multiplier effect. The money raised through the programme will support 12,000 underprivileged children in six states.

Tata Chemical's contribution will finance 22 non-formal education centres for children who have either dropped out of school or have never had a formal education - for younger children between the ages of four and six and two coaching centres. This contribution will facilitate the education of these children for an entire year. At the inception of the programme, Tata Chemicals had estimated the monthly contribution to be Rs 30 lakh, however the amount raised surpassed this figure, as there were 33 million purchasers of Tata Salt between August 15 and September 15.

Special monitoring mechanisms have been set up by CRY, enabling Tata Chemicals to participate in the projects and be apprised of its progress. Ingrid Srinath, director (resource mobilisation), CRY, is particularly enthusiastic about this partnership between Tata Chemicals and CRY, as she believes that their philosophies are well aligned. According to Srinath, the entire repositioning of Tata Chemicals and their conviction that ordinary people, doing an honest day's work, can make a difference, has been CRY's experience over the last two decades. Srinath revealed that 60 per cent of CRY's income comes from individuals doing simple things such as purchasing greeting cards or attending an event and making a small contribution. CRY raised Rs 13 crore from individual donations in the last year. "We are proud to be associated with Tata Chemicals. The relationship is a live example of how corporates and development organisations can work together to change lives of our most valuable citizens - our children", says Srinath.

Tata Chemicals has undertaken other community initiatives. It established the Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD) in 1979, for the benefit of the rural population in the vicinity of the company's plant and townships in Okhamandal, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. TCSRD has upgraded the lives of rural citizens by assisting with natural resource management, livelihood support and building infrastructure for health and education.

For Tata Chemicals, this is just the beginning. It plans to work closely with CRY in the future to explore the possibilities of developing newer initiatives in the area of child rights and in creating a new generation of educated young Indians "We look forward to having more appropriate causes to support," says Mehan.