in a Dynamic Environment - Tata Consultancy Services

Corporate Sustainability has always been at the core of TCS’
corporate DNA. With strong focus on education, health and
environment, Corporate Sustainability in TCS is driven by the Tata
Group’svisionofgiving back tothesociety.
The primary driver of this effort has been through volunteering by
TCSers. With Maitree, the employee engagement platform as an
effective facilitator, TCSers spent over 50,000 person-hours during
2008-09 on community initiatives such as education, healthcare
support, training differently-abled people.
A key highlight is the Panvel Rural Development Initiative which has
created a sustainable model to enable holistic development in the
community and is a successful initiative undertaken by the
Company. What began as an education program for children in
Wazapur village in the Raigadh district of Maharashtra, has evolved
to offer computer literacy; education on health and sanitization;
adult literacy courses and women’s empowerment and
environment initiatives in the last two years. Currently, over 500
children from five villages in the region are part of the primary and
secondary education program. In FY09, there has been a 50%
increase in the number of girl child seeking education,
demonstrating the effectiveness of the initiative in driving social
transformation. A new school wing with two classrooms and a
library in addition to Computer and Science laboratories; a
community development centre and paper production unit have
been set up in 2008-09. Over 600 villagers from 10 villages have
benefitted from the initiative. The Panvel initiative is now being
replicatedinTamilNaduandOrissa.
TCSers began another pioneering initiative in 2007-08 to help
peoplewithvisualimpairment become a partof ITindustry
for the Community
through an Advanced Computer Training Program in Mumbai. In
2008-09, this was successfully expanded to include people from
across the country. The program is focused on developing key
technical competencies like BPO specific skills, soft skills and
Infrastructure Services training to enhance employability of the
visually impaired. Around 50 people from across the country have
been trained under the initiative last year.
A long-term focus has been to effectively useTCS’core competence
in IT to drive literacy through the Computer Based Functional
Literacy (CBFL) Program. Conceptualised in 2000, the CBFL Program
has grown to cover nine languages today. Over 120,000 people have
been trained with the help of CBFL till FY09. The decrease in overall
instruction hours has led to significant decline in dropout rates,
especially among women. CBFL has been instrumental in
enhancing literacy across AP, TN, MP, Maharashtra, UP, Delhi and
Rajasthan while Orissa, Karnataka and Uttarakhand will implement
it shortly.
TCS’IT Wiz, India’s biggest technology quiz for schools completed a
decade in 2008. It is a benchmark in the inter-school quiz circuit for
the intensity of competition and the numbers that it draws.
Covering 12 cities, the TCS IT Wiz has emerged as a key vehicle to
create awareness about IT among school children. In 2008-09,
around 15,000 children participated.
Corporate Sustainability (CS) in TCS has matured to the level where
it encompasses a gamut of activities to sustain social
transformation globally. TCSers worldwide are CS champions and
actively involved in local and global causes in North America, China,
Australia and Europe.
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