in a Dynamic Environment - Tata Consultancy Services

11. Corporate Sustainability
In keeping with the rich Tata tradition of giving back to Society, Corporate Sustainability (CS) lies at the heart of
TCS' corporate culture. Health, education and concern for the environment comprise the focus of CS.
The differentiator in TCS is volunteering through "Maitree" while TCS endeavours to address large scale
societal problems through its IT core competence.
"Maitree" the unique association of employees and families, reaches out to address large scale societal
problems, through active employee participation. Maitree also contributes towards improving employee health
through in-house doctors, medical camps, and the innovative 'Serenity' programme for assisting employees in
stress management. In addition, the Maitree platform includes music, dance, trekking and sport which helps
develop team spirit and bonding with the organization.
The Maitree village development initiative at Waze near Panvel, now includes Nainar near Chennai, Chalera
near Delhi and Padmapur near Bhubhaneshwar. It comprises a children's education programme, a science lab
and computer lab, women's employment generation through sewing programme and rainwater harvesting
programme. The village initiative is replicable at other villages in India and the rest of the developing world.
The Advanced Computer Training Centre for the visually impaired, set up by Maitree along with MN Banajee
Industrial Home for the Blind, conducts a course in soft skills, BPO specific skills and Infrastructure Services
Training (Helpdesk).
In addition to volunteering, some noteworthy on-going CS initiatives of TCS in India are:
� mKrishi, a Mobile based agro advisory system for farmers to access localized information and advice on
agricultural issues through graphic and voice formats in local languages. The programme is being run on
pilot basis in three locations in Maharashtra and one in Uttar Pradesh before the commercial launch in
mid 2009.
� InsighT, a 72 hour IT and soft skills camp for students in their pre-university segment. Since 2007, InsighT
has covered over 1,500 students in Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi and Mumbai and has also been conducted
twice in Sydney, Australia.
� Rural IT Quiz in collaboration with Government of Karnataka, which saw a record participation of
1.2 million students both in 2007 as well as in 2008.
� The Computer-based Functional Literacy (CBFL) Programme has served over 1,20,000 learners with its
offerings in nine Indian languages. Development in Arabic and Spanish is now underway. CBFL V.2 offers
the facility of teaching one language through the medium of another.
� Software for Childline to link and monitor the 82 Childline centres in India for children in distress.
� Geo-Vun, a decision support system integrating maps to help in the management of the Sanjay Gandhi
National Park, Mumbai, to check illegal encroachment, find remedial measures to control/prevent forest
fires, implement measures to prevent poaching and plundering of forest wealth, etc.
� Low Vision Aid, a digital image processing technique using a wearable device to help persons with low
vision to increase their visual acuity by increasing context sensitivity. TCS' effort is focused on enhancing
an algorithm which will be computationally inexpensive. This solution could be incorporated in set top
boxes/DVDs to enhance TV viewing for the visually impaired.
� Country-wise database of information for both global and local advocacy and impact assessment for
Aflatoun, a global network based charitable organization based in Netherlands, which provides social and
financial education to 250,000 children in 20 countries.
� The TCS-Education World Teachers Award for teachers from across the country who have exhibited
innovative techniques, inspired students and aroused their curiosity. In 2008, the Award drew
18,000 nominations from across India.
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