Tata Volunteering Week 15 Volume No. 04        Tree plantation Ginger Hotels      19 volunteers from Ginger Hotels, Pantnagar participated in tree plantation activity and pledged for a greener environment.     Encouraging kids to plant and love nature Indian Hotels      Chef Lohanathan from Taj Sats encouraged the kids in the neighbourhood to plant and love nature. Chef has been instrumental in leading by example to his children and to the kids in the vicinity.     Interactive session with the elderly Indian Hotels      In the given situation of pandemic where many elders though physically fit are forced to stay at home and this situation has made many elders sad, lonely and unhappy. In order to encourage the elders, Taj Sats volunteers reached out to them virtually for an interactive session and spread happiness. Elders enjoyed and shared their life experiences, past times, sang songs, listen to their stories, about their favourite food, etc. Volunteers as well as beneficiaries thoroughly enjoyed the session and are looking forward for more such sessions.     Tree plantation Indian Hotels      Volunteers from Taj Sats invested money to buy plants and make the office vicinity environment friendly by purchasing 5 plants - Beetle Leaf, Jasmine, Fire Cracker flower and Bamboo. They identified places and took personal interest to plant the saplings.       Feeding stray dogs Indian Hotels      A few dogs in the Taj Sats vicinity was looking malnourished, hence volunteers took the initiative to give food to the dog as a noble gesture.     Training on defensive driving Indian Hotels      Taj Sats, Delhi (TSACL) initiated a project called ‘Badhti Ka Naam Gadi’. With an aim to increase the awareness on ‘Defensive Driving’, amongst staff members, this project has not only reached to TSACL employees but also to their family members and friends. The project is an app that educates about defensive driving. Volunteers conducted a session to reach out to people and create awareness about the same. All the participants were recommended to download the app and view the videos on defensive driving. At the end of each video there were 9-10 questions. Participants who gave correct answers were rewarded with gift vouchers.     Drawing competition with football trainees Tata Metaliks      Employees from Tata Metaliks conducted a drawing competition with the football trainees. The participants were given three topics to choose from: pollution, sports and COVID-19. Employees took part in orienting them about the topics and helped them picturize the themes. There were some kids who took part in a drawing competition for the first time. Having understood the themes, they sketched their art on paper and the best ones were rewarded.     Football match Tata Metaliks      To observe No Smoking Day, a friendly football match was organised between the employees of Tata Metaliks Limited (TML) and their trainees of under 12 football teams. At a ground in Gumariapal village, Kalaikunda Panchayat the football match was conducted. The trainees are trained by TML under their Football coaching project. A total of 60 boys and girls participated in the match. The event was flagged off by Mr. Debashish Mishra, Vice-President, Operations (PI). The participants were from HR, IR, Purchase, Accounts, Operations, Projects, medical. On the occasion of No Smoking Day, Mr. Manohar Kalluri, Factory Medical Officer spoke about the ill-effects of smoking and urged them to take a pledge to abstain themselves and their near and dear ones from smoking. A total of 52 employees from TML participated.      Digital Literacy Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development      In partnership with HP, Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) and Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD) launched WOW (World on Wheels) bus in Cuddalore to provide digital literacy to the underprivileged youth, women, and the students studying in Government schools. Approximately 120 students from two Government schools are attending the practical sessions daily. 6 TCL volunteers are providing continuous technical support for the smooth functioning of this mobile computer lab. In addition to this, volunteers also conducted a session on the importance of digital literacy for school students.     Women’s Day celebration Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development      Tata Chemicals and Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development organised a programme to celebrate International Women’s Day for the mothers of students studying in Sonachavadi Government Primary School. Professionals from various sectors were invited as chief guests to sensitise the participants on women's health, women empowerment, effective parenting and holistic development of children, and some fun sessions were also conducted at the end of the programme.      Awareness session on cyber security Rallis India      Rallis India IT team conducted an awareness session on cyber security for students in rural area. Volunteers focused on spreading awareness about various ways an individual can be trapped in financial scams. They also shared on how to handle such situations like avoid opening unknown links, temptation of free gifts etc. and how to be safe from such scams. 50 students actively participated in the event and received great insights.      Orientation on livelihood project Tata Metaliks      Tata Metaliks (TML) in partnership with NABARD is running a livelihood project which is being implemented by S G Foundation in Kalaikunda Panchayat (Kharagpur block). The project has provided support to rural households for establishing successful models of livelihoods in agriculture and agri-allied activities. On 11th March 2021, TML hosted the visit of NABARD officials to the project site. It was their first visit to the company’s newly constructed community centre in Roypara (Maheshpur). During an hour meeting with the officials, Ms. Dilith Castleton gave a presentation on the TML’s CSR structure and the ongoing CSR projects in Kharagpur. The NABARD officials then interacted with the SHG members who were benefitted from the goat farming project. The women shared their earnings from the project and shared their long-term plan for enhancing their business. At the end the officials visited to the pond-based livelihood project and interacted with the beneficiaries to understand the impact of the project.      Cleanliness drive Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services      Volunteers from Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services organised cleaning drive at Kalimati Road Sakchi area. Through this cleaning drive, the local people around were also sensitised about effects of keeping the environment clean and its benefits for good health of the community.     Good touch bad touch session Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services      An online session on good touch for girls of Class 8th and 10th at Balika Uchh Vidhyalaya Sakchi. Through this session the girls were informed about how one can take precautions to keep themselves safe from immoral situations. A short film related to this was also shown. Volunteers also gave answers to the questions raised by the girl students.      Drawing competition for children Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services      A drawing competition for the children of Anandpur Open Area Teaching for class 1st to 5th was organised by Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services. All the children were given crayons and drawing sheets. Children created pictures of national bird, national flower and national flag. The best three of them were rewarded.      Road safety awareness session Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services      Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services volunteers organised an online session road safety awareness for students of UHS New Colony. Through this session, the students were made aware about the safety rules while walking on the road, bike, car. Some of the essential points that were covered in the session were use of helmet while riding bike, use seat belt while driving car and avoiding cell phone while driving. Along with this, students were also made aware about traffic rules and signals.      Session on E-Waste Management Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services      Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services volunteers organised an awareness session on E – Waste Management including home composting and source segregation for 45 teachers at Motilal Nehru School, Sakchi.      Career counselling Tata Steel Long Products      A career guidance and awareness programme were held in Tata Steel Long Products Admin. Building by Mr. Bibek Khandelwal, Financial Controller. He enlightened to village girls with many career options which were unknown to them. He highlighted that apart from being an engineer, doctor, or lawyer there are many more career options to choose from. 15 girls from the local villages activitely participated in this session.      Child health and nutrition session Tata Steel Long Products      Volunteers organised an awareness programme on child health and nutrition session at Mutuda Anganwadi Centre. They also distributed face masks and spread awareness on COVID-19 amongst the children and Anganwadi teachers.      Motivational camp on vegetable farming Tata Steel Long Products      Volunteers from Tata Steel Long Products organised a motivational camp on vegetable farming for the farmers of Ramchandrapur village. 13 volunteers participated in this programme to motivate farmers for vegetable farming in some portions of their farmlands wherein they are farming others crops.      Women’s Day celebration Trent Hypermarket      On the occasion of International Women's Day, the employees of Star Bazaar, Ahmedabad organised initiatives to educate and create awareness amongst their customers. It included an awareness session on women's empowerment to engage with the women and men customers. They also gave out appreciation cards to the accompanying male customers who were encouraging their women partners to participate in the sessions. In addition to this, to make the women customer happy, they also printed an appreciative message for all the women customers in their bill copy.      First aid session Indian Hotels      Volunteers from Taj West End, Bengaluru conducted a virtual activity for first aid awareness for three NGO’s; Act of Hope, Bosco Mane and Parikrama Foundation. The objective was to enhance the preparedness to handle health issues in case of emergencies. The session was handled by a Doctor from Kaveri Hospital and about 63 inmates of the NGO’s benefited from the session.      Smarter with Smartphones Indian Hotels      A virtual activity was conducted by Taj West End, Bengaluru which was aimed at providing senior citizens with an understanding of better handling their smartphones. The inmates of Sudhama Old age home were taught on how to use Whatsapp, Facebook, Google Pay, Phone Pay etc., and were given basic knowledge about functioning of a smart phone.      Online nutrition awareness session Rallis India      As part of TVW15 volunteers of Rallis India, Ankleshwar Unit organized online nutrition awareness session for parents. Factory Medical Officer Dr.Amit Sinha conducted this session. He guided all parents about how to increase immunity power. He also shared few tips on how to take precautions once the school reopens post lockdown, how to care care of ourselves and kids during summers. 40 parents with children actively participated in this session.      COVID-19 awareness session Rallis India      Volunteers of Rallis India, Ankleshwar arranged COVID-19 awareness session at Madhuvan Society Andada, Ankleshwar. Factory medical officer, Dr. Amit Sinha conducted this session and guided participants on how to take precaution to prevent COVID-19 virus.      Menstrual hygiene awareness session Rallis India     Volunteers of Rallis India, Ankleshwar arranged COVID-19 awareness session at Madhuvan Society Andada Ankleshwar. Factory medical officer Dr. Amit Sinha conducted this session and guided participants on how to take precaution to prevent COVID-19 virus.      Health and hygiene awareness session Rallis India      As part of TVW15, volunteers of Rallis India, Dahej organised a Health & hygiene awareness session for 11th and 12th standard girls of P J Cheda Junior College, Dahej. This session was conducted by Dr. Mitali Panchal. She guided the participants on topics such as life skill & personal development, health hygiene & nutrients, parts of the human body, changes due to adolescent stage, menstrual hygiene, reproductive process in human, sexual abuse etc. 150+ girls actively participated in this session with the teachers.      Fire and safety awareness session Tata Power      On the occasion of 15th National Safety Week, volunteers from Coastal Gujarat Power Limited (Tata Power) in association with 36 Gujarat BN NCC, Bhuj organised a fire and safety awareness cum training programme for the NCC cadets. These enthusiastic cadets were from all across the District of Kutch. During the training, the volunteers spoke on different aspects of fire, its control mechanism through different measures and equipment’s. The Camp commandant applauded the efforts of the volunteers for this specialised awareness cum training programme.      Mask and sanitiser distribution drive Ginger Hotels      A group of volunteers from Ginger Vapi, distributed masks and santisers for awareness of COVID-19 in the vicinity area of Salvav. 11 volunteers actively participated in the drive.      Showcasing the heritage of India Indian Hotels      As part of Tata Volunteering Week 15 initiatives, the Learning & Development team at Taj North Goa organised for a day long city tour for all trainees currently interning at Taj Holiday Village Resort & Spa Goa and Taj Fort Aguada Resort & Spa Goa. Dr. Derek Monteiro, Guest Relations Manager volunteered and led the group to Old Goa where he showed them the Basilica of Bom Jesus which is a world heritage monument, the Se Cathedral, the tomb of St. Francis Xavier, the Reis Magos Fort – one of Goa's oldest citadels, Fontainhas – a small Latin establishment, St. Augustine ruins of Iberian architecture, Chapel of Our Lady of Mount, the Archaeological museum of Goa and the Divar Island. The group was also treated to a traditional Goan thali lunch at Ritz so they could experience what Goan food is all about. Post lunch, the group visited the Fiquereido House in South Goa – an Indo-Portuguese mansion dating back to almost 400 years where they witnessed the most immersive heritage home experience discovering the rich culture and history of Goa. Mr. Anmol Ahluwalia, Cluster General Manager – North Goa thanked Derek and Nehal of the L&D team for developing and nurturing our growing talent by organising for this very informative city tour.      Cotton balls making activity Tata Coffee      Karunshraya Hospice, an Indian Cancer Society provides free-of-cost quality pallative care to advanced stage cancer patients who are beyond curative medical treatment. They require around 60,000 cotton balls every month for cleaning and dressing wounds of their patients. Tata Coffee volunteers made cotton balls and sent it to the Karunshraya Hospice.      Technology awareness session Tata Consulting Engineers      Tata Consulting Engineers conducted technology awareness session on teaching basic mobile skills. Online activity was witnessed by students from Asha school for differently abled and Government Hight School. Students were given the knowledge about google assistance, word apps, entertainment apps and also on info maps.      Technology awareness session Tata Consulting Engineers      Volunteers from Tata Consulting Engineers visited Government College for Engineering, Salem and gave career guidance session. Students were briefed about career and job, long time career paths, branches of higher studies, top 20 universities, etc. After the session an interactive programme was conducted to understand the doubts of the students. Few management games and entertainment      International Women's Day with artisans and community women Tata Power      International women’s Day at Trombay Thermal Power Plant was celebrated with Trombay women employees in a unique way. Volunteers had arranged Dhaaga products exhibition at Trombay to economically empower rural women as part of our share of contribution towards volunteering week. Not only women employees but male employees from Trombay also contributed on the occasion of International Women’s Day by purchasing things from the exhibition. This was the very first exhibition which was organised inside Trombay Thermal Power plant. The total sale was INR 69,812 for one day. Volunteers invited 10 female community women from Trombay, Mulshi and Maval to celebrate the special day.      Senior leaders visit to a village Tata Steel Long Products      Anupam, Managing Director (MD) of Tata Steel Long Products (TSLP) expressed his extreme happiness while interacting with farmers of Sapra village. The villagers were very much excited to have a direct interface with the company's senior leader. MD spoke about the TSLP and CSR as a whole and urged the villagers to primarily focus on Education. He also suggested villagers to opt for other viable options of income sources like dairy and fishery in the village. Company officers who have volunteered themselves shared their experiences with MD and the village developments.      Drawing competition Tata Steel Long Products      A drawing competition was held combining little stars of three adjacent villages. A total of about 35 students have participated in the art competition on ROAD SAFETY. The theme was well painted on the canvas by the students who were provided with chart papers, colors and other drawing items. The volunteers of Tata Steel Long Products were fully engaged and were guiding the students wherever asked for. The parents of these tiny tots were thrilled and enjoyed the infotainment activity. A quiz on ROAD SAFETY was also conducted in presence of Mrs. Malti Hansdah, Mukhiya of Dugdha panchayat. The top performers were awarded with prizes while all the participants were given chocolates and snacks packet.      Livelihood generation Tata Steel Long Products      Jhurkuli is one of the prime operational villages of Tata Steel Long Products. The 'THAKUR' families are well-off on all fronts. But, the inhabitants of other Tolas are poor and backward in general. Women SHGs are limited themselves only to saving and inter-loan lending. No income generation programme was initiated so far. Therefore, a focussed group discussion was arranged for all the SHG members to orient them on all the probable income generation schemes suitable to their areas depending on the existing resources. The group showed a green signal to take up Mushroom production as a business enterprise.      Home-made chocolates activity Indian Hotels      Easy to make home-made chocolates activity was conducted by Mr. Anthony Raj from the Operations department, Taj Sats, Chennai. He brought silicon moulds, cocoa bars and the ingredients and prepared the home made chocolates to make young girls understand the method. He also gave them the idea to sell these chocolates and earn and income. The showcase excited the girls and the children in the vicinity to learn how simple and easy it is to make home chocolates.      Plant a tree Indian Hotels      Mr. Anthony Raj from the Operations department, Taj Sats, Chennai conducted a session on how to plant saplings and encourage the kids in the neighbourhood. He also share the importance of planting a tree and caring for the environment. Young kids were thrilled to plant and enjoyed to contribute their bit for the environment.     *This update covers only some of the activities undertaken by companies. www.tataengage.com