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True to their salt
The Financial Express —
March 6, 2005
Celebrating the third year of its Desh Ko Arpan Programme
(DKAP), makers of Tata Salt, Tata Chemicals, think it is time
to look out for future champions, a la Sachin Tendulkar and
Bhaichung Bhutia, from the downtrodden section. For the time
being, these future champions will be selected from municipal
schools in Mumbai. The target is to select 2,100 children
from 400 schools. A total of 1,050 students will be provided
the final coaching — 450 students for football and 600
for cricket. Out of this, 30 each from both the disciplines
will be inducted into premier sports clubs.
Trials for sports and coaching for children in the age group
of 10-15 years have already begun. Certified sports coaches,
who have passed the Mumbai Cricket Association Level 1 coaching
examination, will coach the children. The programme is being
held with the support of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
which will provide access to playgrounds for both cricket
and football. Says Tata Chemicals managing director Prasad
Menon, “There are a lot of youngsters out there waiting
for a platform to showcase their talent and we hope that this
programme will help make their dreams a reality.”
The company ‘‘looks forward to generating more
resources’’ for the cause. “This initiative
is one of the ways in which our flagship brand, Tata Salt,
finds a connect with improving the quality of life of the
underprivileged children through DKAP,” adds Satish Sohoni,
COO, Food Additives Business, TCL. “The objective of
expanding the scope of DKAP is to give underprivileged children
an opportunity to develop sports ability and pursue higher
education.”
Besides sports, DKAP will provide educational support to
children from municipal schools who will enter Class X. Around
980 Class IX students from 49 schools in Mumbai will be shortlisted
on the basis of merit ranking and will be coached in Math,
Science and English subjects for their Class X board examinations.
The DKAP was launched by the company to champion social causes.
Under this programme, 10 paise out of the company profits
for every pack of a kg of Tata Salt sold between January 26
and February 25 goes towards the upliftment of underprivileged
children. In the last three years, the programme has contributed
over Rs 1 crore, which has helped educate over 30,000 children
across the country.
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