Tata Steel and Tata Motors have been conferred the Tata Affirmative Action Programme (TAAP) Jury Awards for FY2014-15. The awards were announced by the TAAP jury following the conclusion of this year's external assessment.
TAAP is a Tata Group initiative that aims at taking positive steps towards inclusive growth. Eighteen Tata companies took part in this year's external assessment.
The TAAP jury was headed by Dr RA Mashelkar, former director general, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research. It included eminent economist Dr Narendra Jadhav; Dr S Parasuraman, director TISS; Dr Mukund Rajan, member Group Executive Council (GEC); Dr NS Rajan, member GEC and head of the group Affirmative Action Forum (AAF); and B Muthuraman, former chairman of AAF.
Jury Awards
The TAAP Jury's Award is given to companies which cross the score band of 600 (out of 1,000) in the assessment process. While earlier, the recognition was awarded only for best practices; this year the jury has awarded the recognitions based on assessment scores and non-score criteria.
Tata Steel has bagged the honour for the third year in succession. The other winner, Tata Motors, had also won the award in 2013.
Jury Recognitions
Earlier, the only recognition awarded by the jury was for Best Practices. This year, the jury decided to expand the basket of recognitions to include the following:
Assessment score-based
Based on overall scores in the external assessment, the jury announced Significant Adoption Recognitions for:
- Companies scoring above 550 in the external assessment (out of a total of 1,000)
- Companies with the highest score in all four Es – Employment, Entrepreneurship, Employability and Education (subject to a threshold score of 60/100 in that E).
- The Significant Adoption Recognitions are given in two categories: Large company (with India operations turnover over Rs5,000 crore in FY14), and small company (with India operations turnover less than Rs5,000 crore).
The companies that won Significant Adoption Recognitions are:
- Large company: Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (576-600) and Tata Power (551-575).
- Small company: Tata Steel Processing and Distribution Limited (551-575).
Significant Adoption under the four Es:
- Employment: None
- Employability: Large company – Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited; Small – Tata Steel Processing and Distribution Limited and Tata International
- Entrepreneurship: None
- Education: Large company – Tata Power and Titan Company; Small company – None
Non-scores based:
This recognition is based on adoption of Best Practices and Good Practices by the companies.
- Best Practice Recognition: Given to a specific company initiative under the categories of Leadership, Strategy or the four (or more) Es, which offers a complete narrative of a programme based on a robust and time-tested process which has been deployed and has shown a significant outcome in impacting the lives of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC/ST) communities.
- Good Practice Recognition: Given to a specific company initiative under the under the categories of Leadership, Strategy or the four (or more) Es, with a robust process which may be in its early days of deployment but has the potential for a significant outcome.
The jury’s decisions on the non-scores based recognition of Best Practices and Good Practices are expected in the course of this week.
About TAAP
TAAP commits Tata companies to exercise positive discrimination in employing personnel from the historically disadvantaged SC/ST communities, and in engaging them as business partners without sacrificing merit or quality. The programme attempts to address the prevailing social inequities in India by encouraging positive discrimination for the 300-plus million members of the SC/ST communities. TAAP is housed and administered in Tata Quality Management Services (TQMS). The positive discrimination it advocates in engendering social equity is seen as essential for a sustainable business environment.