July 2018 - Tata Trusts Horizons
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July 2018
July 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 3
from the chairman
B eginnings are always full of possibilities.
They offer promise, expectation and hope
that the journey flagged off will lead smoothly
to the destination decided, and perhaps also to
places discovered along the way. So it is with this
maiden issue of Horizons, a magazine crafted to
recount the story of the Tata Trusts and the work
they do to enrich the lives of millions of Indians
across the land.
People are at the heart of this story, which is
also about an extraordinary vision of philanthropy.
The Tata Trusts personify a philosophy of business
where every member of society is a stakeholder.
The year 2018 marks the sesquicentennial of the
Tata group, with the first of the Tata enterprises
being established in 1868 by Jamsetji Tata. The
first of the Tata Trusts — the JN Tata Endowment
for the Higher Education of Indians — was set up
in 1892, also by Jamsetji Tata. The idea and the
ideals connecting the two events symbolise what
being of service to the wider community meant for
our Founder.
The legacy of Jamsetji Tata and those who
followed in his path continues to illuminate and
inspire the evolving Tata Trusts of today as we
strive to make a more substantial difference in
the communities we serve. Over the past few
years, the Trusts have changed more substantially
than at any time in their history. We are now
truly a cohesive institution, a collective that is
concentrated on deepening the impact of its
numerous programmes and projects.
Horizons will, I hope, provide a comprehensive
and nuanced understanding of the modern-day
Tata Trusts to audiences in India and around the
world. My best wishes to the team behind the
magazine for all their efforts.
Ratan N Tata
CONTENTs
Vol 1 | IssUe 1 | JUly 2018
neWs CoVer storY Centre stage interVieW
07 32
CanCer Care a perfeCt
Centres in assam partnership
Also in the roundup: Chief Minister Devendra
breakthrough with MRI Fadnavis on the collaboration
scanner; push for data-driven between the Maharashtra
governance; football centre in government and the Trusts
Mizoram; tie-up with Tel Aviv 18
University; and more food first
Making sure that India’s
underprivileged children eat
healthy — that is the objective
10 that drives the nutrition initiative
Cash in the Crop
The lakhpati Kisan project is
transforming the lives of more
than 100,000 tribal farming
households in 800 villages
editor editorial team editorial editorial adVisors
Christabelle Noronha Philip Chacko Coordinators Debasis Ray
Email: cnoronha@tatatrusts.org Gayatri Kamath Kainaz Mistry Laxman Sivasubramanian
Shubha Madhukar Sonia Divyang
feature stories interVieW interVieW speCtrum
54
‘time to redefine 62
generositY’ Children are
Amit Chandra, managing the ConCern
director of Bain Capital, talks Madhu Pandit Dasa from the
about his philanthropy and the Akshaya Patra Foundation
40 importance of partnerships
in the social sector
on the midday meal project 73
liquid magiC that feeds 1.7 milllion children a Culture of
How the satyamev Jayate across India philanthropY
Water Cup became a people’s Jamsetji Tata and his legacy of
movement, plus an interview
shoWCase
compassion continues to define
with superstar Aamir Khan in-depth
the multi-themed and impactful
efforts of the Tata Trusts
49 old is not gold
The 60-plus portion of India’s
population is growing fast, but
are we ready to cope?
38 Card plaY
The Points for People initiative
makes it possible for individuals
to support social causes
58
leaVes of life
Images from villages in
Uttarakhand where the
68
teCh is on top
Himmothan Pariyojana runs
a range of uplift programmes Technology is the game
changer in setting standards on
governance and healthcare
designed bY design ContaCt disClaimer
The Information Company Shilpa Naresh Tata Trusts All matter in Tata Trusts
Abraham K John World Trade Centre 1 Horizons is copyrighted.
26th Floor, Cuffe Parade Material published in it
printed at Mumbai 400 005 can be reproduced with
Sahaya Print Services India permission. To know more,
please email the editor at
horizons@tatatrusts.org.
6 EDITORIAL
Editorial
J amsetji Tata stands tall among Indian entrepreneurs for his vision,
his pioneering businesses and his idea of an industrial India. As
important as any of these contributions — perhaps more so — was
Jamsetji’s philanthropy and the compassion that guided it.
The JN Tata Endowment, established by the Founder of the Tata
group in 1892, was the first of many trusts seeded by members of the
Tata family. It marked the beginning of an extraordinary journey for what
Christabelle Noronha is now collectively known as the Tata Trusts.
Transformed over the recent past, the Trusts have evolved to
go well beyond being a giver of grants. It has become an important
and proactive participant in the common endeavour to confront and
overcome India’s most fundamental social development challenges.
The Tata Trusts of today are concentrated on making a difference
where it counts the most — on the ground and with a larger spread
of beneficiaries than ever before. Purpose drives operations at the
remodeled Trusts, technology enables scale and innovation facilitates
impact. What remains intact is the Tata Trusts’ mission: to enhance the
quality of life of millions of poor and marginalised Indians.
There are numerous stories woven into the fabric of this mission
— of individuals and communities, homes and hamlets, fortitude and
euphoria, success and failure. Horizons is an effort, dear reader, to bring
those stories — some interesting, some fascinating — to you.
Horizons is also an effort to open a window to the world of the Tata
Trusts and the remarkable work that they undertake across the length
and breadth of India. This inaugural issue of the magazine provides a
flavour of our intent — to document the change unfolding in the country,
particularly in its remote regions, and to bring into light the human
element at the heart of it all.
Cheers!
We hope you will help us make Horizons better with your valuable feedback.
Please do write to us at horizons@tatatrusts.org.
news 7
News
19 cancer care centres to
come up in Assam
appointment systems are followed.
The cancer care foundation
T he Assam government and the
Tata Trusts have launched the
Assam Cancer Care Foundation to
will implement government
programmes for awareness,
screening, early detection and
set up 19 cancer care facilities in palliative care. This will be critical
the state. The cancer network will in ensuring that patients come
become operational in April 2019. to ensure that patients do not have forward for treatment.
Of the 19 facilities, 12 will be to travel far for affordable and The Trusts are talking to the
comprehensive cancer care centres high-quality cancer treatment. governments of Andhra Pradesh,
set up on the premises of The cancer care facilities will Odisha and Telangana to establish
government medical colleges in be connected by a ‘digital nerve similar networks in these states.
the state and 5 will be adjacent to centre’, which will help guide About 100 such centres are
district hospitals. patients so that appropriate expected to come up over the next
The network has been designed referral mechanisms and three years. n
A magnetic
breakthrough
T he Tata Trusts’ Foundation
for Innovation and Social
Entrepreneurship (FISE) has
developed a portable magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI)
scanner, a first for the country.
The whole-body scanner
will help make MRI scans power and can be mounted on a The first system has been
affordable and accessible, and it truck for easy transport. installed at the Bengaluru-
is much faster than similar The machine was built inside based Sri Sathya Sai Institute of
machines in the market. 24 months by engineers at Higher Medical Sciences, the
The scanner is compact, Voxelgrids, incubated by FISE to clinical partner in the
lightweight, consumes far less promote social innovations. development. n
8 news
Ola’s ‘My Ride. My Cause’
commits to social causes
O la, India’s leading
ride-share company, has
launched the ‘My Ride. My
As a part of this initiative,
Ola customers will have the
option to contribute one rupee
Cause.’ initiative on its mobile per ride, money that will go
app platform to crowdsource towards improving cancer care
Fresh push for funds for cancer care. in the country.
data-driven Ola has rolled out this There is a huge burden of
unique, national-level initiative cancer in India. The lack of
governance through a partnership with the infrastructure, human resources
Tata Trusts’ Alamelu and prevention programmes
F ollowing Pune, Jamshedpur
and Surat, five more Indian
cities — Ahmedabad, Bhopal,
Charitable Foundation.
Ola’s mobile app connects
users in more than 110 Indian
aggravates the situation. The
contributions raised by Ola
customers will help make
Bhubaneswar, Chennai and cities with some 1 million cancer care affordable and
Vijayawada — have joined the driver-partners across cabs, available in rural and remote
‘City Data for India’ initiative, auto-rickshaws and taxis. areas of India. n
launched by the Tata Trusts in
2016 in association with
PricewaterhouseCoopers, India, and Tel Aviv University to deliver
the World Council on City Data.
The initiative will contribute Israeli innovation in farming
in improving urban planning,
infrastructure investment and
day-to-day operations management
by empowering city leaders,
T el Aviv University and the
Tata Trusts are launching the
Indian Centre for Agri & Allied
decision-makers and citizens to Tech to bring Israeli know-how
make data-informed decisions. and innovation to farmers in
The objective is to create a Andhra Pradesh.
culture of data-driven decision- The initiative, supported by
making in order to foster better the state government, will include
accountability, transparency and an advanced research centre. The
governance, and to engage citizens programme will be extended across
in their city’s well-being. India down the line.
The value of city-centric data is The programme has five main conditions. A network of
especially important in India, components. Corporations and satellite farms will conduct
where the urban population is research institutes in Israel will additional experiments. Farmers
projected to grow from 410 adapt existing technologies and will test the technologies in their
million in 2014 to 800 million by develop new solutions for Indian own fields. Business models will
2050, placing enormous demands agriculture. The R&D hub will test be developed to support the
on cities and governments. n the solutions under local project. n
July 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 9
Football gets
a kick-start
in Mizoram
T he Tata Trusts have launched
a state-of-the-art Centre of
Excellence for Football in Aizawl,
Mizoram, to provide world-class
training to young footballers from
Northeast India.
The first batch of 25 student
athletes, aged 12-14 years, has been
handpicked following a meticulous
scouting exercise conducted across
the states of Mizoram, Manipur,
Nagaland, Meghalaya and Assam.
The Centre offers quality
coaching, infrastructure, education,
residential facilities, and a
sustainable progression structure ‘Baby league’ in Meghalaya
through training and competitive
participation.
The Centre has a training
ground, top-notch recovery
T he Tata Trusts have joined
hands with the Meghalaya
Football Association and the
a boon for budding football
talent in the state.
MBL aims to give children
equipment and a fully equipped All India Football Federation to regular exposure to competitive
physiotherapy room. launch the Meghalaya Baby football over a period of six
The Tata Trusts have League (MBL). months in order to develop their
collaborated with the Mizoram The league comprises 12 game, instill confidence and
government, the Mizoram Football teams of children in the 4-13 eventually create a base of
Association and others to get the age group and is expected to be trained football players. n
Centre up and running.
The Centre is one component
of ‘the Tata Trusts-Sarva Shiksha India’s first police museum
Abhiyan grassroots football
development programme’, which
aims to identify children with an
interest in football and provide
T he Office of the
Commissioner of Police,
Mumbai, the Mumbai Police
of the newly registered Mumbai
Police Foundation is to restore
artefacts and equipment of
them with a platform to develop Foundation and the Tata Trusts historical value.
their talent. have come together to conserve Mumbai city’s police force
The Trusts and their partners and archive historic police came into being in 1864. The
have set up 60 grassroots academies records, and to plan for the first archive and museum project will
across six districts of Mizoram for police museum in India. help build awareness about the
kids in the 6-14 age group. n One of the main objectives rich history of the force. n
10 cover story
Cash
in the
crop
the Lakhpati Kisan project
is transforming the lives of
over 100,000 tribal farming
households in four Indian
states — and it has the
potential to deliver more
K
antibhai Makwana could barely
make ends meet with what he
earned by farming his field in
Ratanpur village of Gujarat’s Sabarkantha
district. Three years down the line, his
income from agriculture has jumped
from `25,000 per annum to about
`175,000. The money has been meaty
enough for him to do up his home —
with a pipeline to boot, he says — buy a
motorbike and start a flour-mill business.
Sushila Khanda, who lives in Gaduan
village in the mineral-rich Keonjhar district
of Odisha, was a subsistence farmer till
three years back. A member of the Gond
tribal community, she managed to pull in
`73,000 last year, modest in comparison
with Mr Makwana but good enough to
complete the plastering work of her house,
send her son to a better school and spend
on clothes and trinkets.July 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 11 A tribal woman and her son with the family’s chilly crop in Dahod district of Gujarat
12 cover story
Separated by some 1,800km
Towards
and differences in language and
culture, Mr Makwana and
a better
life, little
Ms Khanda have never met and are
unlikely to. They are, nevertheless,
part of a single extended family,
one that has under its canopy more
than 100,000 households in 800
underserved villages spread across
by little
the states of Jharkhand, The lakhpati Kisan
Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha.
programme is aimed
This is the family that populates
Mission 2020 — Lakhpati Kisan:
at equipping tribal
Smart Villages, one of the most households in four
ambitious and challenging projects states with the means
supported by the Tata Trusts. and the knowledge
to improve their
The upside and after
agricultural and allied
Lakhpati Kisan, loosely translated as
‘`100,000 farmer’, is designed to lift
practices, and thereby
those who have been incorporated pull them irreversibly
into the programme irreversibly out of poverty
out of poverty. Operational since
April 2015, it has a spectrum of
schemes and principles to realise activities, bit by incremental bit. with high-value vegetables. It means
the objective, all of them aligned to It’s a complicated task, made more improving irrigation access — drip
agriculture-centred livelihoods. The difficult by the project’s stringent irrigation is a crucial feature of the
households are mainly from tribal 2020 deadline for completion. project — and water usage efficiency.
regions and the building blocks are Lakhpati Kisan is a welcome Also on the menu are year-round
women’s self-help groups (SHGs). balm amidst the melancholy that farming, developing linkages to
The aggregation of SHGs into envelops Indian agriculture, a markets, aggregation of produce to
village organisations and, further pursuit rendered perilous for many fetch the right price and backing
on, into federations enables the by forces natural and induced. tribal entrepreneurs.
project to gather strength in scale With its focus on tribal farmers
and nurture the women-led and their fundamental problems, More than farming
institutions spearheading their own the programme aims to lift some of Alongside high-value agriculture,
development. The manner of the this gloom and, it is hoped, provide participating households have been
project’s execution pours attention a template that can be employed by encouraged to take up at least one
on making the communities in its governments and their agencies to allied livelihood activity — such
care resilient and cohesive, self- similar effect on a wider canvas. as animal husbandry, apiculture,
reliant and self-sustaining. Lakhpati Kisan supplements lac cultivation, fisheries and
The goal is to get `120,000 and often times supplants the ways horticulture — to hedge risks as
into the hands of each of traditional farming. That means well as accelerate income growth.
participating household every year adding on to conventional crops The focus has been on technology
through farming and allied such as maize, wheat and paddy and innovations, among themJuly 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 13
To enable 101,000 tribal households to earn at least
The goal:
`120,000 a year
Geographic 800 villages in the states of Odisha, Jharkhand,
spread: Gujarat and Maharashtra
From 2015 to 2020, by when the initiative is
Project period:
expected to be sustainable
The catalysts: Tribal women, trained and supported,
form the core of the programme
Institutional 5,300+ self-help groups, 340 village organisations,
setup: 19 federations and farmer-producer organisations
The methods: High-value crops, year-round farming, improved
irrigation, access to markets, aggregation of produce, animal
husbandry, etc
X factor: Use of top-end technology for farming, water and
sanitation, energy, education and health, and digital literacy
polyhouse nurseries, trellis farming Collectives for Integrated raising the income of these farmers
and solar-based lifting devices. Livelihood Initiatives, an associate by three to four times. We had to
Initiatives for all-round organisation of the Tata Trusts with think outside the box on all aspects,
improvements in the quality of life more than a decade of experience, including technology, irrigation,
of tribal communities — with became the natural vehicle to seed getting other stakeholders on board,
projects in education, water and the project and drive it forward. and building capacities and
sanitation, nutrition, digital Nonprofits, many of them already institutions. We had to take
literacy, sports and life-skills working with the Trusts, were ownership and risks and that’s what
development — have been brought in to help with we have done.”
integrated in community clusters. implementation. Once off the
Lakhpati Kisan emerged ground, the programme also Miles to go
following a study done in 2013-14 connected with government bodies With three years of the programmes
to understand the dynamics of and schemes to intensify the impact completed, not everything has gone
farming by small landholders in of its various endeavours. according to plans and expectations.
India, the bottlenecks they have to What Lakhpati Kisan is trying “We have covered in excess of
deal with and their successes. Vital to accomplish is distinctive, and 100,000 households in Lakhpati
in this context was the need to that poses challenges by the dozen. Kisan and the idea was to get at least
spark the community’s aspirations “We realised we couldn’t do the 50% of them to an income level of
and enterprise, to bring together its regular stuff and expect to succeed,” at least `120,000 a year by now,”
talents and efforts to ensure the says Ganesh Neelam, who heads the says Mr Neelam. “Our current
permanence of change. initiative. “We were looking at achievement stands at 20%, so we14 cover story
are behind the target. It has taken
longer than we expected to build
capacities in the community and to
get people to try out new things.”
Mr Neelam is confident that
progress from here on will be faster.
“This is our fourth year and I’m
sure that by the end of it we will
have about 70% of our farming
families with an income of `100,000
and more. The community
institutions, the technology and the
training are broadly in place today
and we are working on the market
linkages part. When we kicked off
we had certain hypotheses; those
have evolved and we have adapted.”
Mindset change
Hidden from view is the psychology
of villagers making the leap from
traditional agriculture to high-value
crops. The majority of these folks
were not full-time farmers to begin
with and it has taken a while to
bring them up to speed. “It requires
substantial energy to understand the
mindset of the villagers,” explains
Mr Neelam. “We spend six to
eight months interacting with the
community before we get started
and there are a lot of challenges in
convincing them about the multiple
facets of the initiative.”
There have been variations in
outcomes in the four states covered
by Lakhpati Kisan. The positive here
is the cross-pollination of ideas and
the sharing of knowledge from every
success and failure. “Gujarat stands
out because the institutions there are
strong; the people there had an early
The tribal community in Tomka, a village in
Jajapur district of Odisha, has benefitted in
start and they are proactive,” says
good measure thanks to Lakhpati Kisan Mr Neelam. “In Odisha and
Jharkhand the adoption of newJuly 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 15
“We were looking at raising the income of these
farmers by three to four times. We had to think
outside the box... We had to take ownership and
risks and that’s what we have done.”
Ganesh Neelam, zonal manager, north and central india, Tata Trusts
technologies has been fast. In of the project in Odisha. “In the connected to the market. “Drip
Maharashtra, village institutions tribal regions we work in, it is irrigation is not about saving water
have come to the fore. It’s basically mostly subsistence agriculture, as much as it is about saving on
about learning from one another mono crop and rain-fed,” he says. labour,” says Mr Dutta. “And it’s
and going up the ladder.” “The villagers are not habituated to not about isolated irrigation
Having the state governments the commercial growing of crops, structures; you have to saturate the
on its side is critical for the which requires a superior degree of villages with irrigation access.”
programme and this, too, is a skill and experience. We had to
demanding job. “You have to stay create the momentum and the Community care
engaged,” says Mr Neelam. “What mahol [atmosphere] to attract them.” Virendra Vaghani, Mr Dutta’s
we have learned is that we need to There were other issues as well counterpart in Gujarat, says the Tata
be close to the official machinery at in Odisha: shortage of labour, Trusts confronted a different set
the district level; they are the ones inadequate access to irrigation, lack of challenges in the state. “Initially
calling the shots.” of market linkages and it was about convincing our field
The reality on the ground is communities that found it difficult partners on the feasibility of the
what occupies the attention of to get mobilised. What did work initiative. Then came setting up the
Santanu Dutta, the man in charge was drip irrigation and getting SHGs, the primary institutions in
A village organisation meeting underway in Dhadgaon
village in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra16 cover story
These tribal women in Deoghar
district of Jharkhand are part of a
project that nurtures nurseries
providing seedlings to the community
Lakhpati Kisan. We were a bit late to the `120,000 mark and beyond. norm, these villagers are putting in
on this but we have caught up. We The second phase, which has been 20-30% of the money required.
got the community to take charge. initiated in select clusters, will see “I don’t know what plans God
Once that happens you can trigger greater stress being put on quality has for me but I believe things will
aspirations and it becomes easier.” of life indices. In the thinking of get better,” says Mr Makwana, who,
Change agents from within the the Tata Trusts, what lies after that unlike scores of farmers across
community are important cogs in is a surety. India, does not think agriculture
the programme and Mr Vaghani will be anathema to those following
and his team have come to depend Sustainability equation in his stead. “I have a grandson
heavily on them. “We selected the “Our involvement will be reduced now and, with the progress we have
progressive ones and started with substantially and the community achieved, he will do four times as
them. They were open to new ways will take the lead,” says Mr Neelam. well as me.”
of doing things and we showed “What we are also saying is we The upbeat nature of
them how. Other farmers saw the have a fine opportunity here to Mr Makwana and his mates is not
result, believed in it and the village scale-up the initiative, through an aberration. After all, it is difficult
as a whole adopted the approach.” the institutions that have been for those who can afford to take the
Mr Vaghani emphasises the put in place and by getting the necessities of everyday life for
need to give the community more government convinced that this granted to understand the difference
space and responsibility. “They may concept can be taken far and wide.” a swell in money earned makes to
fail but they will learn from it. The Tata Trusts have those surviving on the margins. Not
Having said that, I must add that committed significant resources to so for Shardaben Makwana, once a
I’ve never seen the community the Lakhpati Kisan programme, sharecropper with an income of
contributing as much in any spread over its five-year duration. `40,000 a year, now a rejuvenated
programme. I’m very optimistic About as much will come in from farmer who made `150,000 in 2017.
that we will achieve our results.” other donors and government Asked what the future holds for her,
Lakhpati Kisan is still in the agencies. More heartening still is she says, “Next, I’m headed for the
first stage of implementation, the monetary contribution the moon.” n
which is about enhancing villagers are making to their own
livelihoods and getting households uplift. Where 10% or less is the By Philip ChackoJuly 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 17
‘there was so much to discover’
Sumitraben Patel, a self-assured 60-year-old from
the Bhil tribal community, is an example of how
Lakhpati Kisan is enabling farmers of modest means
to fashion a better life for themselves. A resident of
Dhabada village in Gujarat’s Dahod district,
Ms Patel has hauled herself and her family up from
a hardscrabble existence to find a fair measure of
security, a voice in her community and her place in the
world. This is her story:
T
raditional, low-scale farming was what we
were doing and we grew maize, wheat and
pulses. The work was tough and the money
we made barely enough to get by. There were plenty
of days when we struggled to put decent food on the
table; dal-roti was the staple. Then came the lakhpati
Kisan project and it transformed everything.
The programme opened our eyes. The training
and learning, the exposure to better farming
practices, the coming together of our women through
self-help groups [sHGs], the growing of cash crops, is the kind who does not like taking advice from
the concept of year-round cultivation, the aggregated outsiders; i wanted to listen to everybody and learn
marketing and selling of produce — all of these from them. i mobilised other women from my village
were part of the programme. There was so much to to form one of the earliest sHGs in the project.
discover and understand. i used to work for daily wages before joining
We had an irrigation scheme in our village but the programme. no matter how sincere my labour,
the lakhpati initiative was the real accelerator. i was there would always be complaints. i was convinced
making `50,000-60,000 a year before the programme that if i put in the same effort on my land, and with
was introduced in 2015. now, three years later, my the knowledge i had gained, at least there would be
family’s income has risen to `300,000 a year. We grow nobody complaining. This is my field, my produce, my
vegetables, we produce honey and we have a small earnings, my business. That makes me feel good.
business providing decorations, catering and music i can’t read and write and that’s a disadvantage,
bands for weddings. none of this would have been but my position in the family is strong. The final word
possible without the programme. is mine. That definitely is due to what i have achieved.
The money coming in has been a huge help Thanks to the exposure i got, i learned about the
for my family. We have been able to refurbish our world and how it functioned, about leadership and
house, invest in digging borewells and also fund the organising people. There was a time when i wasn’t
education of my grandson, who’s studying to be a comfortable sitting on a chair. That’s long gone.
homeopathic doctor. as for me, i’ve gained so much i’m certain we can sustain this success even
confidence from the project. My grandkids may well after the project winds up here. We have moved
find employment elsewhere, but there is no question from growing crops to marketing them. We have
of me giving up on agriculture. Besides the money, we become entrepreneurs. We have created vibrant
get to eat fresh and wholesome food. no pesticides. village communities that can speak — and do good
i was the one who took the lead. My husband — for themselves. n18 centre stage
center stage
A mother and child at the Penumaka
anganwadi centre in Guntur, Andhra PradeshJuly 2018 tata trusts Horizons 19
Food first
ensuring that India’s underprivileged children eat healthy — this is
the objective driving the tata trusts’ nutrition initiative, a multi-
pronged effort that covers millions of needy women and their kids
s
arika, six months The Trusts have set their own to impact underprivileged and
pregnant, comes every day targets — to reduce the prevalence marginalised communities, and to
to the Penumaka of stunting in children less than 5 go beyond urban areas and work in
anganwadi centre in Guntur in years of age by 30%, and to reduce the interiors,” says Dr Rajan
Andhra Pradesh for a hot meal of the prevalence of anemia (iron Sankar, director of the Trusts’
dal, rice, egg and milk. The meal deficiency) by 40%. To do this, it nutrition initiative.
will increase her nutritional levels intends to reach out to improve
so that the child she bears will nutrition levels for 6 million Multi-sector approach
grow up healthy, not stunted. children and 750,000 pregnant and To achieve this laudable goal, the
Undernutrition continues to be lactating women. Tata Trusts are working at several
a major challenge in India, with “We believe that improving levels. One of their programmes
40% of children below five years of nutrition standards will help has adopted a multi-sectoral
age stunted (short for their age) and improve India’s physical and approach to nutrition.
20% of them wasted (low weight). mental health parameters. We aim They are partnering the
High rates of undernutrition government to strengthen existing
combined with its huge population platforms; collaborating with
base makes India the country with agencies to develop staple foods
the largest number of malnourished fortified with iron, vitamins, folic
in the world. It is shocking acid, etc; working at the grassroots
numbers like these that the Tata level with beneficiaries; and
Trusts are aiming to reduce through supporting advocacy partners to
its ‘India nutrition initiative’. generate data that will give a true
The Tata Trusts began picture of what India’s
partnering the National Nutrition undernourished children need to
Mission, under the Ministry of turn the corner. The Trusts also
“We believe that
Women and Child Development work with civil society
improving nutrition
from January 2018. The mission organisations, including
has set a three-year beneficiary
standards will help international NGOs and other
target of 100 million children and improve India’s physical development partners.
pregnant and lactating women. and mental health The most intensive engagement
Kicked off in 2017, the mission parameters.” is the partnership with the
has been launched in 315 districts — Dr Rajan Sankar, director, government. India runs a massive
(roughly half of India). nutrition initiative, Tata Trusts maternal and child health20 centre stage
programme called Integrated Child
Development Services (ICDS). This
programme covers a vast network
of over 1.4 million anganwadi
centres, which act as support
centres for mothers and children
upto the age of six.
The centres reach out to 84
million children and 19 million
pregnant and lactating mothers,
and are monitored by each state
government’s department of
woman and child services (or its
equivalent).
“ICDS reaches millions of
beneficiaries, and working with this
system should enable us to make a
bigger impact,” says Dr Sankar. The
Tata Trusts have already signed a
memoranda of understanding with
three state governments —
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and
Rajasthan — to strengthen the
existing ICDS network. amongst anganwadi workers prerak programme is expected to
In Maharashtra’s Palghar through training programmes that cover 550 districts.
district, the Trusts will transform will help them bring about Malnutrition can be fought by
200 anganwadis into model centres behavioural changes in the ensuring that the food consumed
to make them more colourful, community. Technology is being by children and pregnant mothers
appealing and child-friendly. In brought into play — the Trusts are has adequate vitamins and
Andhra Pradesh, the Tata Trusts helping anganwadi workers to use minerals. In 2016, the Tata Trusts
have stepped in to partner the state mobile devices that will capture real and the Food Safety and Standards
government in implementing its -time data. Authority of India (FSSAI)
nutrition mission across three partnered to set up the Food
districts (see linked article). In Mission possible Fortification Resource Centre
Rajasthan, the Tata Trusts have To support the National Nutrition (FFRC). Advocacy and capacity
adopted a multi-dimensional Mission, a new initiative called building is the route that FFRC
approach and are working with the Swasth Bharat Prerak Programme takes to promote the use of
ministries of health, water and was kicked off a few months fortified foods.
sanitation, food and agriculture, ago. Preraks are interns who will The five foods being fortified
rural development and women’s be trained to work with district in India are milk, salt, oil, wheat
welfare to ensure that the ICDS collectors’ offices to monitor and rice (see linked story). Placing
system gets the necessary and drive the nutrition mission. these fortified staple foods into
infrastructural support. At present 112 preraks have India’s ICDS, school midday meals
In all three states, the Trusts are been trained and placed in their and the public distribution system
working to build better capabilities respective districts; over time, the will help expand the availability ofJuly 2018 tata trusts Horizons 21
Centralised kitchens, the result of a partnership between the Tata Trusts,
different state governments and the Bengaluru-based NGO Akshaya
Patra, provide nutritious food to students in schools across India
key nutrients. The Trusts’ target is snacks, to 20,000 children. to find ways to introduce healthy
to provide fortified food to 350 Advocacy based on data and foods in the market. The Trusts
million people within three years, statistics plays a big role in have partnered with food giant
says Dr Sankar. increasing awareness about India’s Mars to create nutritious food
multiple nutrition problems, and products that are both healthy and
Sure-fire way in getting well-wishers on board. appealing to children. By
One sure-fire way of ensuring The Tata Trusts have partnered manufacturing and distributing
that children get their daily dose with the National Institute of such products at scale, the Trusts
of nutritious food is to work Nutrition (NIN) to set up a hope to create a pull, especially in
directly with the school mid-day Tata-NIN Centre for Excellence in rural markets. A high protein snack
meal scheme. The Trusts support Nutrition in Hyderabad. The is ready for launch.
organisations such as Akshaya Patra centre provides data-driven By adopting this multi-faceted
which supply food to millions of insights and advice to state and approach to nutritional security
children under this scheme. central governments. and working with stakeholders
Two years ago, the Trusts set Another institution active in across India’s food and health
up two centralised kitchens in nutrition is the MS Swaminathan ecosystem, the Tata Trusts are
Maharashtra’s Palghar and Nashik Research Foundation (MSSRF) in working towards achieving large-
districts to supply food to Chennai, which supports new scale sustainable impact on India’s
children in tribal schools. farming systems as a path to tackle most vulnerable population —
Managed by the Trusts, the household food and nutrition children, who are India’s future. n
kitchens provide hygienic and security in rural India.
nutritious meals thrice a day, and Yet another identified need is By Gayatri Kamath22 centre stage
The way to nurture
healthier children
the tata trusts’ nutrition strategy
Promoting strengthening advocacy with
healthy food platforms stakeholders
Promoting foods fortified with iron and vitamins
Fortified Fortified
oil rice
250 million + beneficiaries 0.1 million + beneficiaries
Fortified Double fortified
milk salt
75 million + beneficiaries 50 million + beneficiaries
strengthening anganwadi centres
Rajasthan
Maharashtra 8,556 Andhra Pradesh
3,183 11,900July 2018 TaTa
TaT
TaT
Ta
a TrusTs
TrusTs Horizons 23
Integrated approach to improve nutrition
Strengthening Training anganwadi Introducing
anganwadi centres workers fortified foods
In 3 years, the tata trusts hope to
Reduce stunting by 30% in children under 5 years
Reduce anaemia prevalence by 40%
Managing kitchens that
feed tribal children Improving farming
Feeding 20,000 kids every day at systems
Palghar and Nashik, Maharashtra Partnering the MS Swaminathan
Research Foundation
generating data Working at the
on nutrition district level
Established the tata-NiN centre Training 300+ participants
for Excellence in Nutrition to work as National Nutrition
Mission fellows
Partnering the Ministry of Women
and child Development
The partnership plan is to reach 100 million children
and pregnant and lactating women24 centre stage
A daily dose of
nutrition
the tata trusts have been working with the andhra
Pradesh government to ensure that young mothers and
children get their daily recommended nutritional inputs
I
t’s a hot May morning at the “The services are the same but the new
Penumaka anganwadi centre in Guntur, look makes a lot of difference. Children are
Andhra Pradesh, where over a dozen willing to come, and mothers are motivated
children play happily on the colourful to send them too,” says anganwadi
swings and slides in the garden. Play time supervisor Y Sreelatha, who oversees around
is soon followed by study time — the 20 centres in the area.
children come indoors to learn numbers, Refurbishing anganwadi centres is just
alphabets and simple rhymes. one of the roles undertaken by the Trusts
This anganwadi centre is special — in their engagement with the state
unlike the typical dull-looking ones government of Andhra Pradesh. The
elsewhere, the Penumaka unit has been organisation, which has worked in the
completely refurbished by the Tata Trusts, region since March 2017, has adopted an
with colourful walls, new furniture, special integrated approach to improve nutritional
tables for the children and play equipment. levels of children and mothers in three
The centre now acts like a child magnet districts in the state (Nellore, Krishna and
after the makeover, helping it to better Guntur), where over 400,000 children are
perform its primary role as a place where attached to 11,900+ anganwadi centres.
children and young mothers receive
counselling and support for the first few Good food is the focus
years of a child’s life. “Our focus is nutrition, not making the
centres look nice,” says Sandesh Kotte,
programme officer, Tata Trusts. “But when
“Our focus is nutrition, not making the we did one, it received such a positive
centres look nice. But when we did one, response from the government and the
it received such a positive response children that we are doing this for more
centres. We have completed the makeover of
from the government and the children three anganwadis and there will be more.”
that we are being asked to do this for Nutrition, a key component of the
more centres.” Integrated Child Development Services
(ICDS) platform, is also the primary focusJuly 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 25
Mothers and their children at a
centre in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
of the anganwadi centres. The Andhra inputs they desperately need. One important
Pradesh government has reinforced this by route has been convincing the government
launching the State Nutrition Mission to to introduce fortified foods into two
ensure that young children and mothers get delivery platforms that touch large number
the nutrients they need to stay healthy. of children and mothers — the ICDS
At the Penumaka anganwadi centre, the network of anganwadi centres and the
children get a full meal of rice, dal, an egg midday meals served in schools.
and milk. A few young mothers sit to feed With the Trusts’ advocacy, the Women
their toddlers with a nutritional food called Development and Child Welfare
Balamruthum — a thick gruel made from Department in Andhra Pradesh has now
wheat flour, milk powder, groundnut and introduced two fortified foods — double
sugar with added vitamins and minerals. fortified salt (with iodine and iron) and
There’s a pregnant mother who has fortified milk (enhanced with vitamin A
come in for her daily nutritional input, and D) — for its anganwadi centres.
and she gets a hot meal as well. Jacinta, the The Trusts are now working with the
anganwadi worker for the Penumaka centre, state government to set up a factory to
says she looks after 20 children every day. manufacture fortified food, known in the
She also has a dozen pregnant and lactating ICDS system as ‘take home ration’ (THR),
mothers on her books, and goes on home for mothers of young children. THR is
visits regularly. based on a formula that combines multi-
The Trusts’ core objective is to ensure grain flours such as wheat, corn, or soybean,
that children and mothers get the nutritional fortified with micronutrients.26 centre stage
The Andhra Pradesh government has
branded this as Balamruthum, and has
been sourcing it from the neighbouring
state of Telangana. The Tata Trusts are
providing technical support to build a
new 100,000 tonne plant that will supply
Balamruthum to Andhra’s 54,000
anganwadi centres.
The Trusts are also working with rice
mills in Odisha and Karnataka to produce
fortified rice kernels. These kernels,
fortified with iron, folic acid and vitamin
B, and mixed with regular rice in a
specified proportion, will soon be
introduced in the Andhra Pradesh ICDS
system and the school midday meal scheme
in the three districts.
Communicating health
At the Penumaka centre, another anganwadi
worker, Sarla Kumari, counsels mothers on
the importance of a proper diet for their
toddlers. “It will make them strong and help
Nutritional inputs at the right age are critical
them walk early,” she says. An anganwadi for child growth and immunity
worker for 15 years now, Sarla recently
attended a training module on preventing
anemia in pregnant mothers through an more colourful communication material for
iron-rich diet. the modules, which come with illustrations.
This is yet another component of the These deal with several topics related to
Trusts’ engagement, ensuring that the child health that anganwadi workers in
communication around nutrition is strong rural areas regularly find themselves dealing
and meaningful. For this, it has started a with — handling sick newborn babies,
series of training programmes to strengthen counselling new mothers on breast feeding,
the knowledge and capabilities of steps to be taken for home visits, diet
anganwadi workers and supervisors. counselling for pregnant mothers, and so
Anusha Krishnapuram is a new on. In Andhra Pradesh, the Tata Trusts
member of the 23-member Tata Trusts plan to train over 11,000 workers through
team based in Vijayawada. She serves as the the ILA method.
district manager for Guntur and is in charge “It’s all about the first 1,000 days of a
of monitoring capability strengthening. “We child’s life, counting from conception
use the incremental learning approach onward to pre-school. We also do
(ILA) — there are 21 modules, and we take community-based events that promote
up one module a month over three days, to health and nutrition,” says Farida Sultana,
make sure that the trainees fully grasp all who handles the anganwadi refurbishment
the points,” says Ms Krishnapuram. initiative for the Trusts.
The Trusts have helped create new, Apart from pregnant and youngJuly 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 27
The Tata Trusts are transforming anganwadi
centres to make them child-friendly
mothers, the Trusts work with one more programme a more significant boost,
important segment — adolescent girls. They though, is the launch of the Swasth Bharat
partner the state Kishori Vikasam Scheme Prerak Programme, a joint initiative of the
which offers adolescent girls counseling on Tata Trusts and the Union Ministry of
matters related to health and nutrition. Women and Child Development.
Under this programme, around 500
Delivering impact young men and women trained by the
Measurement and monitoring are key Trusts will be stationed in various districts
when it comes to health, and technology across India, where they will support the
plays a big role in the Trusts’ nutritional district collector’s office in driving the
engagement in Andhra Pradesh. To make government’s health and nutrition
the ICDS system more robust and effective, programme. More than 110 such preraks
the Trusts have been piloting a biometric have been trained as of now, and one each
authentication system in the state’s assigned to Andhra Pradesh’s 13 districts.
Prakasam district. The Trusts’ work with nutrition in
“Anganwadi workers in Prakasam have Andhra Pradesh is one of their most
all been given mobile phones by the intensive engagements in the country. This
government. By linking the biometric multipronged drive against malnutrition
devices to their mobiles, we will be able to combines a highly interactive on-ground
get accurate beneficiary data and also approach with focused interventions in the
eliminate false beneficiaries from the areas of support, supply, services and
system,” Mr Kotte explains. communication.
The Trusts are also in discussions with The expectation is that all this will lead
the State Ministry of Panchayati Raj to to a sustainable impact on the health and
source and distribute health data cards, nutrition of young children at the most
called mother-child protection cards, to all tender stage of their lives. n
mothers enrolled in the ICDS scheme.
What could give the nutrition By Gayatri Kamath28 centre stage
Staple solutions
W
Food fortification is idespread nutritional oil, and minerals and vitamins — such
deficiencies are a as iron, folic acid, vitamin B12, iodine
the main course in a problem across the and zinc — to staple foods such as
world. In India, micronutrient rice, wheat flour and salt.
programme that is deficiencies are a serious concern, Fortification will help address
strengthening posing as they do serious health the issue of micronutrient
risks especially for people deficiencies in India’s population.
nutritional safety and considered vulnerable, including The Tata Trusts have been a leading
ensuring the security women of reproductive age and support organisation in India’s
children who are often most recent food fortification drive,
of what we eat underweight and anaemic. and have been promoting it and
Food fortification has proved to working for its extensive adoption
be a simple and cost-effective by the government and industry. To
approach that can be rolled out make it a reality, the Tata Trusts
widely to ensure that millions of have partnered with food safety
people get the vital building blocks regulator Food Safety and Standards
for good health, immunity and Authority of India (FSSAI) to set up
overall wellbeing. The process of a Food Fortification Resource
fortification involves adding Centre (FFRC).
vitamins A and D to milk and edible Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO,
ThE bEnEfITS of fooD forTIfIcATIon
Edible oil + Salt + Iodine + Iron rice + Minerals +
Vit A & D • Tackles anaemia and Vit a & B
• Builds immunity and iodine deficiency • Tackles anaemia
bone health • Can be used in all and boosts immunity
• Easy to add meals and sold in • used in anganwadi
open market and school midday meals
• Potential reach:
98% of india’s • Potential reach: • Potential reach:
population 150 million 84 million childrenJuly 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 29
FSSAI, says the role of FFRC goes
beyond enforcing standards. “We
took it upon ourselves to promote
fortification since we have the
outreach to industry,” he says. The
organisation has been active in
trying to build consensus and
confidence among policymakers,
the government and scientists.
United effort
The Trusts fund FFRC, while
development partners such as WFP
(World Food Programme), PATH
and GAIN (Global Alliance for
Improved Nutrition) and others
lend on-ground support.
FFRC’s role ranges from policy Fortifying milk with vitamins A and D is an easy and low-cost option
advocacy with the government to
developing the needed skills for “Together, we have developed a fortification is currently voluntary,
fortification, capacity-building, and standard protocol for vitamin A a network of around 3,000 food
training for industry, food safety and D testing in milk,” says Vivek safety officers are stationed across
officers and lab assistants, along Arora, senior advisor, Tata Trusts, the country and available to help
with creating awareness around the and the lead resource for ensure adherence to standards.
need for fortification. fortification efforts in India. While Fortification is a good strategy
to address nutritional deficiencies
on a large scale as it does not
interfere with the existing food
habits or purchasing power of
people. “It does not aim to change
food habits or promote
supplementation; so no extra effort
is required. It is also the easiest and
most cost-effective way of reaching
the nutrients to a large
population,” sayas Mr Agarwal.
Five staples — rice, wheat flour,
Milk + Vit a & D Wheat + Minerals edible oil, salt and milk — have
• Builds immunity and + Vit a & B been identified for this programme
bone health • Tackles anaemia and as they are the base ingredients for
• low cost boosts immunity cooking and consumption among
people at all socio-economic levels.
• Potential: Can reach • used in anganwadi
centres and school “These staples are vehicles for
most of india’s urban fortification to reach the
population midday meals
population and our focus is on
• Potential: Can reach
fortifying them with
84 million children30 centre stage
micronutrients,” says Mr Agarwal. rice blended with vitamin and state cooperative dairies.
Edible oil reaches 98% of the mineral pre-mix. In the initial year of
households, and is therefore a good Fortification of wheat flour engagement, the Trusts handhold
vehicle to carry fat soluble vitamins poses an even bigger challenge. The the fortification process, from
like A and D. Together with GAIN simplest is milk, where fortification conducting trials and sample
and FFRC, the Tata Trusts have been is done by blending a specified testing in National Accreditation
able to fortify 47% of the leading dosage of concentrated liquid Board for Testing and Calibration
brands of edible oil in the market. emulsion or premix to the milk, Laboratories (NABL) accredited
Today fortified oil reaches ensuring that the level of added laboratories as per FSSAI
approximately 250 million people vitamins is within the standards, to arranging the
in India, and has the potential to recommended dietary allowance fortificant premix and helping
positively impact the health of a limits as per the food regulatory with consumer awareness and
much larger proportion of the guidelines. communication campaigns.
population.“We got most traction The first to adopt was Mother
with edible oils,” Mr Agarwal adds. Making milk better Dairy, followed by the Jharkhand
Efforts are now on to get At 164 million tonnes, India is the Dairy Federation with its Medha
micro, small- and medium-sized largest producer of milk worldwide. brand, in May 2017. So far, 13 state
producers across 10 Indian states to Studies have suggested that over milk cooperative federations have
adopt oil fortification. FSSAI is 70% of India’s population is taken up milk fortification,
also considering making deficient in vitamin D. Further, including Haryana, Punjab, Uttar
fortification of packaged refined oil over a quarter of the world’s total Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya
mandatory in some time. vitamin A deficient pre-school Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha,
Double fortification of salt is children live in India, and around a Gujarat and Karnataka.
already being done widely. In the third of them show clinical signs of These cooperatives together
case of rice fortification, the vitamin A deficiency. fortify 7.2 million litres a day out of
process is far more complex. Among the staples, the efforts a combined fortifiable milk capacity
Fortified rice kernels have to be for milk fortification is being of 22 million litres per day. With
blended in a 1:100 ratio with driven mainly by the Tata Trusts, fortification of another 8 million
normal rice. The kernels, which are for which they have partnered with litres per day planned over the next
similar to rice grains in appearance, the National Dairy Development few months, about 70% of
are reconstituted from powdered Board (NDDB) to reach out to cooperative milk would be fortified.
Mother Dairy in Delhi was one of the earliest adopters in the milk fortification programmeJuly 2018 TaTa TrusTs Horizons 31
In the second phase, the Trusts
plan to target private dairy
producers where the fortifiable
milk potential is around 19 million
litres per day. “We are confident
that our work with the state dairy
cooperatives will create peer
pressure on private players to
follow suit,” says Mr Arora.
School milk fortification starting early
through the ‘Gift Milk’ scheme is
another important initiative in this Mother Dairy was the earliest adopter of milk fortification
direction. Under this, the state when, in 1984, it began fortifying its coin-operated, bulk-
governments of Haryana, vended milk with vitamin a for sale in new Delhi. it wasn’t
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and surprising then that in november 2016, soon after the
Chhattisgarh have been ensuring programme was launched, Mother Dairy was the first off the
that the flavoured milk being block to double-fortify its bulk-vended milk with vitamins a
supplied through the ICDS and and D. This milk is available across its 795 booths and 1,700
midday meal platforms is fortified vending units in the Delhi region. Fortification of packaged
with vitamins A & D. milk began in January 2017 with the low fat variants.
“Vitamin a and D deficiencies in india are a matter of
Low cost, high gain concern as they result in issues related to impaired vision,
The cost of milk fortification is low osteoporosis and other health problems. such deficiencies
— less than 3 paise per litre — and are also linked to today’s lifestyle, with very limited exposure
there is no change in flavour or to the sun. it is therefore imperative to fortify milk,” says
taste. The bigger challenge, though, srinivasan T, chief quality officer, Mother Dairy.
is in building consumer awareness Despite its own stringent quality and testing processes,
about the benefits and availability the challenge with fortified milk was in ensuring that the tests
of such milk. Hence marketing and were accurate since the fortifying ingredients need to strictly
communication are key areas. abide by recommended dietary allowance standards. “Quality
Work is underway to develop control is a critical part of fortification,” says Kajal Debnath,
generic communication around the DGM, scientific, regulatory and nutrition affairs at Mother Dairy.
benefits of fortification to support For this, its Central analytical lab team was trained for
the brand-specific advertising being vitamin D analysis at the renowned CalF (Centre for analysis
developed by dairy cooperatives. and learning in livestock and Food) lab at the national Dairy
FFRC and the Trusts have also Development Board headquarters in anand in Gujarat. since,
started using social media to spread 2017 Mother Dairy has acquired the additional equipment
their message on fortification. for vitamin a & D testing and analysis in-house. “The skills
The larger and large-scale required to analyse the results consistently are tricky, but we
benefits of food fortification will have mastered them,” Mr Debnath adds.
take some time to realise. But the Today, Mother Dairy produces 15,000 tonnes of fortified
efforts of the Tata Trusts in oil annually under the Dhara brand and 3 million litres of
ensuring better health for India’s fortified milk per day across its manufacturing locations in
citizens are already bearing fruit. n Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, nagpur and Kolkata, making it
the leading cooperative dairy in india in food fortification. n
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