A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the two parties to reach out to the underprivileged youth of India and equip them with industry-relevant skills.
Tata Chemicals has taken a step further in its endeavour to build a stronger nation, by developing the skills of the deprived sections of the society. R Mukundan, managing director of the organisation and Shankar Venkateswaran, chief of the Tata Sustainability Group, signed an MoU with Tata Community Initiatives (TCIT) to explore skill development initiatives in the country through Tata STRIVE.
Meant to bring together all the group companies to leverage expertise in their respective sectors, the Tata STRIVE programme has been founded to generate skill development opportunities across various sectors and industries.
With a firm belief that equipping underprivileged youth will generate employability, the Tata STRIVE development centre will be set up at Aligarh to become a ‘showcase centre’ for the Tata group. Both TCIT and Tata Chemicals have appealed to their stakeholders, employees, suppliers, distributors and consumers to support the initiative in various capacities.
Speaking on the development, Mukund Rajan, brand custodian and member of the Group Executive Council, Tata Sons, said, “Tata Chemicals is delighted to join with Tata STRIVE to bridge the skills gap that exists across the industry value chain, and help build a capable workforce. We are positive that this initiative will be highly beneficial to the community at large required by the Industry, and we will continue to undertake similar initiatives in the future.”
The importance of the partnership was emphasised by Dr. Mukund Rajan, as he shared his insights into the startup— “Tata STRIVE will optimise and scale up the various skill initiatives currently being undertaken across Tata companies, by aligning them with national and global occupation standards. Our endeavour will be to provide the Indian youth with opportunities to acquire these skills in an environment which makes them industry-ready from day one.”
Professional competence in today’s industry requires not just cutting-edge technical skills, but also effective commercial and interpersonal skills aligned to the specific needs of the industry. India’s emergence as a major world power can only be ensured by making skill development an essential ingredient for future economic growth. As the country transforms itself into an internationally competitive economy, creating new jobs is an area that companies need to start focussing on. It is estimated that India is seeing over 12 million youth joining the workforce each year, and developing the skills of the underprivileged will help in bridging the existing skill gap in the country.
