Tata Power implements plan to develop 56 model village clusters

The programme will be rolled out to the 56 villages in a phased manner and will have real time monitoring, mid-term and final socio-economic evaluation to analyse the outcome and impact of the development projects.

The model village initiative is inspired by government’s vision of building the nation through developing its villages.

The initiative is aimed at helping rural communities become sustainable. It will support in generating and maintaining resources without affecting the economic, social and environment values, while improving overall well-being of the rural communities. As a responsible corporate, Tata Power has undertaken this initiative to help government realise the dream of building India.

The objective of the initiative is to facilitate the process of development by targeting the key prioritized issues and addressing through collective engagement of key stakeholders including local communities so that the villages become self-sustaining. The programme will be implemented in three phases.

The first phase (2015-2017) will cover 10 villages, and the second (2017-2019) and third phases (2019-2022) will cover 23 villages each. The 56 identified villages have a pan India presence covering 5 states namely Maharashtra, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha & Gujarat in the vicinity of Mundra, Maithon, Trombay, Dharavi, Kalinga Nagar, Maval, Haldia and Jojobera.

The programme ambit would encompass lighting up lives on social and economic life cycle at village level. Engagement and strengthening of village institutions/Gram panchayats would be the key operational aspect for the initiative.

Talking about this initiative, Anil Sardana, CEO & MD, Tata Power, said, “At Tata Power, we are pursuing the legacy of our founder, Mr. Jamsetji Tata, who had stated that in a free enterprise, community is not just a stakeholder but in fact the very purpose of its existence. With this programme, we will work towards building and developing the 56 communities into model villages to bring about their social upliftment and inclusive development.  We will fully support the communities and help them under our philosophy of being a Neighbour of Choice.”

Ashok Sethi, COO & ED, Tata Power who is mentoring the Initiative added, “Academic institutions and civil society is being also reached out to add value to the initiative by helping develop a scientific approach to facilitating plan, implement, monitor programs and collectively mobilize resources and evaluate the social outcomes. The unique proposition being that Location Leader of Tata Power Divisions are the key Champions who are involved and driving the program."