Tata Power, India's largest integrated power company, has been continuously undertaking sustainable development initiatives to improve the quality of life and social well-being of the communities where it operates. In line with this vision, the Company initiated the holistic approach based 'Model Village Development Program' in 2015, aimed at helping rural communities become sustainable and self-reliant across 56 villages of the country covering Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Gujarat in phased manner.

The objective of the initiative is to augment additional income sources by bringing villages to the mainstream of the development process, targeting key prioritised issues, and addressing them through collective engagement of key stakeholders, thereby, enabling the local communities to become self-sustaining. The first phase, i.e. 2015-2017, has been implemented across 10 select locations including Mundra, Maithon, Trombay, Dharavi, Kalinga Nagar, Haldia, and Jojobera amongst others. The programs implemented here aims at enhancement of the economic cycle through an objective selection of villages based on the community consultation, establishment of grass root level functionaries, social mobilisation, improving access of existing government schemes and projects , identification and promotion of social entrepreneurs to create job based growth at the village level.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Anil Sardana, CEO and MD, Tata Power stated, 'Tata Power has nurtured its Social Vision as an integral part of its business vision. The Sustainability Model of Leadership with Care has been the guiding path towards developing an integrated development model in vicinity of the company operations across the country. It is our endeavor to improve the quality of life of our communities, and we are proud to drive such initiatives for their well-being. The Model Village Development is an approach of bringing all key stakeholders together to foster development by convergence of efforts and resources. We would like to thank our Divisions, the key champions who are involved and driving the program, for their unrelenting support to achieve our goal of developing 56 model villages and demonstrate the Tataness to the nation.'

Keeping in mind the communities' priorities, the Company executed a bottom-up approach for finalising and devising activities through need based assessment and prioritization along with mobilization of resources. The holistic approach includes focus on education, livelihood support, animal husbandry, education, health, natural resource management and women empowerment. The program is aligned to the Adarsh Gram Yojana of Government of India with progress including micro-grid solar solutions to enable sustainable access to clean power in off-grid villages, promotion of livelihood development through dairy based cooperative and access and availing direct benefit of social security schemes particularly for tribals and marginalized through coordination with local government departments.

About Tata Power:
Tata Power is India's largest integrated power company with a growing international presence. The Company together with its subsidiaries and jointly controlled entities has an installed gross generation capacity of [9100] MW and a presence in all the segments of the power sector viz. Fuel Security and Logistics, Generation (thermal, hydro, solar and wind), Transmission, Distribution and Trading. It has successful public-private partnerships in Generation, Transmission and Distribution in India namely 'Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited' with Delhi Vidyut Board for distribution in North Delhi, 'Powerlinks Transmission Ltd.' with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. for evacuation of Power from Tala hydro plant in Bhutan to Delhi and 'Maithon Power Ltd.' with Damodar Valley Corporation for a 1050 MW Mega Power Project at Jharkhand. Tata Power has developed the country's first 4000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project at Mundra (Gujarat) based on super-critical technology. It is also one of the largest renewable energy players in India. Its international presence includes strategic investments in Indonesia through a 30% stake in the leading coal company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), 26% stake in mines at PT Baramulti Suksessarana Tbk ('BSSR') and a geothermal project; in Singapore through Trust Energy Resources to securitise coal supply and the shipping of coal for its thermal power generation operations; in South Africa through a joint venture called 'Cennergi' to develop projects in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia; in Australia through investments in enhanced geothermal and clean coal technologies and in Bhutan through a hydro project in partnership with The Royal Government of Bhutan. With its track record of technology leadership, project execution excellence, world class safety processes, customer care and driving green initiatives, Tata Power is poised for a multi-fold growth and committed to 'lighting up lives' for generations to come. Visit us at: www.tatapower.com

Tata Power Company Limited issued this content on 15 February 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 February 2016 08:45:29 UTC

Original Document: http://www.tatapower.com/media-corner/pressrelease-2016/press-release-15-feb-2016.aspx