Tata Steel has chosen 22 women who will now be trained to operate earthmovers and then deployed at its Noamundi iron-ore mine in an initiative titled Tejaswini 2 which was launched on Friday.

Tejaswini 2 was launched at Noamundi in West Singhbhum district in the presence of senior Tata Steel officials, including Atrayee Sarkar, vice-president, human resource management, D.B. Sundara Ramam, vice-president, raw materials, Atul Bhatnagar, general manager (OMQ Division), and Siddhartha Shah, chief human resource management (raw materials).

As per, Tejaswini 2.0, technical training is provided to unskilled women workers to enable them to work in core jobs at mines. The ore mines & quarries (OMQ) division became the first division in the company to launch the initiative.

It received over 350 applications of which 22 candidates were selected after a written test and interview. The average age of the new trainees is 23 years and the minimum qualification required to apply was matriculation. The candidates will undergo intensive training to hone their skills as HEMM (heavy earth moving machinery) operators.

After successful completion of their training, the women will be deployed as operations assistants to operate earth moving machinery such as dumper, dozer, shovel, excavator and drill.

This initiative is also a step towards empowering local talent as a majority of these women are locals from Noamundi located in neighbouring West Singhbhum district.

“We are happy to induct the first batch of 22 women who will join as HEMM operators at our Noamundi iron-ore mine,” said Atrayee Sarkar. “The Tejaswini 2.0 initiative reflects our commitment towards fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion. Tata Steel has been a torchbearer in the manufacturing sector by introducing several pathbreaking initiatives such as ‘women@mines’ to encourage diversity at the workplace.”

Tata Steel has consistently taken steps to improve diversity and inclusion in the organisation and is working towards a workforce of 20 per cent women by 2025.

Earlier, in September 2019, the steel major had become the first company in the country to deploy women in all shifts in mining operations.

Tejaswini 2.0 is another step in this direction to empower and employ women in the mining sector. West Bokaro division of Tata Steel has also initiated the process of recruiting women HEMM operators.