Tata Consultancy Services, like all other Tata group companies, strongly believes in promoting environment sustainability and is committed to protecting the environment. In this regard, as a build-up to the World Environment Day 2010, the TCS HSE team along with Maitree organized various activities and promotional events across all TCS branches from 1st June to 11th June 2010.
The main objective of carrying out such activities was to promote awareness about the environment not only among the TCSers but also among their family members and to encourage them to become responsible citizens.
REGIONAL EVENTS & ACTIVITIES:
Various events and activities were planned at TCS locations throughout India to mark the occasion of World Environment Day. Some of the events organized at some major locations have been enlisted below.
Bangalore
The World Environment Day inspired events kicked off in Bangalore with the TCS Bangalore Maitree CS along with HSE observing the “Eco-Week” from 1st - 4th June 2010. Each day of the Eco-week was given a special theme.
Dry waste donation was one of the major themes during the week. TCSers were encouraged to donate dry wastes like old newspapers, magazines, old notebooks, plastic wastes which would be used to help the poor and the needy. A total of 240 kgs of dry wastes were collected from all the centres. 1st June, 2010 was observed as ‘No-Print Day’ across all the Bangalore centres and associates were asked to say ‘NO’ to deforestation by printing only when absolutely necessary. The Eco-week was also observed as the Energy Conservation Week by encouraging the associates to adopt green practices at personal level to conserve energy. On 3rd June 2010, a special screening of the movie ‘The Truth about Tigers’ directed by the well-known wildlife film-maker Shekhar Dattari was carried out to increase awareness about conserving our biodiversity. More than 1150 viewers from 7 TCS offices in Bangalore and all the CS SPOCs made this screening a grand success. This movie was screened 12 times across all the Bangalore facilities.
The 4th of every month is observed by the Bangalore Municipal Transport Corporation as Bus Day since February 2010. Keeping this in mind, 4th June was observed as ‘Join Bus-Day’ and all TCS associates using their personal vehicles on that day had the opportunity to contribute to CS by paying a parking fee at TCS premises for just that day.
TCSers participated in the Walkathon on 5th June 2010 organized by CSR Panel of CII in association with the Panel on Environment and Sustainability. The 5 km walkathon from Sree Kanteerava Stadium into Cubbon Park and back to the Stadium was a way of showing their concern for the environment.
Chennai
The build-up to the World Environment Day at Chennai started in May 2010 with the Beach cleaning campaign to sensitize the associates about the environment. The beach cleaning campaign was organized by TCS Maitree Ecology Club in association with the Chennai Trekking Club for TCS associates as well as their family members. About 100 bags of waste was collected from the beach and handed over to the municipal corporation.
On 5th June 2010, on the occasion of World Environment Day, TCSers along with their families convened at the TCS Siruseri facility in Chennai and participated in the plantation drive at the facility. A total of 122 specifically selected trees were planted to offset 35 Ton of Carbon Dioxide emitted. The team from Eco Sustainability Services, Mumbai with the support from the TCS Siruseri’s senior management along with Dr. Naik (HSE Department) evaluated the site and selected the plant species that were hardy, drought tolerant, salt resistant and therefore suited to climatic conditions of the Chennai. These trees shall sequester 35 tonnes over their life time by sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere through physical or biological processes (such as photosynthesis) and storing the same in the form of biomass and carbon stock.
Competitions like “Teach Green Contest” and “Make your own ‘ECO’ Book mark” were organized for the Chennai associates. 33 Associates participated in the “Teach Green Contest” and came up with their Power Point presentations on various topics. Also employees were encouraged to suggest their own tip on going green. Cleaning campaigns were organized in association with TCS Maitree Ecology Club at Nainar Kuppam, Karapakkam & Kannagi Nagar.
Dr. R. J. Ranjith Daniel, Ecology Specialist conducted an Interactive Session on “Preservation of Ecology and How can IT play a role in Preservation” on 1st June 2010”
To sustain the momentum of the WED celebrations, free vehicular Emission Check-ups have been planned for all the Associates vehicles in all the Centers in Chennai from 15th June – 29th June 2010.
Associates got an opportunity to test their knowledge on various environmental topics through the Environmental quizzes uploaded on Mindworks in Ultimatix (TCS Intranet).
Kochi & Trivandrum
At TCS Kochi and Trivandrum, the World Environment Day was celebrated with great enthusiasm with various activities, focusing on enhancing awareness of associates, lined up throughout the week. TCS Maitree Eco Club and HSE team jointly organized the celebration. The main day was observed on 4th June 2010 while few activities were extended till mid of this month.
The World Environment week celebrations were kicked off with the ‘Climate Change’ quiz which was organized on 1st June 2010. The climate change Quiz was an exciting session. Right from world’s flora, fauna, fiction and facts, the whole brain tickling questions were really engaging for the participants. There was participation from 60 associates.
An E-poster contest with the theme “Green IT” was organized on 2nd Jun’ 10. A Creative Workplace competition was organized wherein the best 3 ‘green’ cubicles and best 3 ‘green’ ODCs were recognized and rewarded. 4th June’ 10 was observed as ‘Public Transport Day’ and associates were encouraged to use the public transport / car pooling to avoid carbon emissions.
Pune
World Environment week activities were celebrated in Pune from 5th June to 11th June 2010. The following activities were organized at the Pune branch.
A group of 20 associates gathered on 5th June 2010 at Baner hill to support the activity of greening the barren hill. Indigenous plants of varied species were planted on WED.
Rangoli and Collage competitions were organized for the associates at Pune. 18 teams from 6 locations (Nyati, DLF, Rajashree, Quadra II, Mangaldas and Bhosari) participated in the competition. 9 winning teams were identified and will be presented with Exiting prizes. Various subjects covered through the competitions were Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Greenery, fresh water, eradicate e-waste, take away my fear!, Go Green, Save Earth, Smiles do cry (A balance for harmony), Human Being-A Terrorist for Animal Kingdom, Save Water Save Trees, Save and Revenue Engineer, Environment & Beauty, Green Future, Both Side of Coin, Is Green Enough, Save Plant and Save it's Value.
The well-known movie “Home”, which is a depiction of how the Earth’s problems are all interlinked, was screened at major locations like Nyati, Rajashree, DLF, Quadra II, TRDDC. This initiative was from IRC, Pune and jointly organized by IRC, Maitree and HSE. A total of 100 associates watched the movie. More rounds of screening are planned in the near future.
A quiz based on the learning from the movie ‘Home’ was floated by IRC in Mind Works in Ultimatix.
Mumbai & Ahmedabad
In Mumbai, TCSers showed their concern for the environment by participating in the clean-up drive of Ghatkopar Station which was organized on the occasion of World Environment Day on 5th June 2010 by NASSCOM Foundation. A number of companies including TCS participated in this clean-up drive to do their bit for the cause of the environment.
Various competitions like poster competitions, essay-writing competitions and slogan writing competitions on various themes were organized by Corporate HSE.
A cycle rally was organized in Ahmedabad by the AMC on 5th June 2010 as a part of the TCS CSR activity to promote awareness among the public.
Kolkata
At Kolkata, the World Environment Day was celebrated with various activities focusing on enhancing awareness of associates. The main day was observed on 4th June 2010 while few activities were extended till mid of this month.
A special screening of the movie “The Truth about Tigers” was carried out on 4th June 2010. The movie based on the burning issue of decline in tiger population was an awakening call for every individual. This was followed by the Earth Quiz which was an exciting session.
On 4th June 2010, Maitree-Ecology Club inaugurated its first E-Newsletter which captures all activities of this Club and other best practices.
On the occasion of the World Environment Day, the TCS Maitree Kolkata Photography Club, in association with the TCS Maitree Kolkata Ecology Club, organized the “BE THE CHANGE - For the children of tomorrow” photography contest. This was a small effort towards urging people to build a cleaner, greener world for our children. Apart from this, the TCS Maitree Kolkata Ecology Club organized a green story writing contest “A GREEN STORY TO INSPIRE”. The truly inspiring stories would be put up in Ultimatix to influence and inspire the TCSers across the globe.
The prizes for all the contests were Jute Bags which were procured from READs, an initiative of CS for educating underprivileged children.
Hyderabad
Various events were organized by Maitree-Ecology Club of Hyderabad in association with HSE team as part of the World Environment Day Celebrations.
Poster Making Competitions and Essay competitions were organized from 7th June – 11th June 2010 to enhance the awareness regarding current environmental issues and solutions. There was participation from 33 associates.
NGO stalls, organized in the TCS premises from 3rd Jun – 11th Jun’ 10, showcased various environment friendly products. GMR Varalakshmi Foundation has a rural development unit at Etukopaka where rural women of the community are trained to produce jute bags, cotton and khadhi clothes. Sale cum display of these products helped in creating awareness regarding the environmental benefits of using eco- friendly products. Apart from this, Khadhi Society displayed khadhi products. Display of products using alternate sources of energy like solar energy such as solar powered table lamps, water heater and emergency lamps was another attraction. This activity was also helpful for a social cause, since such events help the NGOs to sustain their production of eco- friendly products. More than 2500 associates participated in this event.
11th June was celebrated as ‘Green Day’ at Hyderabad and all the associates came in Green dress code to mark the occasion.
Noida
HSE Noida III center started a new initiative “Adopt a tree” from 5th June'2010 to mark the occasion of Environment day. This was a unique way of creating awareness among the employees that their contribution could make a significant difference in beautifying the environment of this TCS center. Under this initiative, Associates would be allocated 12 spaces inside Noida III center to place their respective adopted tree.
Adoption rules have been framed for each tree so that associates take full responsibility for nurturing of the plants. Also any associate going on-site or getting transferred to some other location or facing issues in maintaining the tree had the option of transferring the adoption to another associate.
CORPORATE INITIATIVES:
Apart from all the regional activities carried out at various branches, the corporate HSE team celebrated each day of the World Environment Week with a theme based on an important natural resource (for example, water) to underscore the importance of those resources in our day-to-day life. In this context, theme based Internal Broadcast mailers were circulated starting from 7th -11th June 2010 to all TCSers highlighting the theme for the day.
