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Tata Stadium, Tata Football Academy, Tata Amusement Park, Tata Center for Excellence, Tata School… In Jamshedpur, historical headquarter of the biggest Indian multinational, everything seems “Tata Branded”. They drive Tata cars, they drink Tata Tea, they spent the evening looking at Tata satellite tv and they venerate Jamsetji Tata, the city founder, as a god of the Hindu pantheon. The origins of this giant of the Indian industry appeared at the end of the 19e century when Jamsejti, a rich contractor from Gujarat, took the decision to build a huge steel plant next to Calcutta. Nationalist and visionary, Jamsetji planed every details of construction of the workers city that should come out of the ground next to the factory. 8 hours of work a day, free housing and healthcare for the workers and their family… The Indian paternalism was born. One century later, Jamshedpur is still one of the biggest pride of the Tata group that presents the city as its best example of his effective politic of social responsibility. All the city infrastructures (water, electricity, road) and the workers leisure are managed by one sister branch of the Tata group. They are millions of people living in this totally privative city were the quality of life is without any doubt better than in most urban zone in India. The other side of the coin is that the corporate culture is so strong that often it seems the unique way of thinking. |
