Ratan Tata has always dreamt big. And perhaps more relevantly, development of the larger community has been at the core of the global corporate giant he heads. And his next dream ? to make potable available in villages across the country – is in keeping with the tradition of the nearly 140-year-old company.
?We are conducting research on ways to make brackish water potable for rural areas that are deprived of this basic facility,? Ratan Tata said highlighting the fact that there was still a great deal of socio-economic disparity in the country. Agreeing that it sounded clich?d, he nevertheless stressed his desire to see clean drinking water reaching the rural masses. He was in the city to receive the Inspired Leadership Award for 2008 at the Norwegian embassy in Delhi on Friday evening.
The award honours global business leaders who have also contributed significantly to development of the community. Tata is the third winner of the award after Virgin chairman Richard Branson and Lars G Josefsson, president and chief executive officer of Vattenfall. The award, comprises a set of dozen plates specially designed for the occasion, was given away by Geoffrey Colvin, senior editor at large, Fortune, and chair of the award selection committee.
Making potable water available has been part of the Tata Water Policy Research Programme, which is working with the International Water Management Institute to avert a water crisis in India. One of the group companies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has developed a water filter that is designed to provide water. The filter reportedly uses materials like rice husk ash, cement and pebbles. The filtering medium is made up of rice husk ash, which is expected to remove colour, odour and micro-organisms.