Tata Steel announces the winners of Women of Mettle Scholarship Programme 2018

Jamshedpur: Tata Steel announced the Top 10 scholars of the 2nd season of its pioneering initiative, ‘Women of Mettle’ (WOM) Scholarship programme, aimed at encouraging gender diversity and inclusion in the manufacturing sector.

The 6 month-long programme culminated with a Grand Finale held in Jamshedpur yesterday. Mr. Sudhansu Pathak, Vice President, Steel Manufacturing, Tata Steel graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, and Mr. Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Vice President, Human Resource Management, Tata Steel was the Guest of Honour.

The 2nd edition of WOM received a total of 780 registrations (female students in the second year of engineering) from 50 premier engineering institutes across India, including the IITs, NITs and the likes. This edition saw more than twice the number of registrations received in the inaugural edition of WOM held in 2017.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sudhansu Pathak said “The metal industry is not only about making or shaping of metals but it also builds character, the tenacity and confidence in an individual. There are multiple opportunities for women within a manufacturing industry which includes Branding, IT, Procurement, Supply Chain, improvement initiatives etc. The Women of Mettle programme helps to position the manufacturing sector as a potential career option for women by attracting more women talents from across the country to join the sector and make Tata Steel an employer of choice for women engineers.”

WOM initiative was launched in 2017 to identify, groom, and encourage induction of female engineering talent in India’s manufacturing sector. The applicants go through a rigorous selection process that includes working on technical challenges under the mentorship of experts. Out of the total applicants, 50 select students presented their proposed solutions to a jury of experts. The top 10 Women of Mettle were selected at the grand finale held yesterday in Jamshedpur.

Each of the scholars (top 10) will receive a scholarship of Rs. 2 lakh each, which will be disbursed over the duration of the course. They will also be eligible for an internship in their third year, opportunity to participate in various paid technical conferences and join the Tata Steel family as a Management Trainee Technical (MTT).

Speaking at the Grand Finale, Mr. Suresh Dutt Tripathi said, “I consider every woman has mettle and the fact that we don’t see many women working in this sector, prompted us to institute the ‘Women of Mettle’ scholarship programme for the manufacturing industry. Tata Steel, through this programme, ensures better gender equality on our shop floors. The programme illustrates Tata Steel’s belief that an organisation should reflect the diversity that is visible in the society we live in. It is gratifying to see a massive jump in the number of participants within the first two editions of WOM initiative. My congratulations to the bright young ladies who won this year and my sincere word of thanks to all participants.”

The Top 10 scholars (in no particular order) of the WOM scholarship programme are mentioned below:

· Adrija Nag, NIT Jamshedpur

· Ananya Kant, BIT Mesra

· Anoushka Pal, IIT BHU

· Ativa Rath, VSSUT

· Devi Janani Ramesh, NIT Trichy

· Kirty Goyal, CET, Bhubaneswar

· Poorvi Agrawal, NIT Raipur

· Riya Mehta, NIT Jamshedpur

· Shrutika, NIT Jamshedpur

· Yavnika Chauhan, IIT BHU

Watch the Facebook Live or Twitter Periscope of the #WomenOfMettle Grand Finale at the below links:

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1BdxYoVkYYEGX

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1dRJZgqVzYmxB