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Enabling access to education and healthcare for individuals in need
The Tata Trusts' work in social welfare and philanthropy denotes a legacy that's more than a century old. Along with interventional programmes covering various aspects of human development, the Trusts also engage with individuals to support the meritorious and needy, especially for medical and education support.
Although India is among the fastest growing large economies of the world, it ranks 130th with respect to its Human Development Index (HDI), a metric defined by health, education and income parameters. For all-round progress, the focus needs to be on appreciating human capital through improved access to good quality education, skilling and healthcare, with the aim of empowering the target group to contribute to their own, society's and the nation's development.
Although education is regarded to be a ticket out of poverty, ironically, the cost of education is the principal obstacle to achieve that. Knowledge-hungry, India is home to many academically-inclined or passionate individuals who aspire for a higher education or a foreign degree to acquire special skills, but lack the means to do so. There are also children hailing from marginalised sections of society or those with special needs who desire to continue their schooling, but are unable to fund themselves. In their cases, merely meeting the cost of education is not enough to keep them from dropping out of school - they need additional support to cover costs related to their uniform, books, conveyance, and so on.
Health issues are a major cause of financial stress. The rising cost of hospitalisation and medicines have rendered full medical treatment beyond the reach of the common population. Moreover, most insurance schemes do not cover the entire cost of treatment, especially that for cancer, heart ailments, cochlear implants and kidney diseases.
Against this background, the Tata Trusts endeavour to support individuals in need through the Individual Grants Programme (Education and Medical). What distinguishes this programme is the continuous efforts made to hone systems that ensure a comprehensive, systematic and most importantly, fair and humane approach to identify such individuals.
The Tata Trusts follow a guiding principle on selecting meritorious students, which is to strive to lift the brightest and most talented, so as to make them capable of contributing towards the advancement of the nation.
A medical emergency, for most families, causes tremendous emotional and financial stress. Through medical grants, the Tata Trusts have been providing financial assistance to economically underprivileged patients primarily located in Mumbai to meet the cost of hospital treatment. The Trusts also take into consideration requests for aid that come from hospitals outside Mumbai.
Our key priority areas are:
