She is young and petite and drives a 100-tonne dumper truck. Meet 20-year-old Payal Kumari, operations assistant at Tata Steel’s Noamundi iron ore mine in Jharkhand.
The attraction of a permanent job at Tata Steel drew Kumari to this role. Given Tata Steel's historical presence in the state, a job at the company is often considered as safe as a government job.
“Maine pehle kabhi dumper dekha bhi nahi tha. Pehle dekh ke dar lagta tha ki kaise chalayenge, iske tyre ki height bhi humse badi hai, ladder ki height bhi bahut hai (I had never seen a dumper truck before. At first I was scared to drive it. The tyres are taller than me, as is the ladder to climb into it ),” Kumari said.
Kumari shared that she, along with other women, were first trained in light motor vehicles, then on simulators, and after undergoing training on the same, they were able to confidently takes to the wheels.
“Abhi chalate, chalate toh lagta hai uda denge dumper! (After driving the dumper truck around, I feel confident enough to fly it),” Kumari says.
She is one of 100 women hired by the steelmaker to drive and handle heavy earth-moving machinery (HEMM). In 2019, Tata Steel launched its initiative “Women @ Mines” to deploy women in all shifts. Subsequently, in an attempt to break mental barriers and increase women's participation in the workforce, it started training women to handle machinery which thus far was deemed too powerful to be handled by women. The bet has paid off, as more women have joined and they are now getting ambitious about the roles they can take on at these sites.
Tata Steel takes pride in calling itself an equal opportunity employer and has to its credit many firsts. Also in 2019, Tata Steel opened its Jamshedpur steel plant shop floor for women employees in A and B shifts, between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm throughout the week, in the coke plant, spares manufacturing department, and electrical repair shop.
Later that year in September, Tata Steel became the first company in India to act on policy reforms that allowed women to work in underground coal mines and do night shifts in open cast or over-ground mines.
The company onboarded women across different age groups — married, unmarried and those with children – as HEMM operators. The company has a programme called ‘Tejaswini 2.0’ for upskilling women for such roles.
Another initiative, ‘Women Of Mettle’, offers women engineering students scholarships and internships/job opportunities to create a talent pipeline of young female officers for the organisation.
Hiring these women came with its own set of challenges. The company has invested in sensitising people and also in infrastructure to support women. The company roped in trained female emergency response protocol professionals, and male employees were trained on the intricacies of POSH (prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace). Facilities like creche services, buses for local transport, and other amenities were also provided.
Trust in the brand played a big role in making women take up roles which required them to do night shifts and so-called manly jobs.
Sapna Pradhan, aged 21, shares that she is the first working professional in her family, and her farmer father and homemaker mother are proud of her for working for a “reputed company.” She too works at Noamundi mines as an operations assistant and runs the drilling machines.
“Unhe tension rehta hai, mines Matlab hazardous place. Lekin safety se related poora training diya gaya hai humein. Night shift mein ladies ko security bhi diya jaata hai. (Parents would worry as mines are hazardous places. But we have been fully trained in safety. For those women working in night shifts, security arrangements are in place), ” she says.
Payal Kumari (L) and Sapna Pradhan (R) operate heavy earth-moving machinery at Tata Steel's mines at Jharkhand.
Their male counterparts, most of them much older too, treat them well and guide and help when needed, both women said.
Tata Steel has a goal to achieve 25 percent diversity in its workforce by 2025, as against 20 percent now. Kumari’s goal is to gain some more experience to work her way up the ladder and be in a supervisory role as a foreman, while Pradhan is happy with her current role but will explore other internal openings. Each of these goals could be a win for diversity.
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