What Mr. Ratan Tata did for the Mumbai victims makes all of us proud:

A. The Tata Gesture

1. All category of employees including those who had completed even 1 day as a casuals were treated as on duty during the time the hotel was closed.

2. Relief and assistance to all those who were injured and killed.

3. The relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at the railway station, surroundings including the “Pav-Bhaj Ji” vendor and the pan shop owners.

4. During the time the hotel was closed, the salaries were sent to employees, or to their surviving families, by money order.

5. A psychiatric cell was established in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences to counsel those who needed such help.

6. The thoughts and anxieties of affected individuals were constantly tracked and where needed, psychological help was provided.

7. Employee outreach centers were opened where all help, food, water, sanitation, first aid and counseling was provided. The facility covered 1600 employees.

8. Every employee was assigned to one mentor and it was that mentor’s responsibility to act as a “single window” clearance for any help that the person required.

9. Mr. Ratan Tata personally visited the families of all the 80 employees who in some manner—either through injury or getting killed – were affected.

10. The dependents of the employees were flown from outside Mumbai to Mumbai and taken care off in terms of ensuring their mental and physical well being. They were all accommodated in Hotel President (another Tata Hotel nearby) for 3 weeks.

11. Mr. Ratan Tata himself asked the families and dependents as to what they wanted him to do.

12. In a record time of 20 days, a new trust was created by the Tatas for the purpose of relief of these employees.

13. What is unique is that even the other affected people, the railway employees, the police staff, the pedestrians, who had nothing to do with the Tatas were covered by compensation. Each one of them was provided with a subsistence allowance, 10,000.00 Rupees a month for 6 months.

14. A 4 year old granddaughter of a vendor was struck with many bullets, the Government Hospital treating her could remove only one of those bullets. The Tatas spent many lakhs of rupees in having the child transferred to Bombay hospital, where all the other bullets were successfully removed and the child fully recovered.

15. New hand carts were provided to several vendors who lost their carts.

16. Tata will pay all the costs associated with education of the 46 children of the victims of terror.

17. This was the most trying period in the life of the organization. Senior managers including Mr. Ratan Tata himself were visiting funeral to funeral over the 3 days immediately following the horrific attack.

18. The settlement for every deceased member ranged from Rupees 36 to 85 lakhs (Rs. 3600,000.00 to 8500,000.00), plus the following benefits –

a. Full last salary for life for the family and dependents;

b. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents – anywhere in the world;

c. Full medical facility for the whole family and dependents for the rest of their life;

d. All loans and advances were waived off – irrespective of the amount.

e. Counselor for life for each person.

B. Epilogue

1. How was such passion created among the employees? How and why did they behave the way they did?

2. The organization is clear that it is not something that someone can take credit for. It is not training and

development that created such behavior. If someone suggests that – everyone laughs.

3. It has to do with the DNA of the organization, with the way the Tata culture exists and above all with the

situation that prevailed at that time. The organization has always been telling that customers and guests are #1 priority.

4. The hotel business was started by Jamshedji Tata when he was insulted in one of the British hotels and refused entry.

5. He created several institutions which later became icons of progress, culture and modernity. It is worth to note that one of the world’s 4 super computers (named Ekka –Sanskrit, meaning unique, one of a kind!) is built by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) for only a fraction of similar costs here.

6. It is said that when the HR (Human Resources) department hesitatingly made a very rich proposal to Mr. Ratan Tata, he said, do you think we are doing enough?

7. The whole approach was that the organization would spend several hundred crores (1 crore is 10,000,000.00), why not spend equally on the employees who gave their lives?