TCS bagged award

David T. Hopper (right), U.S. Consul-General, Chennai, presents the `Corporate Citizen Award' to Tata Consultancy Services Chief Financial Officer S. Mahalingam (left) at a function organised by Rotary Club of Ambattur in Chennai on Tuesday. Club president S.L. Omprakash (centre) is in the picture.Rotary Club of Ambattur conferred its Corporate Citizen Award on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) at a function on Tuesday.

"The award commends the outstanding work of TCS in the areas of adult literacy, water conservation and management, healthcare, development of scientific fervour and applied research and leadership development plan responding admirably to the diverse needs of the different stakeholders of the society," the citation read.U.S. Consul-General in Chennai David T. Hopper presented the award. Polaris Software Limited chairman and managing director Arun Jain and Rotary District 3280 Governor A.S. Venkatesh were present.

In his acceptance speech, TCS chief financial officer S. Mahalingam said his company was committed to corporate social responsibility. Detailing the various corporate social programmes the company had participated in, he said they included the tsunami rehabilitation programme in Tamil Nadu.He said the company had planned to extend its recent `adult literacy programme' to cover the entire country. He said TCS identified "reading as the new civil right."

In his speech, Mr. Hopper pointed out that the most admired companies across the world had paid attention to social and environmental issues. He said ideal corporate social responsibility did not mean just donating money for charity, but using the company's core competencies to address social causes.Rotary Club of Ambattur president S.L. Omprakash, director of the awards committee D. Seshadri and secretary R. Sridharan were present.