Carbide plant saw 3 mishaps before gas tragedy! Bhopal GoM will fix responsibility!

Bhopal gas victims used as guinea pigs!

Anderson issue not decided by Rao alone: Son

Activists for CBI probe into UCC's alleged duel safety norms!

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, Chapter 502

Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

Carbide plant saw 3 mishaps before gas tragedy!

Activists for CBI probe into UCC's alleged duel safety norms!

Anderson issue not decided by Rao alone: Son

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal will hold daily meetings starting Friday and intends to submit its report ahead of the 10-day deadline set by the PM. The GoM, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, will go into compensation and legal issues relating to the gas disaster that killed 15,000. It is expected to recommend a rehab package and firm up plans to clean the mess left behind.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy will look into all "concerns", which include the fixing of responsibility for the world's worst industrial accident, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan on Friday hinted. Indian ministers tasked with probing the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy amid fresh public outrage over the disaster were to meet Friday to discuss possible responses by the government.Bhopal Gas tragedy is a catastrophic tragedy, that happened in the city of Bhopal, in central India. The tragedy occured in December 1983. There are families in Bhopal which are still suffering the after effects of the tragedy. Investigations into the tragedy showed that there were many shortcomings at all levels. The disaster did pave the way for much stricter international standards for environmental safety, preventative strategies to avoid similar accidents and a better state of preparedness to meet future industrial disaster.

This move to give priority to the people's "concerns" follows an outcry over the leniency shown to the convicts and the Opposition onslaught on the Congress, then PM Rajiv Gandhi and then Madhya Pradesh CM Arjun Singh for letting off Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson. These opposing voices are bound to get shriller with the then foreign secretary of the country, M K Rasgotra, revealing to a television channel on Thursday that the decision to release and give safe passage to Anderson was taken by the Rajiv Gandhi government.

A Rs 982.75-crore 'Plan of Action' is already under government consideration. The GoM will examine this and other options the Supreme Court is considering too.

Ahead of the GoM's first meeting, the Congress Core Group - comprising the PM and party president Sonia Gandhi - also met to take stock of the situation. The members discussed rehabilitation for the victims and possible legal action against Anderson.

Officials, however, said it was unrealistic to expect a significant departure from the past as far as the criminal liability of Union Carbide officials is concerned. Seemingly supporting this view, the Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry's note for Friday's GoM said it was for the Law Ministry to decide if it wanted to extradite Anderson.

A week after light punishment to six accused in Bhopal gas tragedy provoked nationwide outrage, an NGO dropped another bombshell on Wednesday saying the victims of the world's worst industrial disaster were used as guinea pigs in drug trials at a hospital set up for them.

Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS) claimed it had documents to prove that the trials were conducted without the patients' knowledge and some of them may have even died during the tests at Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre, which works under the Supreme Court's supervision.

The hospital director, Dr K K Mauder, washed his hands off the controversy, saying he had issued a circular ordering an end to the trials in August 2008. "The hospital hadn't issued orders for the trials, but individual faculty members get such assignments from pharmaceutical companies," he said, and claimed that proper protocol was followed. "The patients who underwent the trials had signed consent forms." Dr Mauder said pharmaceutical companies provide funds for such trials.

BGPMUS convener, Abdul Jabbar, debunked the director's claim and alleged that the patients were duped into signing the consent papers. "Most victims couldn't read English and were asked to sign papers in the language," he said. "A copy of the consent statement should have been given to the patients, but that wasn't done. Victims were used as guinea pigs." Jabbar said the hospital was forced to issue the circular after similar trials allegedly killed 49 children at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences in July 2008.

Ramodar Shrivastava, a victim, said a nurse asked him to sign the consent paper with explaining why he was doing so. "The nurse told me 'yahan dastakhat karo (sign here)'. After that, they gave me a few bottles of red-coloured capsules which I had to take twice daily. I was asked to return the empty bottles after I finish the dose," said Ramodar. "I had no clue that they were experimenting on me."

Activists have traced 160 patients and medicines used for the trials. The medicines tested included Fonda Parinox (for blood clog removal in the veins), Prasugrel, Clopidogrel (for blood platelets), telavamcin antibiotic (used for anesthesia), mometasm and formoterol (for pulmonary diseases), magnex and tygacil (for gastro-intestinal diseases). The hospital acknowledged that 86 cardiology patients underwent trials for Fonda Perinox, Prasugrel and Clopidogrel.

"Fonda Perinox has very serious side effects and at least two patients succumbed to excessive bleeding while on trial for the medicine," said a BMHRC doctor. He said normal procedure of briefing patients on the risks involved wasn't followed. "The patient is also briefed on how to take the drug and what to do in case of an emergency," he said. He said the patients signed the consent papers without knowing the truth behind the deal.

Laxmi Mishra, a 75-year-old gynaecologist, said she signed the consent paper thinking she was doing it for her angioplasty operation. "I'm extremely sensitive to certain drugs and would have never consented for a clinical trial under any condition," she said. "Even in the discharge summary, they didn't mention the name of the drug which was experimented on me. I wasn't also informed about the drug's after effects."

Anderson issue not decided by Rao alone: Son

The Anderson issue showed no signs of abating on Friday with P V Narasimha Rao's son, Ranga Rao, suggesting that his father would not have taken a decision on his own on granting "safe passage" to the Union Carbide chief a few days after the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

Contesting the claim made by the then Foreign Secretary M K Rasgotra that Narasimha Rao was instrumental in allowing Warren Anderson to leave the country, Ranga Rao said, "I don't think my father took such a big decision on his own".

"He had his own superiors. He had his own colleagues," Ranga Rao told television channels adding, "to put the entire blame on my father is unfair."

Rasgotra had claimed that the decision to give Anderson safe passage was taken by the Home Ministry under Rao in consultation with the Cabinet Secretary.

Contending that the Home Ministry had a "limited role" to play, Ranga Rao said several other ministries were "equally involved".

Ranga Rao said holding his father responsibile for an act in 1984 was unfair since Narasimha Rao cannot defend himself.

"Knowing the nature of my father...he used to either delay the decision on many occasions or waited for the right time to make it," he said.

BJP to move motion in LS seeking Anderson extradition: Swaraj

BJP will move a motion in Lok Sabha during the monsoon session next month demanding extradition of former UCC CEO Warren Anderson to India and raising of compensation for the Bhopal gas victims, Opposition leader in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said on Friday.

"On the opening day of session of Parliament, BJP will move a motion in the Lok Sabha under rule 184 (which entails voting) to demand scrapping of 1989 agreement for providing compensation to the victims, extradition of Anderson to India for trial and increasing compensation for the gas victims as per the latest death figure," she said.

Swaraj told reporters that BJP would also demand a new agreement for payment of compensation.

She said the motion would be defeated as the Congress would not back it, but this would not deter the BJP in its fight for the gas victims.

She said Anderson could not have left India without the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's consent.

"The actions of that time speak louder than any proof that Rajiv Gandhi had himself asked the then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Arjun Singh to allow Anderson to leave the country," she said on the sidelines of a three-hour dharna by her party leaders to highlight the issue.

She said it would be wrong to say that Anderson had escaped from the country when in fact he had been given a "very warm send-off".

As there was no international airport at Bhopal, Anderson was taken in a state government plane to New Delhi from where he took off for America, Swaraj said.

"All this could not have ever happened without the knowledge and permission of Rajiv Gandhi," she said.

BJP's leaders said the party's protest will be held across Madhya Pradesh over the issue.

International Conference on the 20th Anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy

"Bhopal Gas Tragedy and its Effects on Process Safety"

December 1 - 3, 2004

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

http://www.iitk.ac.in/che/jpg/bhopal2.htm

The Bhopal gas tragedy, which left nearly 15,000 dead, is one of the several such man-made disasters which caused untold damage to humanity and the environment.

On December 3, 1984, the world's worst industrial catastrophe occurred due to the leak of Methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide India Limited company (UCIL) in Bhopal.

Millions were left sick and the affected passed on the harmful effects of the gas to the next generations, making it the deadliest man-made environmental disaster in history.

The most recent such disaster is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which started in April following an explosion at the British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon rigging well.

Although it claimed only 11 lives, its damage to the environment has been described as "catastrophic" as it has been spewing over 5,000 barrels a day from the seafloor.

In the early hours of December 3, 1984, on what was a bracing winter morning, mixed with the winter breeze,was a highly toxic grey cloud that was emerging from the Union Carbide 'C' factory. This poisonous substance, stored in tank number 610 of the factory was later found to be Methyl Isocynate (MIC), which had got contaminated with water. According to experts, MIC is considered to be an extremely reactive chemical and is used to produce insecticides. When water got mixed with this MIC, an exothermal chemical reaction started which resulted in a lot of heat being produced. As the pressure in the tank built up beyond safe levels, the safety valve burst open violently and the gas leaked. As around forty tons of this gas spread through the city, there was no alarm or any kind to warn the inhabitants of this populous town. Since the gas leaked out from a 30 meter chimney, it was not high enough for the people to escape the effects. Later studies have shown that the effect of this toxic gas was especially harsh because of the high moisture content in the gas, which when exposed, started evaporating and being a heavy gas, the gas started moving downwards. The movement of the wind was also such that the gas spread through the city much faster than it otherwise would have.

The Union Carbide factory closed down their operation in Bhopal following the tragedy, but they did not do a proper clean up of the site due to which it is a bio-hazardous zone even today. This lapse has resulted in, what many environmentalists claim, a slow and sustained pollution of the area within and around the closed factory.

After decades of court cases and arguments and investigations, though compensation has been paid to many of the victims, it is not enough and there is still a strong sense of injustice that lingers in the air. Though a compensation of nearly 470 million USD has been called for, it is undoubtedly a small amount based on the long term health consequences of exposure and the number of people affected. More than twenty years of passiveness has taken its toll. Many are calling it the world's biggest humanitarian disaster. Indirectly it has lead to massive unemployment, destitution and widespread psychological problems in the people.

As the reconstituted Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas tragedy meets to discuss the loopholes in the investigation, extradition of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson and other aspects, CBI director Ashwani Kumar will present "a note on the CBI investigations in 22 years" at the meeting. Kumar was called by Law Minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday and reportedly asked questions related to investigations carried out by the CBI. The GoM is likely to take Kumar's opinion on whether the agency should file an appeal against the verdict of the Bhopal court and what are the provisions under the law.

A nine-member panel headed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram will look into compensation for victims, criticised as inadequate by campaigners, and continued pollution caused by delays in cleaning up the factory at the centre of the disaster.

The world's worst industrial accident is back among the headlines after a court last week -- 25 years after the disaster -- convicted seven former managers at the plant, handing them two-year jail sentences and minor fines.

This has fuelled a sense of betrayal among victims' families and campaigners, who have vociferously condemned the slow pace of justice, what they see as lenient sentences and continued pollution from the plant.

Ministers "will look at all issues, more specifically reaching out to those people who unfortunately have not not enough compensation, adequate compensation in the last so many years," Information Minister Ambika Soni told reporters on Thursday.

The disaster was unleashed on December 3, 1984, when a pesticide plant owned by US company Union Carbide accidentally released about 40 tonnes of toxic gas into surrounding residential areas.

According to the government, 3,500 lives were lost in the immediate aftermath but activists and rights group calculate that 25,000 people died in the years that followed.

Other members of the panel include Health Minister Gulab Nabi Azad, Law Minister Veerappa Moiley and Environment Minister Jaipal Ramesh.

They are set to meet on a daily basis and report back to the prime minister in 10 days time.

Ahead of tomorrow's GoM meeting on Bhopal gas tragedy issue, activists demanded steps by the government to facilitate a CBI probe into safety arrangements at the Union Carbide's plant in the US to compare them with those at its Bhopal facility.

The activists today presented a memorandum to Union Minister of Law and Justice Veerappa Moily, who is part of the
Group of Ministers that will discuss all areas of concern in the Bhopal gas tragedy case.

They pressed for, among other things, the CBI investigation which they claimed would expose the duel safety
standards adopted by the company and help firm up the culpability of Union Carbide Corporation in the tragedy.

The Memorandum urged the government to "execute the Letter Rogatory to the US Government that was issued by the
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal in 1988 without further delay".

The said letter of request had sought permission for CBI to carry out investigations at the then UCC's West
Virginia plant and collect relevant documents "to verify whether or not UCC had adopted duel saftey standards while
installing safety systems in the MIC unit at Bhopal".

"Today the US government has said they would look into the issue of (Warren) Anderson's extradition provided there is
enough evidence against him," said D Raghunandan, Secretary, Delhi Science Forum, one of the groups active in Bhopal.

He said while the recent verdict was against the Union Carbide India Limited officials, a parallel case against UCC
is still pending in court and Anderson's culpability can beestablished only if his company UCC is nailed.

"It is essential for the GoM to look into how and why the prosecutors have not proceeded in the case," he said,
demanding the Letter Rogatory be executed to firm up evidence.

"The diagrams and manuals of the plant show that safety standards in West Virginia and Bhopal plant were not
similar and there were wide differences," he claimed.

Raghunandan said he feared the GoM would merely take damage-containing measures to pacify anger and not take any
concrete measures.

He likened the US' suggestion on proof against Anderson to Pakistan's repeated contentions that it did not
have enough evidence to proceed against the accused in the Mumbai attack case.

The nine-member GoM, which was reconstituted amid a raging controversy over the quantum of punishment given to
those accused in the case, is meeting tomorrow.

N D Jayaprakash of the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti said the activists had expressed their desire
to meet the GoM members and Moily had asked them to him to meet him again tomorrow.

"Once the Government ensures that CBI conducts a comparative study of the two plants of UCC, there would be
enough evidence to nail the accused," he said.

ALLAHABAD: CPI (ML) activists held a demonstration at the district collectorate on Thursday to protest against the way Central government is dealing with the Bhopal gas tragedy case.

They demanded all accused be retried for genocide and DOWs chemicals should be forced to get rid of soil pollution in the area. After the Bhopal gas tragedy, Union Carbide changed its name to DOW's chemical.

All party leaders including Suresh, Ram Kailash, Dhanpatti, Feroz Ahmad, Raj Kumar and others addressed the gathering and informed the people that more than 20,000 people were killed and lakhs maimed for life when poisonous MIC gas leaked from the plant. First Congress leaders looked for excuses, some blamed MP government.

Now, they are saying the then CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, could have been killed as people were angry, speakers added. The entire government machinery from the Centre to the states were involved.

FM skirts questions on Bhopal gas tragedy

AHMEDABAD: Spin doctor of the Congress and Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was visiting the city on Wednesday, veered away from all questions on the Bhopal gas tragedy controversy. The minister, known for his diplomacy, categorically denied that he would be meeting officials of Dow Chemicals present owners of Union Carbide Corporation that is responsible for Bhopal gas leak disaster next week during his official visit to US.

Mukherjee during his brief interaction with the reporters said that purpose of his visit was to attend the US-India CEO Forum meeting on June 22. "Besides, I would attend bilateral meeting with treasury official in US. The issue related to Dow Chemicals would be taken up by the concern ministers in due course," said Mukherjee here.

The Union minister also inaugurated a bust of legendary figure from history, Chanakya at the Income-Tax office premises in the city.

Talking to media after meeting Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, he said that if the country got a normal monsoon, the economy could cross 8.5 per cent growth figure this fiscal.

"In the first quarter of current fiscal, advance tax collection and industrial production are encouraging and indicate economic recovery. The economy is moving in the right direction and with a favourable monsoon, we can go further," he said.

Asked about his meeting with Modi, he said, "I have developed this habit of meeting the chief minister and finance minister of the state I am visiting. Recently, I was on a visit to Bihar where I met the CM and others to discuss the GST and other issues."

"Apart from the constitutional amendments, there are some other issues and concerns of the states that need to be discussed," he said.

982 Crores for Bhopal Ahead of Group of Ministers' Meet

MIL/NDTV.COM, Jun 18, 2010

Bhopal: June 18, 2010 - Hours before nine ministers come together to discuss the government's agenda for Bhopal, the Planning Commission has sanctioned 982 crores for the Madhya Pradesh government.

The money will reportedly be assigned to Health and Environment issues in the state.

The fund will have to be approved by the Group of Ministers (GoM) who meet for the first time today.Their agenda: to suggest how to tackle the plethora of legal and financial tangles that have angered the country since a Bhopal court gave its verdict last week.

For the 1984 gas tragedy caused by the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, the court sentenced seven Indian Carbide executives to two years in prison; they were granted bail immediately. The sting of the featherweight punishment was compounded by the glaring omission of Warren Anderson from the trial. Anderson was the American CEO of Union Carbide.

Although he was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, he has ignored many court summons.

Four days after the gas leak, Anderson visited Bhopal briefly. He was arrested, then released immediately, and flown out of Bhopal on the plane of the Chief Minister, Arjun Singh. Anderson's state-supported getaway has led to public outrage as India relooks at the Bhopal tragedy and the malnourished attempts to win justice for its victims.

'Bhopal is now Dow's liability'

Last updated on: June 14, 2010 11:08 IST

Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore meets the guiding spirit behind the Children Against Dow-Carbide in Bhopal. Sareeta, right, with her friend Nidhi

In September 2008 a group of 500 people chained themselves up outside the official residence of India's [ Images ] prime minister. They had walked 800 kilometres in 36 days, all the way on foot from Bhopal. This group included 20 children aged between 10 and 16.

These protesters wanted the prime minister to petition Dow Chemicals to clean up their water resources -- lakes, ponds, water tables etc -- polluted by Union Carbide of India ever since it set up its factory in 1969 in Bhopal.

Ajay Malviya, a resident of Prem Nagar, located on the periphery of Union Carbide India's Bhopal factory, was just 10 years old.

Though Ajay walked the distance from Bhopal to Delhi [ Images ], his sister Sareeta, then 15, could not participate because of her Class X exams. Nonetheless, she was instrumental in inspiring and sensitising children in Prem Nagar about the dangers they confronted due to water pollution.

Sareeta, seen, above, right, with her friend Nidhi, made up for her inability to go to Delhi and fight against Dow by setting up a children's movement, the Children Against Dow-Carbide.

"We wanted the world to know how the water pollution in Bhopal was harming children here," she says when asked about the purpose of young children taking up on the might of huge multinationals.

Today more than 100 children, between 10 and 18, from 18 neighbourhoods surrounding the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal meet every Sunday to chart a course of action for the next week.

"We take up issues like water shortage in our respective localities and medical problems faced by children because of water pollution. We mobilise children by going to their houses and telling them about the harmful effects of water pollution and how to remedy small allergies we suffer because of the chemical pollutants in air and water," explains Sareeta.

The children actively participate in demonstrations launched by organisations like the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Stationery Karmachari Sanghatan and the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangathan Morcha which act as pressure groups against the state and central governments because of their inability to get justice for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy.

"Last year we burnt an effigy of (Minister of Environment and Forests) Jairam Ramesh [ Images ] in a prohibited area for his support of Dow," says Sareeta.

For her age and background Sareeta is quite resourceful and knows a great deal about the Bhopal gas tragedy.

Ask her why she is fighting Dow Chemicals when the gas leaked out of the Union Carbide India factory, a subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation USA, and pat comes the reply: Dow Chemicals should accept the responsibility because they took over UCC in February 2001.

"Bhopal is now Dow's liability," she says.

Sareeta and Safreen Khan, another member of Children Against Dow-Carbide, traveled to 36 cities in the United States between April 12, 2009 and June 5, 2009 to create awareness about the problems they faced in Bhopal because of Dow-Carbide.

During their visits to Boston, New York, Atlanta, Washington DC and Los Angeles among other cities they met with United States Congressmen Frank Pallone and Michael Capuano. Wherever these children went they put forth information about the birth defect rates in Bhopal (almost five times the national average), how allergies peeled off skins from Bhopal residents's legs and hands and how children in the poor colonies of Budhwara, Chhota Taalab, Blue Moon [ Images ] Colony, Gupta Nagar and PGBT College suffered from breathlessness and weakness because of the after-effects of gases that leaked out of the UCC factory in Bhopal and seeped into their water tables.

Photograph: Prasanna D Zore

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/14/bhopals-children-take-on-dow-chemicals.htm

Bhopal tragedy: Ex-MP CM submits memorandum to Law Min

Bhopal, Jun 11 : Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kailash Joshi today said Bhopal gas tragedy prime accused and former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson was sent outside the country on the initiative of the 'highest power in the country'.

In a memorandum submitted to Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily in New Delhi, Mr Joshi said Anderson was sent to New Delhi from Bhopal in an aircraft of the Madhya Pradesh government.

''He was allowed to go out of the country though he was facing serious criminal charges. This was done at the initiative of the highest power in the country. No serious effort was made by the Centre to bring him back to the country,'' he said.

According to a party release issued here, Mr Joshi, who represents Bhopal in the Lok Sabha, informed Mr Moily that Bhopal residents were not pleased with the quantum of sentence under section 304 (a) of the IPC to the eight accused in the case.

''Two years' imprisonment to seven accused and Rs five lakh fine on Union Carbide India Limited is a cruel joke on the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy that left thousands of dead and hundreds exposed to its after effects,'' he said.

Mr Joshi said Anderson reached Bhopal on December 7 after the gas tragedy where the local police arrested him. However, he was released later. Likewise, the Supreme Court intervened and got civil settlement done at less amount of 430 million dollars against the demand for 3.3 billion dollars.

Referring to the Supreme Court order in 1996 that changed section 304(Part II) to section 304(a), he said the Bhopal court delivered verdict under this provision. He said the Supreme Court order tied the hands of the Bhopal court.

The former Chief Minister said compensation provided to affected was trifle. He called upon to tighten laws related to tragedies and more empowerment to Central Bureau of Investigation.

Holding Anderson responsible for the gas tragedy, he demanded that the former UCC chief be brought to India. The Centre has the responsibility to hand him to law, he said.

--UNI

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Victims seek SC help on compensation package

Krishnadas Rajagopal Tags : Bhopal gas tragedy, Supreme Court Posted: Fri Jun 18 2010, 03:59 hrs New Delhi:

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Rajapaksa Right To Equality?Sea Also Cries Thought Control

A group of Bhopal gas tragedy victims has returned to the Supreme Court to seek a promise the country's highest court made them 21 years ago.

Their petition quotes the Supreme Court's assurance given in the Union Carbide v. Union of India verdict of 1989 that it "will leave no stone unturned in undoing any injustice".

The victims have come to the apex court after the Madhya Pradesh High Court declined to interfere with the Welfare Commissioner's disinclination to "declare that all gas victims, who are forced to seek medical treatment for gas-related ailments even 25 years after the disaster, are permanently injured and that their compensation should be enhanced accordingly."

The eight petitioners, led by Abdul Jabbar Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan, claim that "circumstances have changed" and, 26 years after the tragedy, it is time for the Supreme Court to review the compensation doled out to victims as per the Bhopal Settlement struck between the Union of India and Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), USA, under the aegis of the Supreme Court for a sum of $470 million on February 14/15, 1989.

They allege that the "fundamental assumptions" entertained by the apex court about the gas tragedy in the 1989 Bhopal settlement now lie "crucially impaired."

A special three-judge bench led by former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan on April 23, 2010 agreed to hear the victims once again and issued notice to the Union and the Welfare Commissioner's office. The fate of the matter now lies in the hands of the present CJI S H Kapadia.

... contd.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Victims-seek-SC-help-on-compensation-package/635376

US nails BP for oil spill, ignores Bhopal

Suhasini Haidar , CNN-IBN

Posted on Jun 17, 2010 at 09:47

New Delhi: Rising anger in the US got President Barack Obama to come out with a tough statement against British Petroleum (BP) for the oil spill. In a televised speech, Obama said that the British oil giant would me made liable for all damages.

"Make no mistake. We will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused and we will do whatever is necessary to help the Gulf coast and its people recover from this tragedy," Obama said on Wednesday.

However, the US President's statement stands in sharp contrast with his country's stand so far on Bhopal gas tragedy and the liability of Dow Chemicals in what is undoubtedly the biggest industrial disaster.

While BP has already been made to set aside $ 20 billion to compensate for the oil spill, victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have got only about half-a-billion dollar.

"This is the worst possible example of double standards" says Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment.

"My only request to the US government is that as they are learning from their pain, they should share that pain and understand the pain of other countries," adds Narain

While the US government holds BP and its CEO Tony Heyward directly responsible for the spill; in 1984, the US embassy pushed for 'safe passage' for the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson.

The US demands upto $ 6 billion and full responsibility from BP for the cleanup; Dow chemicals has lobbied through its government for zero liability.

The US wants BP to pay $ 24 billion in compensations, but it readily agreed to Union Carbide India's settlement of less than half-a-billion dollar.

Compared to 11 deaths reported during oil rig explosion, Bhopal's tragedy has claimed the lives of 15, 0000 men, women and children.

Whether it's the Bhopal gas tragedy or the oil spill, the US government is being accused of protecting its own interests. But it's the Indian government that must answer why it allowed the US those actions - letting Anderson go, agreeing to a paltry settlement for the victims, and for letting the toxic wastes at the Carbide factory lie there for 26 years.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/us-nails-bp-for-oil-spill-ignores-bhopal/124596-2.html

Bhopal Gas Tragedy Activists cry for Justice in Washington

The inability of the Indian Judicial System to met out a suitable punishment to the perpetuators of the world's worst industrial disaster "Bhopal gas Tragedy" has flared anger of activists not only in India but also in the soil of America. Recently a group of activists were seen displaying their protests in front of Indian Embassy in Washington.

Activists have praised Obama's tough stance on British Petroleum's folly "The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico" and demand both Indian government and Obama's ministry to use the same yardstick to fix the accountability of Dow Chemicals in the tragedy. "Life of Indians is no cheaper than any human life in any part of the world." If Obama accedes to the argument, he in all likelihood would have to decree a dictate unprecedented in the history of USA. No US citizen has been extradited for trial on foreign land.

A similar request for extradition of Headley in the 26/11 case was turned down and similar seems to be the fate of Anderson – safe in the land of America. Obama's revisit to the case might land him in dilemma of either favoring justice on humanitarian grounds or going by the pride of American history.

http://www.newsxonline.com/world-news/bhopal-gas-tragedy-activists-cry-for-justice-in-washington-20100617617

NGOs demand extradition of absconding accused of gas tragedy

NGOs fighting for the 1984 gas tragedy victims today demanded extradition of Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, a special prosecution cell for trying the absconding accused and enhancement of the punishment of those found guilty by the court in its verdict.

The demand was made as a five-member expert committee met here for the first time after the court verdict on Bhopal gas tragedy to deliberate on various legal aspects and options available for ensuring justice to the affected persons.

The committee comprised State Advocate General R D Jain, former state advocate generals Vivek Tankha and Anand Mohan Mathur, State Law Department Principal Secretary A K Mishra and legal luminary Shantilal Lodha.

Since Mathur was not present in the meeting due to bad health, the committee members will be going to Indore to hold discussions with him on the issue, Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Secretary S R Mohanty told PTI.

The Convenor of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghthan Abdul Jabbar pressed for the extradition of Union Carbide Corporation's (UCC) then Chairman, Warren Anderson by sending an application to US State and Justice Department.

Besides Anderson, the NGOs also demanded extradition of authorised representatives of UCC's Hongkong-based unit and legal action by engaging US lawyers in the matter.

Govt. Misguiding Public on Bhopal Gas Tragedy- Ministers Meet eye wash?

MIL, Jun 17, 2010
Dr. Raj Baldev

New Delhi, India: June 17, 2010 – Dr. Raj Baldev, Cosmo Theorist, Social Reformer & Lead Man God Believers Association (GBA):

In India, it is political fashion for the govt. to misinform or hoodwink the public or to keep them in dark always presuming that the public memory is short and they can be easily fooled. Normally I don't write against the govt. policies, but it is a serious affair, the govt. is keeping the people in dark, lie-ing to the public openly thinking none would oppose them.

Though I have written in one of my articles that the Govt. should not compare the matter of Bhopal Tragedy case with the BP, oil leak in Gulf of Mexico, I would like to mention a few points, since a meeting of the Ministers is to be held tomorrow to look into the matter of compensation to the Bhopal victims. Since no truth is expected to be discussed, I take it as my duty to inform the public, being a social reformer and Lead Man of God Believers Association (GBA), which is dedicated to seek justice apart from other missions.

The fact remains that either the Central Govt. or the State Govt. both was never serious to get the justice to the Bhopal Gas victims since 1984 till date. They are in fact playing with the sentiments of the innocent and helpless people.

The Central Govt. had issued an ordinance on Bhopal Gas leakage in 1985 and later on it was enacted as an Act by Parliament in which it was provided that a very petty amount like Rs. 10,000/-, 15,000/-, or 25000/- could be paid to the victims and for the serious injuries the amount could be raised to 1.50 lakh.

Since at that time it was pre-mature, the quantum of compensation was challenged by Mr. Charan Lal Sahu, Sup. Court Advocate It was challenged in the Supreme Court of India on the issue of constitutional validity of Bhopal Leakage Gas Act 1985, which the Supreme Court allowed on the principles of Parental Patria Précis which was under the constitutional mandatory u/s 14,19,21 & 38 of the Constitution of India.

The Supreme Court knew it fully well that the Central Govt. had 27% shares in the Union Carbide, even on the principles of natural justice, the Central Govt. had no locus to represent the victims. Thus justice was denied from its very inception. When the Central Govt. was also a party being share holder of 27% in the Union Carbide, how could they represent the victims when they themselves made the people helpless and forced them to lead a miserable invalid life?

It is clear that the victims were denied justice right from the beginning, being deceived or taken the matter at low level without any seriousness by the govt. authorities themselves.

Later on Supreme Court allowed to compromise both civil and criminals liabilities for 478$ million and that was later on reviewed on a petition filed by Mr. Charan Lal Sahu as an Advocate on behalf of a client and the Hon.'ble court allowed to hear the writ petition on Constitutional validity by 5 Judges and it was directed that the compensation may be decided and paid by Govt. of India and if there is deficiencies in the amount of compensation, it should be decided by govt. of India and the Union Carbide and this decision was made in the matter of Union Carbide vs. Union of India but the govt. did not carry out any such order and no such amount has ever been paid by the Central Govt. to victims so far.

Thereafter now a hue and cry on the case decided by the CBM, Bhopal is just an eye wash, since the Central Govt. was a share holder of 27% in the Union Carbide. At this stage to hold a meeting of the minister to look into the matter is nothing else but to fool the public by keeping them in dark right from the beginning.

http://internationalreporter.com/News-5879/govt-misguiding-public-on-bhopal-gas-tragedy-ministers-meet-eye-wash-.html

What's A Citizen's Life Worth?

Chetan Bhagat, Jun 19, 2010, 12.00am IST

Imagine you kiss your child goodnight. You go back to your room to sleep. During the night, poisonous gases fill your child's room, suffocating him. In the morning, when you go to wake him up for school, you find him dead. I am sorry to create this gory visual, and i hope and pray this never happens to you. However, this is precisely what happened to thousands of families in Bhopal in 1984.

Many factors led to, and could have prevented, the incident. The location of a poisonous chemicals facility so close to the city, poor maintenance of equipment, cutting corners on safety by management, previous warnings about plant safety, labour issues - all these have been identified by studies post the incident. There are clearly two guilty parties - the company Union Carbide that owned the plant, and various government authorities that gave various approvals for it.

More disturbing is the post-incident handling of affairs by our government. It is reported that the government actually assisted Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide India Limited, in leaving the country. The other accused were punished after 25 years, after getting two-year sentences, and were out on bail after paying Rs 25,000 bonds.

Compare this to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, 65 km away from the US shoreline. The spill started in April due to an explosion on board Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling rig leased by BP, one of the world's leading oil exploration companies. So far the only human casualties are around 11 people who died during the explosion. The spill, while causing significant damage to marine life and ecology, is not expected to cause any further human casualties.

The US government, however, is sparing no effort in bringing BP to book. President Barack Obama himself has made several anger-filled statements about BP's 'recklessness' and doing 'what it takes' to get BP to fix it. Such is the fear of the US government's resolve to teach BP a lesson that BP shares have lost half their market value since the spill began - or a value decline close to $90 billion. Analysts estimate that BP may have to compensate up to $1,000 for every barrel of oil spilled (incidentally, the Bhopal accused came out on bail for around half that amount). BP had to cut its dividends, risks a takeover and has already spent billions trying to plug the leak.

That's how you teach big corporates a lesson. You make the cost of playing with safety so high that they never even dream of short cuts. While it is unfortunate that one incident can wipe out a global corporate, there is no other choice. One big guy punished changes the way thousands of other companies think. I can bet every oil company right now is evaluating its safety procedures. To protect marine life and related industries, even the business-friendly US government is ready to - as a White House spokesman said - "put the boot on BP's neck".

Back home, it is a different story. In a village in Punjab, kids are having neurological problems as there is uranium in the water due to pollution by a nearby plant. And Bhopal, the mother of all industrial disasters, is serving as an example of how cheaply our government values Indian citizen's lives.

Let there be no doubt, the government is as much a culprit in Bhopal as Union Carbide. Every plant approval, safety norms and inspections also involve government authorities. Palms are greased, relationships are made and the good Indian businessmen learn to manage government officials. After all, the skill of doing business in India is managing the system, not innovation or better products. The nexus between rich people and government servants is strong, and you will often find one in the other's living rooms in the evenings.

Why do so many politicians socialise with industrialists? Over dinners, they bond and plan their kids' education and their wives' shopping trips. Over parties, they shake hands over approvals. It all seems perfectly harmless. After all, what's wrong in making friends? However, trouble happens when disaster strikes. The first person the politician/bureaucrat helps is the industrialist, not the suffering people. I'm sure Anderson knew the right people. And he used his contacts to make his escape. The little kid who got gassed didn't have contacts. Neither did he have a government representative who would bang his fists on the table to get him justice. Because, quite simply, people here are cheaper than fish.

All hope is not lost, however. We can still learn our lessons and do a couple of things. One, our laws need to be amended for corporate disasters. They make a mistake, they have to pay - heavily. Two, politician-industrialist socialising should not be encouraged. A politician making social visits with industrialists, while it can't be banned, should definitely be disclosed. Finally, our golden opportunity comes when Obama visits in November. If he can scream so much for fish, surely we can tell him what an American company did to our kids. He loves to appease, and maybe we can get a large amount for the victims. But for that, some leader will have to bang his fists on the table for the people of Bhopal. Do it, for we don't want anyone to suffocate our kids again -ever.

The writer is a best-selling novelist.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Home/Opinion/Edit-Page/Whats-A-Citizens-Life-Worth/articleshow/6064826.cms
Activists to Obama: Show same sensitivity to gas victims as on oil spill issue Mahim Pratap Singh

"Allow judicial processes to fix responsibility for the Bhopal carnage"

Bhopal: Human rights activists from all over the country, led by prominent Bhopal activist Abdul Jabbar, on Monday wrote a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama drawing his attention to the gas leak issue after his tough stance towards the British Petroleum (BP) over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The letter, signed by Harsh Mander, Vandana Shiva, Rohini Hensman, Vandana Prasad, Shabnam Hashmi, Vinod Raina and lyricist Javed Akhtar among others, requested Mr. Obama to show the same sensitivity and resolve towards Bhopal as he did towards the oil spill.

The letter lauded Mr. Obama's "tough stand against BP, particularly your demand for corporate accountability for causing huge environmental damage is worthy of emulation by other governments around the world."

It drew his attention to "a bigger disaster that took place in the city of Bhopal in India in December 1984 that has officially killed over 15,000 people [about 25,000 people unofficially] and seriously injured nearly half a million people by now" and the fact that this disaster was caused by "another mega corporate entity called Union Carbide, headquartered in the United States of America, unlike BP whose parent company resides in Great Britain."

"… the subtle pressure of the U.S. administration, alien tort laws of the U.S. and the discriminatory legal functioning of the U.S. that puts a higher cost to a U.S. life than that of in Bhopal has made it necessary for the victims to fight on both fronts, the U.S. and the Indian administrations, corporations and judicial systems, for over a quarter of century," said the letter, asking Mr. Obama if it was "too much to expect that you use the same yardsticks of accountability you are using for BP for the terrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, for corporations based in the country you rule?"

Pointing out the lack of accountability displayed by Union Carbide and now Dow, the letter said Mr. Obama should allow judicial processes to fix "responsibility of corporations and individuals of the U.S. responsible for the Bhopal carnage," and work with the "same sense of collaboration with the Indian government on this issue [Bhopal] that you proclaim you have achieved with the Indian government on the issue of 'global terrorism'" among other things.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/15/stories/2010061565641400.htm

'Centre let Warren Anderson leave'

Hindustan Times - Narasimha Rao - ‎5 hours ago‎

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India Today - Press Trust of India

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Oneindia

Bhopal GoM heading in the right direction: Chidambaram

Zee News - ‎6 hours ago‎

The GoM may also take up the issue of extradition of Warren Anderson, then CEO of Union Carbide, who was let off even after a case was registered against ...

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GoM on Bhopal to meet today Sify

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The Hindu

Exclusive: What Anderson said after visiting Bhopal

NDTV.com - ‎Jun 15, 2010‎

As India waits for answers on who let Warren Anderson get away, NDTV has got access to a soundbite of the man himself, just before he left for the United ...

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High-level government involvement in Anderson's escape: BJP Hindustan Times

Congress, opposition spar over Anderson's 1984 passage (Roundup) Sify

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Bhopal gas tragedy: Case against Warren Anderson hard to build

Daily News & Analysis - Aditya Kaul - ‎Jun 17, 2010‎

New Delhi: The Warren Anderson extradition drama has put CBI in a fix. The agency is struggling to find strong legal ground to seek his extradition from the ...

MP panel: Apply stiffer IPC clause Times of India

CBI had sought dilution of charge against Anderson Press Trust of India

Safe passage to Anderson was only option: Ex-PMO official Sify

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NDTV.com

Bhopal tragedy: Group of Ministers (GoM) meets, Anderson on agenda

NDTV.com - ‎8 hours ago‎

The issue of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson's extradition is expected to come up. Also on the agenda is greater compensation for the victims of ...

NDTV.com

Anderson extradition not a high priority for India, said U.S. document

The Hindu - Mahim Pratap Singh - ‎Jun 11, 2010‎

No issue has greater potential to destroy US business leaders' confidence in India than the handling of the Warren Anderson case. ...

Video: Should Dow Chemicals clean up the Bhopal mess? NDTV Profit

Congress must apologise for letting Warren Anderson get away: BJP NDTV.com

Don't bow to US, get Anderson back: BJP, Left to Centre Economic Times

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Venkaiah Naidu ridicules Congress 'silence' on Warren Anderson issue

Daily News & Analysis - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

PTI Bangalore: BJP Senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu today demanded that Congress spell steps being taken to bring to book the then Union Carbide chief Warren ...

Sydney Morning Herald

House of Anderson up for sale

Sydney Morning Herald - Andrew Hornery - ‎6 hours ago‎

And not so long ago colourful property developer Warren Anderson was among the hungriest of buyers. However, a bitter separation from his wife of 42 years, ...

Indian Express

Fresh compensation likely for Bhopal victims

NDTV.com - ‎Jun 15, 2010‎

He was removed after BJP leaders protested over the position given to him even after he allegedly helped Warren Anderson flee.

Video: PM asks GoM to decide on Bhopal tragedy NewsX

GoM on Bhopal to meet on June 18 Hindustan Times

INDIA'S COMMUNIST LEADER DISSATISFIED WITH THE GOM ON BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY Sify

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Case against Warren Anderson is not over, says Moily

The Hindu - Smita Gupta - ‎Jun 8, 2010‎

New Delhi: The former Union Carbide chairman, Warren Anderson, can still be tried in the Bhopal gas tragedy case if he is brought to India, ...

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MP govt to file plea against court order

Indian Express - ‎19 hours ago‎

It also announced formation of a fact-finding committee to probe the events leading to the escape of Warren Anderson. The state will file an appeal in the ...

Madhya Pradesh govt to file curative petition in Supreme Court The Hindu

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Madhya Pradesh to appeal Bhopal gas verdict Sify

Expressindia.com

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Rajiv Gandhi did not object to Anderson safe passage: Rasgotra

Sify - ‎Jun 17, 2010‎

... was fully informed after the home ministry decided to give then Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson safe passage and he did not object to it, ...

The Hindu

'We will study legal methods to bring Anderson to trial'

The Hindu - ‎Jun 12, 2010‎

... the Centre would examine the legal provisions to bring to trial the former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson in the Bhopal gas leak case. ...

Ahmadi counters Moily's charge Times of India

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Bhopal tragedy: Moily takes on judiciary IBNLive.com

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Deccan Herald

'No govt pressure on CBI to drop case against Warren'

Times of India - ‎Jun 9, 2010‎

... denied that there was any pressure on the probe agency to drop cases against Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson in the Bhopal gas tragedy case. ...

Video: MEA let off Warren Anderson? NewsX

Govt intervened in Anderson's extradition: BR Lall Oneindia

Not told to go slow on Anderson: ex-CBI chief Indian Express

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Rajiv Gandhi responsible for Anderson escape: Sushma Swaraj

SINDH TODAY - ‎9 minutes ago‎

Bhopal, June 18 (IANS) Maintaining the heat on the Congress over the release of Warren Anderson, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj said ...

Has India learnt its lessons from the Bhopal gas tragedy?

IBNLive.com - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

Corporate liability, when it comes to MNCs, still remains elusive in the industry even as the government passes the buck on who allowed Warren Anderson go ...

The Hindu

Cong hits back at 'photo-forger' Modi

Hindustan Times - ‎Jun 14, 2010‎

The Congress-BJP war of words over the Warren Anderson-Bhopal gas tragedy issue intensified on Monday. The ruling party accused Gujarat CM Narendra Modi of ...

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Sonia must answer on Bhopal: Modi indiablooms

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Mystery surrounds TISS survey findings on Bhopal gas tragedy

The Hindu - Mahim Pratap Singh - ‎Jun 15, 2010‎

AP Activists from various human rights organisations and non government organisation participate in a protest rally demanding extradition of Warren Anderson ...

Daily News & Analysis

PM should ensure proper rehabilitation for Bhopal gas victims: Prabhat Jha

Daily News & Analysis - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

... Rajiv Gandhi gave consent for the release and departure of Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson to the then Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Arjun Singh. ...

Suresh Pachouri writes to PM over EGoM

Central Chronicle - ‎Jun 17, 2010‎

The feasibility of criminal prosecution of Warren Anderson and other top officials of Union Carbide be examined. The Government of India should also move ...

The Voice of Russia

Man in news: The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal Gas Tragedy

The Voice of Russia - ‎2 hours ago‎

The resumed controversy over Bhopal tragedy and Union Carbide chief executive Warren Anderson is a good example. And there are some thought-provoking ...

TIMES NOW unveils the 'Hidden Truth' of Bhopal at five past midnight

afaqs (press release) - ‎9 hours ago‎

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MP Govt's panel favours retrial of all accused for culpable homicide

Daily Pioneer - Abraham Thomas - ‎22 hours ago‎

An Expert Legal Committee, set up by the Madhya Pradesh Government, has recommended a possible retrial of all the accused, including Warren Anderson, ...

Was US law firm behind Sorabjee changing tack?

Times of India - Dhananjay Mahapatra - ‎Jun 9, 2010‎

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Extradition proceedings unlikely to succeed, Sorabjee told Vajpayee government The Hindu

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Mistake to have let Anderson go, says ex-minister Sathe

Daily News & Analysis - ‎Jun 9, 2010‎

... have released former Union Carbide Corporation chairman and chief executive officer Warren Anderson and allowed him to leave the country back in 1984. ...

India Today

New disaster management law in 6 months: Moily

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Scope to intervene

Frontline - ‎Jun 15, 2010‎

BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT HIMANSHU RAJAN SHARMA is the lead counsel in Janki Lal Sahu et al. vs UCC and Warren Anderson et al., a class action suit filed in ...

Union Carbide paid Rs 3 cr to Arjun Singh, claims Togadia

Expressindia.com - ‎Jun 12, 2010‎

Jabalpur Dubbing as "traitors" those behind the release of then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson after the Bhopal gas disaster in 1984, the VHP today ...

Praveen Togadia describes those who helped Anderson's exit as 'traitors' Daily News & Analysis

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He will speak when time is right, says daughter

Hindustan Times - ‎Jun 12, 2010‎

Arjun Singh's daughter said on Saturday her father would reveal at an opportune moment the truth about Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson's escape from law ...

In 2003, LS panel said Centre couldn't have been in the dark on Anderson Indian Express

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Cong turns tables on BJP over Anderson

Asian Age - ‎Jun 14, 2010‎

The Congress on Monday put the BJP in the dock asking the saffron party to explain what steps were taken by the NDA government to extradite Warren Anderson. ...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sffqR1J6uI

Interacting with reporters, Chavan, a member of the panel, was asked if the main culprits behind the Bhopal gas tragedy will go unpunished.

Saying that he would not give a "direct answer", the minister said that the GoM's agenda listed for the daily meetings till Monday had various subjects.

"So, let me assure you that all the concerns related to the tragedy have been listed, and will be debated and discussed," he said.

The GoM held the first of its daily meetings here Friday and discussed relief and rehabilitation issues for the victims.

The panel is to meet again Saturday and Sunday before submitting its report ahead of the 10-day deadline set by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday.

An estimated 20,000 people have been killed since toxic gases leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984 -- over 3,000 of them on the same night.

There has been a lot of controversy over the visit of the Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson in December 1984, and his safe return to United States, which was allegedly a pre-condition for his visit to India.

Since then, India has made several unsuccessful requests to the US for Anderson's extradition.

Congress party on Friday termed as "outrageous" the allegations that erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi government had assured "safe passage" to Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson before he came to India following the deadly Bhopal gas leakage that killed thousands.

"There is absolutely no evidence of any kind whatsoever direct or indirect to support this completely outrageous and ridiculous allegation," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said at a press conference here.

Earlier, the then foreign secretary M K Rasgotra gave a new twist to the raging controversy over the Bhopal gas tragedy by disclosing that the home ministry, under P V Narasimha Rao, had assured "safe passage" to Anderson before he came to India in the aftermath of the gas leakage in 1984.

"The allegation is purely political," Singhvi claimed when asked about the statements coming from Rasgotra and the then Deputy Chief de Mission at the US Embassy in New Delhi, Gordon Streeb, that the then Union government had assured safe passage to Anderson during his trip to India.

"The Prime Minister of India does not deal with what every police constable does. There is absolutely no connectivity... Why this gentleman is saying this for the first time after 25 years? Could he not find any other time to make this allegation? And why are those political parties picking up these on themes on the basis of allegations being made now. If there was slightest of evidence, these allegations would have been made earlier," Singhvi said.

"There is now as you know a GOM. All those things deserve to be looked into... but certainly there is no place for such outrageous allegations. Because there is no basis, except that it creates a certain amount of political sensationalism and mockery by certain vested interest.

"All is not lost, because there are procedures by which A, a review petition can be filed before the Supreme Court to consider reviewing a judgement passed by it years ago. B, the process of perusing that criminal proceedings in which he was declared a proclaimed offender can be restarted," the Congress spokesman said.

Responding to a question, Singhvi said there is no connection between the Bhopal tragedy and the Nuclear Liability Bill pending in the Parliament.

"I do not see any reason to connect the two (Bhopal issue and nuclear liability bill). Because the proposed civil nuclear liability bill is specifically restricted and operative in respect to suppliers and operators of nuclear parts. Nobody is suggesting that the Bhopal site involved a nuclear plant. Even if it is passed in whatever form, it (Nuclear Liability Bill) would have nothing to do with non-nuclear plant sites," he said.

Singhvi is leading an all-party delegation of Members of Parliament to attend the annual India-Yale Parliamentary Leadership Programme.

Carbide plant saw 3 mishaps before gas tragedy

Prior to the leakage of the deadly methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide plant here in 1984, three mishaps had taken place in the facility killing two factory workers, according to Madhya Pradesh Assembly records.

BJP MLAs at that time Gaurisankar Shejwar and Babulal Gaur had raised in the state Assembly in 1982 the issue of the death of UCIL employee Mohammed Ashraf and a fitter due to gas leaks in the plant.

As per the Assembly records, the then Labour Minister, Tara Singh Viyogi had confirmed that a fitter (whose name was not given in the reply) had died on October 28, 1975 and Ashraf had lost his life on December 25, 1981 due to leakages of gas in the factory.

The BJP members had also raised the issue of saftey and security measures in the wake of two deaths in the plant to which the Minister had replied that he had personally inspected the factory and found that it had adequate arrangements for meeting any exigencies.

Rachna Dhingra of NGO Bhopal Group for Information and Actions told PTI that "an employee Mohammad Ashraf died in the plant in December 1981 due to phosgene exposure while a major fire had occurred in the alpha napthol unit of the plant in 1982.

"Surprisingly, the fire incident was suppressed by the plant authorities despite the fact that it was noticed from a distance by the people living near the plant," she claimed.

Bhopal gas tragedy: Centre arranged Anderson's release, says ex-US diplomat

A former Deputy Chief of Mission of the US embassy in New Delhi in 1984 has told NDTV that Warren Anderson's release from house arrest in Bhopal and his flight to Delhi was arranged by the Ministry of External Affairs.

In an exclusive interview, Gordon Streeb said the US did not want any action to be taken against Anderson and that the then Foreign Secretary M K Rasgotra assured him that nothing would happen to Warren Anderson during his visit. (Watch: Congress rejects ex-US envoy's charge)

A crucial point of the controversy over the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict has been the exit route offered to Anderson, who was the American CEO of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 1984 when a gas leak from the company's plant choked Bhopal.

Anderson's departure from Bhopal was not a stealthy one. He flew out on December 7, hours after landing in Bhopal, on the official plane of the then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Arjun Singh. He then stopped in Delhi before leaving the country. But the verdict delivered last week, which offered a nano-punishment to seven Carbide executives, all of them Indian, has led to a new public anger pivoted on why Anderson has never faced trial.

Here are the excerpts from the interview with Gordon Streeb:

NDTV: Can you elaborate on what circumstances Warren Anderson decided to come to India?

Gordon Streeb: We got a call from Union Carbide suggesting that Mr Anderson would like to come to India to show the concern of the corporation at the highest levels for the victims and to get some sense of what had happened at the plant. But both Union Carbide and I were concerned that there be no action taken against Mr Anderson. We did not want to have Mr Anderson come to India to make this gesture and to assess the situation and put himself at risk of being arrested or whatever.

So, based on that I checked with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and to the best of my knowledge, most of my conversations, or all of them were with the Foreign Secretary. They got back to me and said yes, they agree that it would be useful for Mr Anderson to come to display and demonstrate Union Carbide's concern and that they would provide him assurance that nothing would happen to him during this visit.

When he got to Bhopal, obviously, the local officials thought differently. I personally have no idea whether there had been any communication from the Central government to the state government...how this all evolved. The only thing is, the next thing I was aware of from New Delhi was I got a call and was told he was under house arrest at which point I got back in touch with the MEA and asked what we could do to get his release. They told me they'd check into this. The next thing I knew, they had arranged for his release and transport to New Delhi. When he got to New Delhi, he came to the US embassy where we all agreed it would be best he keep a low profile, not get involved with the public, the media, anybody and that the best thing to do at this point was to depart India in accordance with the agreement we had had, in which case he stayed at the embassy until the next flight to the US and he then went to the airport and left. And that was the extent of the arrangements we had made and my own involvement at that time.

NDTV: You have spoken of a safe passage to him. Who assured him of this safe passage?

Gordon Streeb: That I got from the MEA, the Foreign Secretary. Now there's a lot of speculation in India as I'm seeing in the press right now about who actually made that decision. That I cannot tell you. I have no idea where this went up the chain of command in the Indian government. My interaction was strictly with the Foreign Secretary. I, to the best of my recollection, never talked to the FM or the PM. I dealt exclusively with the ministry. Who made that decision, I cannot tell you.

NDTV: Did you get the sense that this was a decision taken by the Center or state?

Gordon Streeb: The only people I dealt with were at the ministry so as far as I know this was a decision by the Government of India at the federal level, at the central level.

NDTV: The Congress says Anderson got bail because he was meant to return. Was this Anderson's understanding?

Gordon Streeb: Oh yes, definitely, otherwise we would've advised him not to come to India. We were in the very early stages of this event and emotions run high as we saw with the Madhya Pradesh government, understandably they were very concerned about who was going to be held accountable but from our standpoint, at this point in time, I advised and agreed with Union Carbide that he should not be coming to India if he was going to be subjected to arrest or any other actions at this point.

SC: Why not raise Bhopal payout?

18 Jun 2010, 0040 hrs IST,Dhananjay Mahapatra,TNN
NEW DELHI: Despite the government's stand in Supreme Court three months ago, opposing enhanced compensation to victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, all may not be lost. A month after that affidavit, the SC had, even if reluctantly, issued notice to the Centre, asking why the settlement funds could not be increased.

On April 23, a bench comprising then Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices A K Ganguly and B S Chauhan had entertained a petition filed by Abdul Jabbar Khan, president of Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan, seeking adequate relief to kin of thousands of dead and lakhs affected by the gas leak disaster of December 4, 1984.

The bench was reluctant, given the finality of the apex court's earlier judgments quantifying the settlement fund agreed between the Centre and the Union Carbide Corporation in 1989 and the mechanism approved under the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985.

However, the petitioner's counsel, Sanjay Parikh, pointed out that though the welfare commissioner had claimed to have disbursed more than Rs 1,400 crore, a large number of victims and their kin had been left in the lurch despite a lapse of 26 years. ''The original estimates of dead and injured persons on the basis of which the settlement figure was calculated is far below the actual , which is five times the former,'' he said.

Quoting figures from Union of India records, Parikh said: ''the total number of claims filed was 10,01,723 of which 5,53,015 cases were awarded a total sum of Rs 1,442.11 crore. The number of claims of death registered was 22,149 of which kin of 15,180 were awarded compensation."

This means around 4.5 lakh claim cases relating to those injured by the gas leak and kin of nearly 7,000 dead have been given very little from the settlement fund worked out between the Centre and UCC in 1989.

The appeal informed the apex court about the cursory way in which the welfare commissioner at Bhopal as well as the Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed the plea for revisiting the adequacy of the settlement fund to meet the enormity of the situation.

"Important issues arising from the changed circumstances like unjustness of compensation in the event of aggravation of injury, delay in disbursement of compensation, denial of interest on delayed compensation, review of wholesale conversion of more than 10,044 death claim cases to injury cases, arbitrary ban on registration of death claim cases since 1997 etc. require adjudication to provide relief and undo the injustice meted out to the victims of the disaster whose suffering continues unabted," the petitioners said.

The petition, filed through counsel Anitha Shenoy, had said that the welfare commissioner vested with suo motu jurisdiction under the Bhopal Act declined to address these questions on the ground that these had been settled by the SC.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/SC-Why-not-raise-Bhopal-payout/articleshow/6062498.cms

Direct Tax Code

Impact of revised DTC on salary components
Finance ministry has axed many proposals which would have pinched a common man's pocket.

DTC: Implications for housing & equities
Rrevised proposals under DTC give a positive for housing but a mixed bag for investors in insurance & equities.

Your long-term savings won't be taxed
The dilution of several provisions of the draft DTC should address many concerns of individuals and the salaried.

Experts' take on impact of taxing capital gains
On Direct Tax Code, the government has done a commendable job in simplifying income tax provisions.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Bhopal tragedy: Congress opposed compensation enhancement in 2007 news

17 June 2010

New Delhi: With fresh revelations on the complicity of the Congress Party in allowing safe passage to Warren Anderson, chairman of Union Carbide and the chief accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy, emerging by the day and the party itself scrambling to control collateral damage on a daily basis it now appears that it opposed applications filed on behalf of the victims to have the compensation amount enhanced as recently as 2007. Fresh reports emerging in the media have brought to fore two applications filed by NGOs – the Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghathan (BGPMUS) and the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS) - before the country's apex court seeking "re-examination of the inadequacy of Bhopal Gas Settlement and to direct Union of India to compensate the settlement fund five times the initial fund" among other relief. Reports point out that the NGOs petitioned the Supreme Court to note that the government had neither taken care to identify all eligible victims in the tragedy nor did it provided adequate compensation for them. The petition also pointed out that the estimate on which the settlement fund was created was too conservative and accordingly the compensation paid out to victims and their families woefully inadequate. It was pointed out that the magnitude of the disaster, in terms of death as well as injuries, was at least five times larger than that assumed in 1989, when it was estimated that at least 3,000 people died and 30,000 were injured. The correct figure stands close to five times that 1989 estimate. The UPA government vigorously opposed the plea arguing it was based on "assumptions, surmises and conjecture and on misreading of the judgments of the Supreme Court". In its arguments the Centre said, "NGOs were trying to reopen the issue of compensation which had been settled with the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and the Union of India and that the SC had approved the said settlement."

http://www.domain-b.com/environment/20100617_bhopal_tragedy.html

Indian government re-examines 1984 Bhopal disaster

Page last updated at 15:58 GMT, Friday, 18 June 2010 16:58 UK

By Chris Morris
BBC News, Islamabad An elderly victim holds a poster outside the court in Bhopal. Photo: 7 June 2010

Thousands of people were affected by the gas leak in December 1984

A group of senior Indian government ministers who have been asked to re-examine the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster have held their first meeting.

There has been widespread anger in India following the conclusion of a court case last week.

More than 25 years after the Bhopal gas leak killed thousands of people, the court finally convicted seven former managers at the plant.

They received minor fines and brief prison sentences.

The disaster struck when a cloud of toxic gas leaked from a plant run by the American company Union Carbide.

'Inadequate justice'

But apart from the efforts of a determined group of campaigners, the incident had been all but forgotten in India.

BHOPAL'S DEATH TOLL

Men carry children blinded by the gas leak in Bhopal. Photo: December 1984

Initial deaths (3-6 December): more than 3,000 - official toll
Unofficial initial toll: 7,000-8,000
Total deaths to date: over 15,000
Number affected: Nearly 600,000
Compensation: Union Carbide pays $470m in 1989

Source: Indian Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh government, Indian Council of Medical Research

Bhopal voices: 'Justice denied' 'Travesty': Indian papers react

That changed after last week's court verdict reminded people how long the victims have had to wait for what is widely seen as inadequate justice.

Now a group of senior ministers has been asked to look again at issues such as compensation for those affected, and continued pollution at the now abandoned site of the Union Carbide plant.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said recommendations should be finalised on Monday after a series of meetings over the weekend.

He said the ministers are looking into the number of people affected and the number of compensation claims which have been accepted so far.

The fact that the Bhopal tragedy is back in the news at the same time as the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has added to the sense that the victims of 1984 have been terribly let down.

Commentators in India have pointed out that the US government appears far more concerned about a disaster in its own back yard than it ever was about one which took place in the developing world.

There has also been trenchant criticism of the Indian government response over the years, and of Union Carbide - now owned by Dow Chemicals - for its failure to do more to help.

Map showing the area affected by the gas leak

Bhopal, BP and karma

By Chan Akya

BP chief executive Tony Hayward (in a stiff British accent): "Members of congress, I come here not to apologize but to express my irritation at being here in the first place. BP is a foreign company, and we operated Deepwater in the Gulf of Mexico as an offshore facility regulated as a ship (not a drilling well) under US law. Everything we did was acceptable under US law. We cut corners and costs, in order to produce the oil demanded by your people. Our suppliers such as Halliburton and Transocean are American companies so this is all your fault really. You bought our oil for all this time, and made our shareholders rich, so thank you for that.

Accidents happen, and I am afraid you will have to live with the consequences of this one. Look at the positive side of things. If no oil had leaked, we would have simply sold all of it to your SUV

drivers and the resulting carbon dioxide - or C02 - emissions would have polluted the whole world. Instead, all that leaking oil only pollutes the waters off the southern USA, a relatively small part of the world.

If you don't like my answer, I have one word for you: Bhopal."

A fictitious exchange between BP and the US Congress, in a parallel universe.

Watching Hayward being mauled in front of congress on Thursday, the thoughts in the back of my mind related not so much to sympathy for the American point of view but rather for the CEO. Instead of agreeing with the generally held opinion that BP is to blame for all the problems in the Gulf of Mexico - a view that has been cemented by an apparent history of cost-cutting that led to the mishap - my feelings are now tending towards the Karmic perspective, that is, that what BP is doing to America is pretty much what American companies have done and are doing to the rest of the world.

Perhaps BP, formerly British Petroleum, is merely exacting vengeance on Americans on behalf of Britain's former colony, India. Two wrongs don't make a right for sure, but when Americans sit around bawling about the sheer injustice of it all, the rest of the world could well use examples like Bhopal to still feel less than sympathetic.

The worst such incident by any measure is Bhopal. In 1984, an American company, Union Carbide, faced a similar litany of problems in a plant making pesticide. It was located right in the middle of a densely populated city in central India, Bhopal. Reacting to the declining profitability of the plant in the early 1980s, management enacted a number of cost savings as well as holding back much-needed capital expenditure that would have helped restore various safety systems to acceptable standards.

The end result was that on December 3, 1984, water entered tanks storing methyl isocyanate (MIC), a poisonous gas that should never have been stored in this form in the first place; the resulting build-up of pressure caused a leak that spread the gas over Bhopal, killing more than 2,000 people, according to the official figure, and maiming tens of thousands more. Additionally, subsequent generations of people in Bhopal have shown the effects of MIC poisoning with deformities, congenital health problems, cancer and painful deaths. (Some estimates say that more than 15,000 people died after the initial leak.)

Adding insult to injury, US courts ruled that Union Carbide couldn't be tried in US courts for the crimes against Indians (it is interesting that various US politicians make the case for trying foreigners for alleged crimes against Americans even though its own citizens can never be tried for crimes against foreigners in their courts). The parent company, Union Carbide, was put into liquidation and subsequently acquired by another company (Dow Chemical). After this acquisition, the name Union Carbide is still used, even though Dow Chemical has refuted all responsibility for the 1984 catastrophe.

The response of Union Carbide to Indians has been on the lines of "Accidents happen. You can use the Bhopal plant as collateral to take any payments that will be used to compensate our victims. Make that your victims."

After years of meandering through the Indian court system, the verdict on the 1984 catastrophe was handed down in an Indian court earlier this month. Britain's Guardian newspaper reported:

An Indian court today convicted seven former senior employees of Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary of causing "death by negligence" over their part in the Bhopal gas tragedy in which an estimated 15,000 people died more than 25 years ago.

The subsidiary company, Union Carbide India Ltd, which no longer exists, was convicted of the same charge. The former employees, many now in their 70s, face up to two years in prison ...

... Union Carbide was bought by the Dow Chemical Co in 2001. Dow says the legal case was resolved in 1989 when Union Carbide settled with the Indian government for US$470m ... and that all responsibility for the factory now rested with the government of the state of Madhya Pradesh, which owns the site.

So there you have it, courtesy of a British newspaper - the exact strategy that BP needs to follow against America. Put up a few of its American employees for trial (at vast public expense), hand over the Gulf of Mexico site to the government, and pretty much say "Ta".

Karma
Americans have mass cognitive dissonance with respect to their self-image. In their own minds, they view the American system as "fair, equitable, meritocratic, innovative and good". They also perceive that this view is considerably different in the minds of foreigners: "greedy, evil, litigious, hypocritical, lazy". Americans view their enterprise system through companies like Apple, Google and Boeing. The rest of the world views the system through the eyes of companies like GM, Goldman Sachs and McDonald's.

Reaction in the US media after the Bhopal verdict on June 7 was muted. My random sweep through Google revealed factual news items, but virtually no expression of outrage in the American or European media. Sure, there was much outrage expressed in the Indian media but then again, that appears to have been directed (justifiably) against their own courts and politicians rather than (also justifiably) a foreign company.

The evils of Union Carbide cannot be swept under the carpet. There cannot be sympathy for the American plight after accidents like BP, when the same accidents in the rest of the world (at much higher cost to people and livelihood) are underplayed.

Over the past three years, American claims to innovation have been severely tested. The "innovative" approach to providing mortgage financing for undeserving borrowers has erupted into the greatest financial crisis the world has seen since 1929. American investment and commercial banks stand accused of gross incompetence, greed and malice in their dealings with financial institutions in the rest of the world. American industry is suffering and has all the characteristics of a terminal decline. American policymakers have blithely ignored the advice they so willingly proffered to the rest of the world, and indulged in rampant moral-hazard actions instead.

The lack of reaction to the Union Carbide issue renders comical the US media reaction to the BP situation where a "mere" 11 people died compared with the thousands in India. It is a big environmental disaster, but then again, if all that oil hadn't been lost to the sea it would have simply ended up in the gas tanks of American vehicles and polluted the whole world. In that respect, having it leak and polluting "only" the swamplands of southern US can be considered a "good" thing for the rest of the world.

(Copyright 2010 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/LF19Dj01.html

BP begins to ante up

18 Jun 2010, 0515 hrs IST,New York Times
Given the size of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we suspect that $20 billion may not be enough to compensate all of the people whose lives and futures have been derailed by the spill. But it's a good start.

It took days of very public pressure from President Barack Obama and countless hours of private negotiations, but BP finally agreed on Wednesday to put $20 billion in an independently managed compensation fund.

After meeting with the company's top executives at the White House, Obama stressed that the amount is not a ceiling on BP's obligations, which by some estimates could exceed $40 billion when the costs of cleaning the spill and restoring the gulf's damaged ecosystem are also factored in.

"The people of the gulf have my commitment that BP will meet its obligations," the president declared, adding that the agreement would not pre-empt any claims in court.

BP did not publicly address the issue of a cap, but its chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg did apologise "to the American people" and vowed to "look after the people affected" and "repair the damage to this region and the economy." There are a lot of reasons, of course, not to trust BP.

The company insisted for years that it was ready to deal with a huge oil spill in the Gulf, and it was completely unprepared . After the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig, it downplayed the size of the spill, starting with 1,000 barrels a day, then moving to 5,000, then — as its tallies became less and less credible — turning over the job of estimating to government scientists.

Their present estimate is as much as 60,000 barrels a day. When Obama first started pressing for an escrow fund, and a suspension of dividend payments to BP's shareholders, the company pushed back hard, rallying British politicians to argue that they were being unfairly roughed up by the Americans.

Svanberg appears to have decided that fessing up and anteing up is now the best course. On Wednesday, BP also announced that it would suspend dividend payments of about $7.5 billion over the next three quarters — in effect giving Gulf residents higher priority over its own stockholders.

It also agreed to set aside an additional $100 million to pay workers idled by Obama's suspension of deep-water drilling in the Gulf. This should relieve the pressure on the president to resume that drilling.

Having $20 billion in guarantees should reassure the spill's victims, and all Americans, that BP will not be able to walk away from its responsibilities. It is also reassuring that the fund will be managed by Kenneth Feinberg, a veteran administrator who won high marks for overseeing the 9/11 victims' compensation fund.

Feinberg's task then — determining the value of a life, in nearly 3,000 cases — was extraordinarily daunting. This one will involve many more claims from many more people.

There is not a lot of time for Feinberg to get up to speed. BP is currently handling individual claims and has been criticised for uneven treatment and not responding quickly enough to people who could be weeks or even days away from losing their businesses.

The White House will need to keep pressing BP hard. The agreement gives the company several years to deposit the $20 billion in order to manage its cash flow and not scare off investors. It must be held to that timetable. And it must begin making provisions to ensure a full payout of the billions more in cleanup and restoration costs and civil penalties under the Clean Water Act that are also its responsibility.

We would like to think the battle is over. It is not. Claims in the 1989 Exxon Valdez case were not finally adjudicated until two years ago, and there is still oil on the rocks of Prince William Sound.

BJP-led State's record may come under GoM scanner
Smita Gupta

NEW DELHI: The preliminary agenda being drawn up by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals for the reconstituted Group of Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal, government sources said, will include an examination of the existing BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh government's record in dealing with the after-effects of the 1984 gas tragedy.

The sources said the subjects — for which papers will be circulated by Wednesday for Friday's meeting — would "encompass all issues in the public domain."

Apart from the critical questions of relief, rehabilitation, health and waste management issues, three items are likely to be put on the agenda: the fate of an Empowered Commission to oversee all gas disaster-related expenditure, an idea already rejected by the Madhya Pradesh government; the State government's request for an additional Rs. 982 crore for the social and economic rehabilitation of the victims; and finally, the pending case in the Jabalpur High Court on who should pay for sanitisation of the defunct Carbide plant and its environs.

In April 2008, during the United Progressive Alliance government's first term, the Arjun Singh-headed GoM accepted the suggestion made by NGOs that an Empowered Commission monitor all gas tragedy-related expenditure. The Union Cabinet ratified the GoM's suggestion, but it came to nothing as the Madhya Pradesh government saw it as an infringement of its powers.

Instead, late in 2008, it drew up an Action Plan for the rehabilitation of the victims and asked the Centre to fork out an additional Rs. 982 crore. The response was a list of questions, asking the Madhya Pradesh government to give an account of the money already spent and the efficacy of its action. The proposal is still pending with the Planning Commission.

Gaur hits out at BJP

The UPA's efforts to set up an Empowered Commission and its demand for scrutiny of past expenditure could have been read as an effort by the Centre to put a BJP government in a spot, sources said. But on Tuesday, Babulal Gaur, senior BJP leader and Minister for Gas Relief and Rehabilitation in the State government (and a former Chief Minister), hit out at his own party, saying that when the NDA government was in power at the Centre, it was "totally apathetic" to the problems of the victims.

Mr. Gaur, who will represent the Madhya Pradesh government in the reconstituted GoM, said in Bhopal that all governments at the Centre, including those led by the BJP, had been indifferent to the victims. He said he would raise the issue of getting the remaining 20 wards of Bhopal declared gas-affected — an idea that was accepted, he stressed, by the Arjun Singh-headed GoM — and of raising the compensation to make it on a par with what was given to victims in the United States.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the GoM could also consider giving the victims fresh compensation similar to that provided to victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots under a special budgetary provision.

Vinay Kumar reports:

Asked if extradition of the former Union Carbide chief, Warren Anderson would be part of Friday's discussion, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who heads the reconstituted, nine-member GoM, said he had no idea of the nature of deliberations.

"I have no idea. Let us see what papers are circulated by the Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals. They have promised to circulate papers by Wednesday. Let us see what issues are raised by them.

And then we will decide whether any additional issues are to be addressed,'' he said here on Tuesday.

News Update

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"Think of us…."

"Jai Ho!"

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/06/16/stories/2010061665181200.htm

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These Bhopal women traded their burqas and ghunghats for 'sangharsh'

June 15, 2010 11:17 IST

The gas tragedy led an entire generation of women in Bhopal to shed their social inhibitions and fight for a righteous cause, reports Prasanna D Zore.

We were left with no choice but to come out on the street after deaths in our families," echo a group of women at the office of an NGO, the Swabhiman Trust, near Bhopal's Central Library.

With over 600,000 people affected (of the 900,000 people that inhabited Bhopal in December 1984) by methyl isocyanate in 1984 almost everybody in the city is a gas victim. Every family you meet has a gloomy tale of pain and misery to narrate.

Nevertheless the tragic gas leakage did bring about a profound change in the social lives of Bhopal's women. For good, feel most of the women Rediff.com spoke to.

Today, the womenfolk in this city of lakes feel more liberated.

They have shed their social inhibitions in response to a disaster that can be easily counted as the worst industrial accident ever. 15,274 lives ended (recorded as the official death count; unofficial estimates scale the 20,000 mark) and over 600,000 people affected -- by breathlessness, skin allergies, fibrosis of lungs and cancer -- and still counting.

"1984 changed the way men and society at large in Bhopal looked at women," says Shobha Soni, one amongst the group of women who had to trade her ghunghat (traditional Hindu way of draping a sari over a woman's head covering her face) to fight for justice.

"It also changed the attitude of women towards themselves," she adds quickly, indicating how women in Bhopal had not only to fight a patriarchal and conservative society but their own inhibitions and complexes to come out and battle Union Carbide India [ Images ] and government officials who reportedly attempted every trick jn the book to deny them compensation and justice.

The change, though, was gradual and could not have been possible without a number of activists -- notable amongst them Abdul Jabbar Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghatan, Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Sadhna Karnik of the Bhopal Zehreeli Gas Kand Sangharsh Morcha -- who led these women out of their homes and their traditional bonds in their fight for compensation from Union Carbide India, the governments of Madhya Pradesh [ Images ] and India.

As the fight for justice and compensation intensified, the women in Bhopal, whose husbands had either died, or were bed-ridden, or suffered intensively because of the after-effects of the gas, had no choice but to fight for their rights.

Soon burqas and ghunghats gave way to Punjabi dresses and saris.

"Earlier we would roll beedis in our houses, or cut betel nuts to supplement the family income. But after the tragedy we had to come out of our cocoons," says Haseena Bi of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghatan.

Jabbar Khan observes that it was not so easy to enlist the support of the women in overwhelming numbers when he first organised a small group who would gherao (surround) a government official or lay siege to a court premise where their cases were being heard.

"Those were difficult days. We had to be very subtle in enlisting the support of the women in our fight for justice. I used to explain to them the importance of education and how it could help them and their daughters achieve independence from their miserable lives," recalls Khan.

Conservative men from both the Hindu and Muslim communities opposed the participation of women in the movement. Khan started training the women in sewing clothes, creating handicrafts and zari work that helped supplement the family income.

"At the same time it created an awareness among From left: Hameeda Bi, Aneesa Bi, Haseena Bi and Shobha Soni the women about the injustices they were suffering and how various government agencies were trying to suppress their demand for higher compensation when they became a part of morchas and protests."

This subtle training helped the women break their shackles and enlist in the various movements launched by people like Jabbar Khan.

"We would come out to attend morchas in front of the chief judicial magistrate's office draped in our burqas. As most of our men folk were either dead or ailing we were left with no option but participate in this sangharsh (agitation against Union Carbide India)," says Haseena Bi who now moves freely in a Punjabi suit in her neighbourhood.

"Our men now respect us. They know that it is not only by draping burqas and ghunghats that we can protect our honour and maintain decorum. Sharam toh aankhon ki bhi hoti hai (We can maintain our honour by not letting our eyes stray as well)," says Aneesa Bi who lost her 10-year old daughter in the aftermath of the December 1984 gas leakage.

You come across any number of women in Bhopal, either Hindu or Muslim, and they talk only about their "sangharsh against the government as well as the company." They know they are fighting a righteous battle all on their own.

But they know that this is their fight for truth. And they would rather not let stereotypical notions of decorum come in their way. "Ab hamari ibadat hamara sangharsh hi hai (From now on our agitation and fight for justice is our worship)," says a smiling Hameeda Bi showing a never-say-die spirit.

These women of Bhopal will need a lot of worship to keep the flame of their agitation burn brighter.

Image: From left: Hameeda Bi, Aneesa Bi, Haseena Bi and Shobha Soni. Photograph: Prasanna D Zore

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/15/special-how-1984-changed-the-lives-of-women-in-bhopal.htm

A travesty of justice

By JENNIFER GNANA , Posted on » Friday, June 18, 2010

While the world is still mopping up the spill caused by the explosion at the oil rig off the coast of Mexico and debating how best justice is meted out, a local court in a central Indian state has sentenced perpetrators of the world's worst industrial disaster - after more than 25 years.

In December 1984, inhabitants of Bhopal, in Madhya Pradesh, woke up to a lethal air poisoned with methyl isocyanate, which leaked from a nearby pesticide plant.

It claimed 4,000 lives, although estimates based on hospital and rehabilitation records show that about 20,000 people died and more than 600,000 suffered bodily damage.

Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson was allowed to fly back to the US, never to return, after spending just three hours in detention.

The two-year sentence delivered last week excluded Anderson, but implicated seven Indian executives from Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), as the company is known at present.

They were immediately granted bail, while Anderson was declared to have absconded after the court issued warrants for his arrest and extradition.

While the paltry sentence and the delay is a travesty of justice, what is most disturbing is the contempt with which the victims were treated.

Poisoning the unsuspecting populace demands more stringent punishment, more in line with the decades in jail serious criminals may expect.

It has always galled me that when the prices of commodities have risen very sharply in India due to inflation, the fines for criminal offences on the other hand, have remained unaffected.

Recently, a former Director General of Police from the state of Haryana, charged with sexually molesting a teenager and abetting her suicide, was fined just Rs1,000 (BD8) and jailed for six months.

The Bhopal sentences, albeit after a quarter of a century, amounted to some show of justice, is an insult to those who perished and those who lost loved ones.

The truth is there has been no justice granted to those who survived maimed, blinded and paralysed for life.

No court of justice and no country that calls itself a democracy can consider big corporate houses as above the law and deny its own citizens the justice they are rightfully due.

The victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have received an average of Rs12,410 (BD100) each as compensation.

Many of the victims continue to live wretched existences in slums adjoining the walls of the dilapidated factory grounds waiting for promised compensation payments.

Moreover, they should be given access to free healthcare for the various nervous and malignant diseases they have developed since the disaster.

Those responsible for industrial accidents should be tried with the same amount of media attention, immediacy and strict procedure of law as war criminals and dictators. * Ms Gnana is a former Bahrain resident now studying in Mumbai

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=280487

Congress raises BP, system failure to escape Bhopal heat

Livemint (blog) - Liz Mathew - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

As criticism over its failure to try former Union Carbide Corp. chief executive Warren Anderson for the Bhopal gas tragedy mounted, the ruling Congress ...

Arjun Singh should come clean on Anderson's release: BJP

Sify - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday said Arjun Singh, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister in 1984, should tell the nation how former Union Carbide Corp ...

Bhopal gas tragedy: Shiv Sena demands action against Arjun Singh

Sify - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

The Shiv Sena party staged a protest in Bhopal on Wednesday to demand action against veteran Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Arjun ...

Congress, opposition spar over Anderson's 1984 passage (Roundup)

Sify - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

The opposition and the Congress were locked in a war of words Wednesday after a former US diplomat said that then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson was ...

High-level government involvement in Anderson's escape: BJP

Hindustan Times - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson could have been murdered by an angry mob in the surcharged atmosphere in Bhopal after the 1984 gas leak, ...

Bye, India: Anderson's words as he beat the law

IBNLive.com - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

New Delhi: Warren Anderson, former chairman of Union Carbide Corp responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, was certain that Indian law couldn't touch ...

Old footage shows Arjun backing Anderson

Sify - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

New Delhi: An old footage of December 1984 soon after the deadly gas leak aired by NDTV has captured then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh saying ...

Bhopal tragedy: Ex-top cop Swaraj Puri in the line of fire

NDTV.com - ‎Jun 16, 2010‎

The Bhopal gas tragedy is back to haunt the then Bhopal Superintendent of Police (SP), Swaraj Puri. He is in the line of fire for allegedly helping the then ...

Exclusive: What Anderson said after visiting Bhopal

NDTV.com - ‎Jun 15, 2010‎

As India waits for answers on who let Warren Anderson get away, NDTV has got access to a soundbite of the man himself, just before he left for the United ...

In US, Bhopal activists find new voice

Times of India - Chidanand Rajghatta - ‎Jun 15, 2010‎

WASHINGTON: An Indian-American lad of 12 symbolically attempts to serve summons to Warren Anderson, the so-called Butcher of Bhopal, in New York. ...

All 961 related articles »

Timeline of articles

Number of sources covering this story

	High-level government involvement in Anderson's escape: BJP ‎Jun 16, 2010‎ - Hindustan Times
	No intention to prosecute anyone, said Arjun Singh in '84 ‎Jun 15, 2010‎ - NDTV.com
	'Reveal what transpired between Anderson, Rao' ‎Jun 15, 2010‎ - IBNLive.com
	Arjun Singh avoids media, but meets party leaders ‎Jun 14, 2010‎ - Hindustan Times
	Pranab puts onus on Arjun, adds sees logic ‎Jun 13, 2010‎ - Indian Express
	Buck stops with CBI over Warren Anderson's escape ‎Jun 13, 2010‎ - Daily News & Analysis
	Bhopal gas tragedy: Ex-CJI now in row ‎Jun 12, 2010‎ - Indian Express
	Arjun Singh maintains silence on Anderson issue ‎Jun 11, 2010‎ - Hindustan Times
	Cong scrambles for cover on Anderson release, says only Arjun can explain ‎Jun 11, 2010‎ - Indian Express
	Anti-Arjun chorus grows over Anderson issue ‎Jun 11, 2010‎ - The Hindu

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Bhopal disaster

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Bhopal memorial for those killed and disabled by the 1984 toxic gas release.

The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal Gas Tragedy is the world's worst ever industrial catastrophe and occurred on the night of December 3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. At that time, UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of the U.S. company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company. Around midnight on the intervening night of horror December 2–3, 1984, there was a leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins from the plant, resulting in the exposure of over 500,000 people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.^[1] Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths.^[2] Others estimate that 8,000 died within the first weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.^[3]^[4]

Some 25 years after the gas leak, 390 tons of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UCIL plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater in the region and affect thousands of Bhopal residents who depend on it,^[5]^[6]^[7] though there is some dispute as to whether the chemicals still stored at the site pose any continuing health hazard.^[2]

Over two decades since the tragedy, certain civil and criminal cases remain pending in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India, against Union Carbide, (now owned by Dow Chemical Company), with an Indian arrest warrant also pending against Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the disaster.^[8]^[9] Greenpeace asserts that as the Union Carbide CEO, Anderson knew about a 1982 safety audit of the Bhopal plant, which identified 30 major hazards and that they were not fixed in Bhopal but were fixed at the company's identical plant in the US. In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former chairman of UCIL, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by law. An eighth former employee was also convicted but had died before judgment was passed.^[10]

[hide]

[edit] Summary of background and causes

The UCIL factory was established in 1969 near Bhopal. 50.9% was owned by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and 49.1% by various Indian investors, including public sector financial institutions.^[3]^[4] It produced the pesticide carbaryl (trademark Sevin). In 1979 a methyl isocyanate (MIC) production plant was added to the site. MIC, an intermediate in carbaryl manufacture, was used instead of less hazardous but more expensive materials. UCC understood the properties of MIC and its handling requirements.^[11]^[12]^[13]

During the night of December 2–3, 1984, large amounts of water entered tank 610, containing 42 tons of methyl isocyanate. The resulting exothermic reaction increased the temperature inside the tank to over 200 °C (392 °F), raising the pressure to a level the tank was not designed to withstand. This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases into the atmosphere. The gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs. Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas and many were trampled in the panic.

Theories of how the water entered the tank differ. At the time, workers were cleaning out pipes with water, and some claim that owing to bad maintenance and leaking valves, it was possible for the water to leak into tank 610.^[14] In December 1985 The New York Times reported that according to UCIL plant managers the hypothesis of this route of entry of water was tested in the presence of the Central Bureau Investigators and was found to be negative.^[15] UCC also maintains that this route was not possible, and that it was an act of sabotage by a "disgruntled worker" who introduced water directly into the tank.^[16] However, the company's investigation team found no evidence of the necessary connection.^[17] The Trade Union Report failed to mention that the investigation was totally controlled by the government investigators denying UCC investigators any access to inspecting the ill-fated tank.^{[citation needed]}

The 1985 reports^[17]^[18]^[19] give a picture of what led to the disaster and how it developed, although they differ in details.

Factors leading to the gas leak include:

The use of hazardous chemicals (MIC) instead of less dangerous ones
Storing these chemicals in large tanks instead of over 200 steel drums.
Possible corroding material in pipelines
Poor maintenance after the plant ceased production in the early 1980s
Failure of several safety systems (due to poor maintenance and regulations).
Safety systems being switched off to save money—including the MIC tank refrigeration system which alone would have prevented the disaster.

The problem was made worse by the plant's location near a densely populated area, non-existent catastrophe plans and shortcomings in health care and socio-economic rehabilitation. Analysis shows that the parties responsible for the magnitude of the disaster are the two owners, Union Carbide Corporation and the Government of India, and to some extent, the Government of Madhya Pradesh.^[3]^[4]^[20]

[edit] Public information

Much speculation arose in the aftermath. The closing of the plant to outsiders (including UCC) by the Indian government, and the failure to make data public contributed to the confusion. The CSIR report^[19] was formally released 15 years after the disaster. The authors of the ICMR studies^[21] on health effects were forbidden to publish their data until after 1994. UCC has still not released their research about the disaster or the effects of the gas on human health. Soon after the disaster UCC was not allowed to take part in the investigation by the government. The initial investigation was conducted entirely by the government agencies – Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under the directorship of Dr. Varadarajan and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

UCC and the Government of India maintained until 1994, when the International Medical Commission on Bhopal met, that MIC had no long term health effects.^[4]

[edit] Contributing factors

Several other factors were identified by the inquiry, including the fact that the operators chose a dangerous method of manufacturing pesticides, there was large-scale storage of MIC before processing, the location of the plant was close to a densely populated area, there was under-dimensioning of the safety features, and the plant depended on manual operations.^[4]

Deficiencies in the management of UCIL were also identified. There was a lack of skilled operators due to the staffing policy, there had been a reduction of safety management due to reducing the staff, there was insufficient maintenance of the plant and there were only very loose plans for the course of action in the event of an emergency.^[4]^[22]

[edit] Plant production process

Methylamine (1. MeNH2 at left) reacts with phosgene (2) producing Methyl isocyanate (3. CH3NCO) which reacts with 1-Naphthol (4) to yield Carbaryl (5, right)

Union Carbide produced the pesticide Sevin (a trademarked brand name for carbaryl) using MIC as an intermediate. Until 1979, MIC was imported from the US.^[4] Other manufacturers, such as Bayer, made carbaryl without MIC, though at greater manufacturing costs.^[23]

The chemical process, or "route", used in the Bhopal plant reacted methylamine with phosgene to form MIC (methyl isocyanate), which was then reacted with 1-naphthol to form the final product, carbaryl. This route differed from MIC-free routes used elsewhere, in which the same raw materials are combined in a different manufacturing order, with phosgene first reacted with the naphthol to form a chloroformate ester, which is then reacted with methyl amine. In the early 1980s, the demand for pesticides had fallen though production continued, leading to buildup of stores of unused MIC.^[4]^[23]

[edit] Work conditions

Attempts to reduce expenses affected the factory's employees and their conditions. Kurzman argues that "cuts ... meant less stringent quality control and thus looser safety rules. A pipe leaked? Don't replace it, employees said they were told ... MIC workers needed more training? They could do with less. Promotions were halted, seriously affecting employee morale and driving some of the most skilled ... elsewhere".^[24] Workers were forced to use English manuals, even though only a few had a grasp of the language.^[14]^[25]

By 1984, only six of the original twelve operators were still working with MIC and the number of supervisory personnel was also cut in half. No maintenance supervisor was placed on the night shift and instrument readings were taken every two hours, rather than the previous and required one-hour readings.^[14]^[24] Workers made complaints about the cuts through their union but were ignored. One employee was fired after going on a 15-day hunger strike. 70% of the plant's employees were fined before the disaster for refusing to deviate from the proper safety regulations under pressure from management.^[14]^[24]

In addition, some observers, such as those writing in the Trade Environmental Database (TED) Case Studies as part of the Mandala Project from American University, have pointed to "serious communication problems and management gaps between Union Carbide and its Indian operation", characterised by "the parent companies [sic] hands-off approach to its overseas operation" and "cross-cultural barriers".^[26] The personnel management policy led to an exodus of skilled personnel to better and safer jobs.^[14]^[22]

[edit] Equipment and safety regulations

Union Carbide MIC plant

It emerged in 1998, during civil action suits in India, that, unlike Union Carbide plants in the US, its Indian subsidiary plants were not prepared for problems. No action plans had been established to cope with incidents of this magnitude. This included not informing local authorities of the quantities or dangers of chemicals used and manufactured at Bhopal.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[23]
The MIC tank alarms had not worked for four years.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[27]
There was only one manual back-up system, compared to a four-stage system used in the US.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[27]
The flare tower and the vent gas scrubber had been out of service for five months before the disaster. The gas scrubber therefore did not treat escaping gases with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which might have brought the concentration down to a safe level.^[27] Even if the scrubber had been working, according to Weir, investigations in the aftermath of the disaster discovered that the maximum pressure it could handle was only one-quarter of that which was present in the accident. Furthermore, the flare tower itself was improperly designed and could only hold one-quarter of the volume of gas that was leaked in 1984.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[28]
To reduce energy costs, the refrigeration system, designed to inhibit the volatilization of MIC, had been left idle—the MIC was kept at 20 degrees Celsius (room temperature), not the 4.5 degrees advised by the manual, and some of the coolant was being used elsewhere.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[27]
The steam boiler, intended to clean the pipes, was out of action for unknown reasons.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[27]
Slip-blind plates that would have prevented water from pipes being cleaned from leaking into the MIC tanks through faulty valves were not installed. Their installation had been omitted from the cleaning checklist.^[3]^[4]^[14]
Water sprays designed to "knock down" gas leaks were poorly designed—set to 13 meters and below, they could not spray high enough to reduce the concentration of escaping gas.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[27]
The MIC tank had been malfunctioning for roughly a week. Other tanks had been used for that week, rather than repairing the broken one, which was left to "stew". The build-up in temperature and pressure is believed to have affected the magnitude of the gas release.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[27]
Carbon steel valves were used at the factory, even though they corrode when exposed to acid.^[23] On the night of the disaster, a leaking carbon steel valve was found, allowing water to enter the MIC tanks. The pipe was not repaired because it was believed it would take too much time and be too expensive.^[3]^[4]^[14]^[27]
UCC admitted in their own investigation report that most of the safety systems were not functioning on the night of December 3, 1984.^[18]
Themistocles D'Silva asserts in the latest book—The Black Box of Bhopal—that the design of the MIC plant, following government guidelines, was "Indianized" by UCIL engineers to maximize the use of indigenous materials and products. It also dispensed with the use of sophisticated instrumentation as not appropriate for the Indian plant. Because of the unavailability of electronic parts in India, the Indian engineers preferred pneumatic instrumentation. This is supported with original government documents, which are appended. The book also discredits the unproven allegations in the CSIR Report.^[29]

[edit] History/Previous warnings and accidents

A series of prior warnings and MIC-related accidents had occurred:

In 1976, the two trade unions reacted because of pollution within the plant.^[4]^[22]
In 1981, a worker was splashed with phosgene. In panic he ripped off his mask, thus inhaling a large amount of phosgene gas; he died 72 hours later.^[4]^[22]
In January 1982, there was a phosgene leak, when 24 workers were exposed and had to be admitted to hospital. None of the workers had been ordered to wear protective masks.
In February 1982, an MIC leak affected 18 workers.^[4]^[22]
In August 1982, a chemical engineer came into contact with liquid MIC, resulting in burns over 30 percent of his body.^[4]^[22]
In October 1982, there was a leak of MIC, methylcarbaryl chloride, chloroform and hydrochloric acid. In attempting to stop the leak, the MIC supervisor suffered intensive chemical burns and two other workers were severely exposed to the gases.^[4]^[22]
During 1983 and 1984, leaks of the following substances regularly took place in the MIC plant: MIC, chlorine, monomethylamine, phosgene, and carbon tetrachloride, sometimes in combination.^[4]^[22]
Reports issued months before the incident by scientists within the Union Carbide corporation warned of the possibility of an accident almost identical to that which occurred in Bhopal. The reports were ignored and never reached senior staff.^[4]^[23]
Union Carbide was warned by American experts who visited the plant after 1981 of the potential of a "runaway reaction" in the MIC storage tank; local Indian authorities warned the company of problems on several occasions from 1979 onwards. Again, these warnings were not heeded.^[4]^[23]

[edit] The leakage

In November 1984, most of the safety systems were not functioning. Many valves and lines were in poor condition. Tank 610 contained 42 tons of MIC, much more than safety rules allowed.^[4] During the nights of 2–3 December, a large amount of water entered tank 610. A runaway reaction started, which was accelerated by contaminants, high temperatures and other factors. The reaction generated a major increase in the temperature inside the tank to over 200 °C (400 °F). This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases. The reaction was sped up by the presence of iron from corroding non-stainless steel pipelines.^[4] It is known that workers cleaned pipelines with water. They were not told by the supervisor to add a slip-blind water isolation plate. Because of this, and the bad maintenance, the workers consider it possible for water to have accidentally entered the MIC tank.^[4]^[14] UCC maintains that a "disgruntled worker" deliberately connected a hose to a pressure gauge.^[4]^[16] UCC's investigation team found no evidence of the suggested connection.^[17]

[edit] Timeline, summary

At the plant^[4]

21:00 Water cleaning of pipes starts.
22:00 Water enters tank 610, reaction starts.
22:30 Gases are emitted from the vent gas scrubber tower.
00:30 The large siren sounds and is turned off.
00:50 The siren is heard within the plant area. The workers escape.

Outside^[4]

22:30 First sensations due to the gases are felt—suffocation, cough, burning eyes and vomiting.
1:00 Police are alerted. Residents of the area evacuate. Union Carbide director denies any leak.
2:00 The first people reached Hamidia hospital. Symptoms include visual impairment and blindness, respiratory difficulties, frothing at the mouth, and vomiting.
2:10 The alarm is heard outside the plant.
4:00 The gases are brought under control.
7:00 A police loudspeaker broadcasts: "Everything is normal".

[edit] Health effects

[edit] Short term health effects

Reversible reaction of glutathione (top) with methyl isocyanate (MIC, middle) allows the MIC to be transported into the body

The leakage caused many short term health effects in the surrounding areas. Apart from MIC, the gas cloud may have contained phosgene, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, oxides of nitrogen, monomethyl amine (MMA) and carbon dioxide, either produced in the storage tank or in the atmosphere.^[4]

The gas cloud was composed mainly of materials denser than the surrounding air, stayed close to the ground and spread outwards through the surrounding community. The initial effects of exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation. People awakened by these symptoms fled away from the plant. Those who ran inhaled more than those who had a vehicle to ride. Owing to their height, children and other people of shorter stature inhaled higher concentrations. Many people were trampled trying to escape.^[4]

Thousands of people had succumbed by the morning hours. There were mass funerals and mass cremations as well as disposal of bodies in the Narmada river. 170,000 people were treated at hospitals and temporary dispensaries. 2,000 buffalo, goats, and other animals were collected and buried. Within a few days, leaves on trees yellowed and fell off. Supplies, including food, became scarce owing to suppliers' safety fears. Fishing was prohibited as well, which caused further supply shortages.^[4]

A total of 36 wards were marked by the authorities as being "gas affected", affecting a population of 520,000. Of these, 200,000 were below 15 years of age, and 3,000 were pregnant women. In 1991, 3,928 deaths had been certified. Independent organizations recorded 8,000 dead in the first days. Other estimations vary between 10,000 and 30,000. Another 100,000 to 200,000 people are estimated to have permanent injuries of different degrees.^[4]

The acute symptoms were burning in the respiratory tract and eyes, blepharospasm, breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting. The causes of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse and pulmonary oedema. Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys, fatty degeneration of the liver and necrotising enteritis.^[30] The stillbirth rate increased by up to 300% and neonatal mortality rate by 200%.^[4]

[edit] Hydrogen cyanide debate

Whether hydrogen cyanide was present in the gas mixture is still a controversy.^[30]^[31]

Exposed at higher temperatures, MIC breaks down to hydrogen cyanide (HCN). According to Kulling and Lorin, at +200 °C, 3% of the gas is HCN.^[32] However, according to another scientific publication,^[33] MIC when heated in the gas-phase starts breaks down to hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and other products above 400 °C. Concentrations of 300 ppm can lead to immediate collapse.

Laboratory replication studies by CSIR and UCC scientists failed to detect any HCN or HCN-derived side products. Chemically, HCN is known to be very reactive with MIC.^[34] HCN is also known to react with hydrochloric acid, ammonia, and methylamine (also produced in tank 610 during the vigorous reaction with water and chloroform) and also with itself under acidic conditions to form trimers of HCN called triazenes. None of the HCN-derived side products were detected in the tank residue.^[35]

The non-toxic antidote sodium thiosulfate (Na₂S₂O₃) in intravenous injections increases the rate of conversion from cyanide to non-toxic thiocyanate. Treatment was suggested early, but because of confusion within the medical establishments, it was not used on larger scale until June 1985.^[4]

[edit] Long term health effects

Victims of Bhopal disaster asking for Warren Anderson's extradition from USA

It is estimated that 20,000 have died since the accident from gas-related diseases. Another 100,000 to 200,000 people are estimated to have permanent injuries.^[4]

The quality of the epidemiological and clinical research varies. Reported and studied symptoms are eye problems, respiratory difficulties, immune and neurological disorders, cardiac failure secondary to lung injury, female reproductive difficulties and birth defects among children born to affected women. Other symptoms and diseases are often ascribed to the gas exposure, but there is no good research supporting this.^[4]

There is a clinic established by a group of survivors and activists known as Sambhavna. Sambhavna is the only clinic that will treat anybody affected by the gas, or the subsequent water poisoning, and treats the condition with a combination of Western and traditional Indian medicines, and has performed extensive research.^[36]

Union Carbide as well as the Indian Government long denied permanent injuries by MIC and the other gases. In January 1994, the International Medical Commission on Bhopal (IMCB) visited Bhopal to investigate the health status among the survivors as well as the health care system and the socio-economic rehabilitation.

The reports from Indian Council of Medical Research^[21] were not completely released until around 2003.

[edit] Aftermath of the leakage

Medical staff were unprepared for the thousands of casualties.^[4]
Doctors and hospitals were not informed of proper treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation. They were told to simply give cough medicine and eye drops to their patients.^[4]
The gases immediately caused visible damage to the trees. Within a few days, all the leaves fell off.^[4]
2,000 bloated animal carcasses had to be disposed of.^[4]
"Operation Faith": On December 16, the tanks 611 and 619 were emptied of the remaining MIC. This led to a second mass evacuation from Bhopal.^[4]
Complaints of a lack of information or misinformation were widespread. The Bhopal plant medical doctor did not have proper information about the properties of the gases. An Indian Government spokesman said that "Carbide is more interested in getting information from us than in helping our relief work."^[4]
As of 2008, UCC had not released information about the possible composition of the cloud.^[4]
Formal statements were issued that air, water, vegetation and foodstuffs were safe within the city. At the same time, people were informed that poultry was unaffected, but were warned not to consume fish.^[4]

[edit] Compensation from Union Carbide

The Government of India passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Act that gave the government rights to represent all victims in or outside India.^[4]
UCC offered US$ 350 million, the insurance sum.^[4] The Government of India claimed US$ 3.3 billion from UCC.^[4] In 1999, a settlement was reached under which UCC agreed to pay US$470 million (the insurance sum, plus interest) in a full and final settlement of its civil and criminal liability.^[4]
When UCC wanted to sell its shares in UCIL, it was directed by the Supreme Court to finance a 500-bed hospital for the medical care of the survivors. Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) was inaugurated in 1998. It was obliged to give free care for survivors for eight years.^[4]

[edit] Economic rehabilitation

After the accident, no one under the age of 18 was registered. The number of children exposed to the gases was at least 200,000.^[4]
Immediate relief was decided two days after the tragedy.^[4]
Relief measures commenced in 1985 when food was distributed for a short period and ration cards were distributed.^[4]
Widow pension of the rate of Rs 200/per month (later Rs 750) was provided.^[4]
One-time ex-gratia payment of Rs 1,500 to families with monthly income Rs 500 or less was decided.^[4]
Each claimant was to be categorised by a doctor. In court, the claimants were expected to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that death or injury in each case was attributable to exposure. In 1992, 44 percent of the claimants still had to be medically examined.^[4]
From 1990 interim relief of Rs 200 was paid to everyone in the family who was born before the disaster.^[4]
The final compensation (including interim relief) for personal injury was for the majority Rs 25,000 (US$ 830). For death claim, the average sum paid out was Rs 62,000.^[4]
Effects of interim relief were more children sent to school, more money spent on treatment, more money spent on food, improvement of housing conditions.^[4]
The management of registration and distribution of relief showed many shortcomings.^[37]
In 2007, 1,029,517 cases were registered and decided. Number of awarded cases were 574,304 and number of rejected cases 455,213. Total compensation awarded was Rs.1,546.47 crores.^[38]
Because of the smallness of the sums paid and the denial of interest to the claimants, a sum as large as Rs 10 billion is expected to be left over after all claims have been settled.^[4]

[edit] Occupational rehabilitation

33 of the 50 planned work-sheds for gas victims started. All except one was closed down by 1992.^[4]
1986, the MP government invested in the Special Industrial Area Bhopal. 152 of the planned 200 work-sheds were built. In 2000, 16 were partially functioning.^[4]
It is estimated that 50,000 persons need alternative jobs, and that less than 100 gas victims have found regular employment under the government's scheme.^[4]

[edit] Habitation rehabilitation

2,486 flats in two- and four-story buildings were constructed in the "Widows colony" outside Bhopal. The water did not reach the upper floors. It was not possible to keep cattle. Infrastructure like buses, schools, etc. were missing for at least a decade.^[4]

[edit] Health care

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the health care system became tremendously overloaded. Within weeks, the State Government established a number of hospitals, clinics and mobile units in the gas-affected area.^[4]
Radical health groups set up JSK (the People's Health Centre) that was working a few years from 1985.^[4]
Since the leak, a very large number of private practitioners have opened in Bhopal. In the severely affected areas, nearly 70 percent do not appear to be professionally qualified.^[4]
The Government of India has focused primarily on increasing the hospital-based services for gas victims. Several hospitals have been built after the disaster. In 1994, there were approximately 1.25 beds per 1,000, compared to the recommendation from the World bank of 1.0 beds per 1,000 in developing countries.^[4]
The Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) is a 350-bedded super speciality hospital. Heart surgery and hemodialysis are done. Major specialities missing are gynecology, obstetrics and pediatrics. Eight mini-units (outreach health centers) were started. Free health care for gas victims should be offered until 2006.^[4] The management has faced problems with strikes, and the quality of the health care is disputed.^[39]^[40]^[41]
Sambhavna Trust is a charitable trust that registered in 1995. The clinic gives modern and Ayurvedic treatments to gas victims, free of charge.^[4]^[42]

[edit] Environmental rehabilitation

When the factory was closed in 1985–1986, pipes, drums and tanks were cleaned and sold. The MIC and the Sevin plants are still there, as are storages of different residues. Isolation material is falling down and spreading.^[4]

The area around the plant was used as a dumping area for hazardous chemicals. In 1982 tubewells in the vicinity of the UCC factory had to be abandoned.^[4] UCC's laboratory tests in 1989 revealed that soil and water samples collected from near the factory and inside the plant were toxic to fish.^[43] Several other studies has shown polluted soil and groundwater in the area.^[4].

Reported polluting compounds are, among others, naphthol, naphthalene, Sevin, tarry residue, mercury, toxic organochlorines, volatile organochlorine compounds, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, hexachloroethane, hexachlorobutadiene, pesticide HCH and halo-organics^{[clarification needed]}. It is plausible that these chemicals have some negative health effects on those exposed, but there is no scientific evidence.^[4]

In order to provide safe drinking water to the population around the UCC factory, there is a scheme for improvement of water supply.^[38]
In December 2008, the Madhya Pradesh High Court decided that the toxic waste should be incinerated at Ankleshwar in Gujarat.^[44]

[edit] Union Carbide's defense

Now owned by Dow Chemical Company, Union Carbide denies allegations against it on its website dedicated to the tragedy. The corporation believes that the accident was the result of sabotage, stating that safety systems were in place and operative. It also stresses that it did all it could to alleviate human suffering following the disaster.^[45]

[edit] Investigation into possible sabotage

Theories of how the water entered the tank differ. At the time, workers were cleaning out pipes with water. The workers maintain that entry of water through the plant's piping system during the washing of lines was possible because a slip-bind was not used, the downstream bleeder lines were partially clogged, many valves were leaking, and the tank was not pressurized. The water, which was not draining properly through the bleeder valves, may have built up in the pipe, rising high enough to pour back down through another series of lines in the MIC storage tank. Once water had accumulated to a height of 6 meters (20 feet), it could drain by gravity flow back into the system. Alternatively, the water may have been routed through another standby "jumper line" that had only recently been connected to the system. Indian scientists suggested that additional water might have been introduced as a "back-flow" from the defectively designed vent-gas scrubber.^[4]^[14]. However, none of these postulated routes of entry could be duplicated when tested by the Central Bureau of Investigators (CBI) and UCIL engineers. See Steve Weisman NYT and The Black Box of Bhopal. The company cites an investigation conducted by the engineering consulting firm Arthur D. Little, which concluded that a single employee secretly and deliberately introduced a large amount of water into the MIC tank by removing a meter and connecting a water hose directly to the tank through the metering port.^[16] Carbide claims such a large amount of water could not have found its way into the tank by accident, and safety systems were not designed to deal with intentional sabotage. Documents cited in the Arthur D. Little Report as well as in the recent book The Black Box of Bhopal state that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) along with UCIL engineers tried to simulate the water-washing hypothesis as a route of the entry of water into the tank. This all-important test failed to support this as a route of water entry. UCC claims the plant staff falsified numerous records to distance themselves from the incident, and that the Indian Government impeded its investigation and declined to prosecute the employee responsible, presumably because that would weaken its allegations of negligence by Union Carbide.^[46]

[edit] Safety and equipment issues

The corporation denies the claim that the valves on the tank were malfunctioning, claiming that "documented evidence gathered after the incident showed that the valve close to the plant's water-washing operation was closed and leak-tight. Furthermore, process safety systems—in place and operational—would have prevented water from entering the tank by accident". Carbide states that the safety concerns identified in 1982 were all allayed before 1984 and "none of them had anything to do with the incident".^[47]

The company admits that "the safety systems in place could not have prevented a chemical reaction of this magnitude from causing a leak". According to Carbide, "in designing the plant's safety systems, a chemical reaction of this magnitude was not factored in" because "the tank's gas storage system was designed to automatically prevent such a large amount of water from being inadvertently introduced into the system" and "process safety systems—in place and operational—would have prevented water from entering the tank by accident". Instead, they claim that "employee sabotage—not faulty design or operation—was the cause of the tragedy".^[47]

[edit] Response

The company stresses the "immediate action" taken after the disaster and their continued commitment to helping the victims. On December 4, the day following the leak, Union Carbide sent material aid and several international medical experts to assist the medical facilities in Bhopal.^[47]

Carbide put $2 million into the Indian Prime Minister's immediate disaster relief fund on 11 December 1984.^[47] The corporation established the Employees' Bhopal Relief Fund in February 1985, which raised more than $5 million for immediate relief.^[48]

In August 1987, Carbide made an additional $4.6 million in humanitarian interim relief available.^[48]

Union Carbide also undertook several steps to provide continuing aid to the victims of the Bhopal disaster after the court ruling, including:

The sale of its 50.9 percent interest in UCIL in April 1992 and establishment of a charitable trust to contribute to the building of a local hospital. The sale was finalized in November 1994. The hospital was begun in October 1995 and was opened in 2001. The company provided a fund with around $90 million from sale of its UCIL stock. In 1991, the trust had amounted approximately $100 million. The hospital caters for the treatment of heart, lung and eye problems.^[45]
Providing "a $2.2 million grant to Arizona State University to establish a vocational-technical center in Bhopal, which was constructed and opened, but was later closed and leveled by the government".^[49]
Donating $5 million to the Indian Red Cross.^[49]
Developing the Responsible Care system with other members of the chemical industry as a response to the Bhopal crisis, which is designed "to help prevent such an event in the future by improving community awareness, emergency preparedness and process safety standards".^[48]

[edit] Long-term fallout

Legal action against Union Carbide has dominated the aftermath of the disaster. However, other issues have also continued to develop. These include the problems of ongoing contamination, criticisms of the clean-up operation undertaken by Union Carbide, and a 2004 hoax.

[edit] Legal action against Union Carbide

Legal issues began affecting Union Carbide, the US and Indian governments, the local authorities in Bhopal and the victims of the disaster immediately after the catastrophe.

[edit] Legal proceedings leading to the settlement

On 14 December 1984, the Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, addressed the US Congress, stressing the company's "commitment to safety" and promising to ensure that a similar accident "cannot happen again". However, the Indian Government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act in March 1985, allowing the Government of India to act as the legal representative for victims of the disaster,^[48] leading to the beginning of legal wrangling.

March 1986 saw Union Carbide propose a settlement figure, endorsed by plaintiffs' US attorneys, of $350 million that would, according to the company, "generate a fund for Bhopal victims of between $500–600 million over 20 years". In May, litigation was transferred from the US to Indian courts by US District Court Judge. Following an appeal of this decision, the US Court of Appeals affirmed the transfer, judging, in January 1987, that UCIL was a "separate entity, owned, managed and operated exclusively by Indian citizens in India".^[48] The judge in the US granted Carbide's forum request, thus moving the case to India. This meant that, under US federal law, the company had to submit to Indian jurisdiction.

Litigation continued in India during 1988. The Government of India claimed US$ 350 million from UCC.^[4] The Indian Supreme Court told both sides to come to an agreement and "start with a clean slate" in November 1988.^[48] Eventually, in an out-of-court settlement reached in 1989, Union Carbide agreed to pay US$ 470 million for damages caused in the Bhopal disaster, 15% of the original $3 billion claimed in the lawsuit.^[4] By the end of October 2003, according to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, compensation had been awarded to 554,895 people for injuries received and 15,310 survivors of those killed. The average amount to families of the dead was $2,200.^[50]

Throughout 1990, the Indian Supreme Court heard appeals against the settlement from "activist petitions". Nonetheless, in October 1991, the Supreme Court upheld the original $470 million, dismissing any other outstanding petitions that challenged the original decision. The decision set aside a "portion of settlement that quashed criminal prosecutions that were pending at the time of settlement". The Court ordered the Indian government "to purchase, out of settlement fund, a group medical insurance policy to cover 100,000 persons who may later develop symptoms" and cover any shortfall in the settlement fund. It also "requests" that Carbide and its subsidiary "voluntarily" fund a hospital in Bhopal, at an estimated $17 million, to specifically treat victims of the Bhopal disaster. The company agreed to this.^[48] However, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal notes that the Court also reinstated criminal charges.

[edit] Charges against Warren Anderson and others

The Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, had been arrested and released on bail by the Madhya Pradesh Police in Bhopal on December 7, 1984. The arrest, which took place at the airport, assured Anderson would meet no harm by the Bhopal community. Anderson was taken to Union Carbide's house after which he was released six hours later on $2,100 bail and flown out on a government plane. It is claimed by the then Deputy Chief of Mission of the US embassy in New Delhi, in an interview with a news channel, that communications between the Government of India and himself relating to the release of Warren Anderson to return to the US went through the erstwhile foreign secretary. ^[51]

In 1987, the Indian government summoned Anderson, eight other executives and two company affiliates with homicide charges to appear in Indian court.^[52] Union Carbide balked, saying the company is not under Indian jurisdiction.^[52]

Beginning in 1991, the local authorities from Bhopal charged Anderson, who had retired in 1986, with manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Anderson has so far avoided an international arrest warrant and a US court summons. He was declared a fugitive from justice by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal on February 1, 1992, for failing to appear at the court hearings in a culpable homicide case in which he was named the chief defendant. Orders were passed to the Government of India to press for an extradition from the United States, with whom India had an extradition treaty in place. The Bhopal Medical Appeal believe that "neither the American nor the Indian government seem interested in disturbing him with an extradition". A seemingly apathetic attitude from the US government, which has failed to pursue the case, has also led to strong protests in the past, most notably by Greenpeace. A plea by India's Central Bureau of Investigation to dilute the charges from culpable homicide to criminal negligence has since been dismissed by the Indian courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the decision of the lower federal courts in October 1993, meaning that victims of the Bhopal disaster could not seek damages in a US court.^[48] The Rajiv Gandhi government reached an out of court settlement for compensation for the victims.

Meanwhile, very little of the money from the settlement reached with Union Carbide went to the survivors.^[4] On the anniversary of the tragedy, effigies of Anderson and politicians are burnt.

In July 2004, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the Indian government to release any remaining settlement funds to victims. The deadline for this release was extended by the Indian Supreme Court In April 2005, giving the Indian government until 30 April 2006 after a request from the Welfare Commission for Bhopal Gas Victims. The fund is believed to amount to $500 million after earning interest "from money remaining after all claims had been paid".^[48]

August 2006 saw the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City uphold the dismissal of remaining claims in the case of Bano v. Union Carbide Corporation. This move blocked plaintiffs' motions for class certification and claims for property damages and remediation. In the view of Carbide, "the ruling reaffirms UCC's long-held positions and finally puts to rest—both procedurally and substantively—the issues raised in the class action complaint first filed against Union Carbide in 1999 by Haseena Bi and several organizations representing the residents of Bhopal". In September 2006, the Welfare Commission for Bhopal Gas Victims announced that all original compensation claims and revised petitions had been "cleared".^[48]

Criminal charges were laid against former Union Carbide India Limited employees including: Former UCIL Chairman Keshub Mahindra; presently Chairman-cum-managing Director Vijay Gokhale; former Vice-President Functioning In charge, Kishor Kamdar; former works manager J. Mukund; and former Production manager A.P. Division, S.P. Choudhury. On June 7, 2010, an Indian court convicted all five of the above employees plus plant superintendent K.V. Shetty and production assistant S.I Qureshi of "death by negligence", which carries a maximum prison term of two years. All seven employees were given bail the same day against a bond of Rs. 25,000 and all are expected to appeal against the decision.^[53]

Federal class action litigation, Sahu v. Union Carbide et al. is presently pending on appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.^[54] The litigation seeks damages for personal injury, medical monitoring^[55] and injunctive relief in the form of cleanup^[56] of the drinking water supplies^[57] for residential areas near the Bhopal plant^[58] A related complaint seeking similar relief for property damage claimants is stayed pending the outcome of the Sahu appeal before the federal district court in the Southern District of New York.

On 7 June 2010 seven former employees of the Union Carbide subsidiary, all Indian nationals and many in their 70s, were convicted of causing death by negligence and each sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined Rs.1 lakh (US$2,124; €1,776).^[59] All were released on bail shortly after the verdict.^[60] ^[61]^[62]

The names of those convicted are:

Keshub Mahindra, former chairman of Union Carbide India Limited
V.P. Gokhale, managing director
Kishore Kamdar, vice-president
J. Mukund, works manager
S.P. Chowdhury, production manager
K.V. Shetty, plant superintendent
S.I. Qureshi, production assistant^[10]

[edit] Changes in corporate identity

[edit] Sale of Union Carbide India Limited

Union Carbide sold its Indian subsidiary, which had operated the Bhopal plant, to Eveready Industries India Limited, in 1994.

[edit] Acquisition of Union Carbide by Dow Chemical Company

The Dow Chemical Company purchased Union Carbide in 2001 for $10.3 billion in stock and debt. Dow has publicly stated several times that the Union Carbide settlement payments have already fulfilled Dow's financial responsibility for the disaster. However, Dow did not purchase UCC's Indian subsidiary, Union Carbide India. That was sold in 1994 and renamed Eveready Industries India limited

Some Dow stockholders filed suits to stop the acquisition, noting the outstanding liabilities for the Bhopal disaster.^[63] The acquisition has gained criticism from the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, as it is apparently "contrary to established merger law" in that "Dow denies any responsibility for Carbide's Bhopal liabilities". According to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, Carbide "remains liable for the environmental devastation" as environmental damage was not included in the 1989 settlement, despite ongoing contamination issues.^[63]

[edit] Ongoing contamination

The contamination in the site itself and the surrounding areas did not arise directly from the Bhopal disaster, but rather from the materials processed at the plant and the conditions under which those materials were processed. The area around the plant was used as a dumping ground area for hazardous chemicals. Between 1969 and 1977, all effluents were dumped in an open pit. From then on, neutralization with hydrochloric acid was undertaken. The effluents went to two evaporation ponds. In the rainy seasons, the effluents used to overflow. It is also said that large quantities of chemicals are buried in the ground.^[4]

By 1982 tubewells in the vicinity of the UCC factory had to be abandoned. In 1991 the municipal authorities declared water from over 100 tubewells to be unfit for drinking.^[4]

Carbide's laboratory tests in 1989 revealed that soil and water samples collected from near the factory were toxic to fish. Twenty-one areas inside the plant were reported to be highly polluted. In 1994 it was reported that 21% of the factory premises were seriously contaminated with chemicals.^[43]^[64]^[65]

Studies made by Greenpeace and others from soil, groundwater, wellwater and vegetables from the residential areas around UCIL and from the UCIL factory area show contamination with a range of toxic heavy metals and chemical compounds.^[64]^[65]^[66]^[67]^[68]

Substances found, according to the reports, are naphthol, naphthalene, Sevin, tarry residues, alpha naphthol, mercury, organochlorines, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, hexachlorethane, Hexachlorobutadiene, pesticide HCH (BHC), volatile organic compounds and halo-organics. Many of these contaminants were also found in breast milk.

In 2002, an inquiry found a number of toxins, including mercury, lead, 1,3,5 trichlorobenzene, dichloromethane and chloroform, in nursing women's breast milk. Well water and groundwater tests conducted in the surrounding areas in 1999 showed mercury levels to be at "20,000 and 6 million times" higher than expected levels; heavy metals and organochlorines were present in the soil. Chemicals that have been linked to various forms of cancer were also discovered, as well as trichloroethene, known to impair fetal development, at 50 times above safety limits specified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).^[63]

In an investigation broadcast on BBC Radio 5 on November 14, 2004,^[69] it was reported that the site is still contaminated with 'thousands' of metric tons of toxic chemicals, including benzene hexachloride and mercury, held in open containers or loose on the ground. A sample of drinking water from a well near the site had levels of contamination 500 times higher than the maximum limits recommended by the World Health Organization.^[70]

In 2009, a day before the 25th anniversary of the disaster, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi based pollution monitoring lab, released latest tests from a study showing that groundwater in areas even three km from the factory up to 38.6 times more pesticides than Indian standards. ^[71]

The BBC took a water sample from a frequently used hand pump, located just north of the plant. The sample, tested in UK, was found to contain 1000 times the World Health Organization's recommended maximum amount of carbon tetrachloride, a carcinogenic toxin.^[72] This shows that the ground water has been contaminated due to toxins leaking from the factory site.

[edit] Criticisms of clean-up operations

Lack of political willpower has led to a stalemate on the issue of cleaning up the plant and its environs of hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste, which has been left untouched. Environmentalists have warned that the waste is a potential minefield in the heart of the city, and the resulting contamination may lead to decades of slow poisoning, and diseases affecting the nervous system, liver and kidneys in humans. According to activists, there are studies showing that the rates of cancer and other ailments are high in the region.^[73] Activists have demanded that Dow clean up this toxic waste, and have pressed the government of India to demand more money from Dow.

Carbide states that "after the incident, UCIL began clean-up work at the site under the direction of Indian central and state government authorities", which was continued after 1994 by the successor to UCIL, Eveready Industries, until 1998, when it was placed under the authority of the Madhya Pradesh Government.^[48] Critics of the clean-up undertaken by Carbide, such as the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, claim that "several internal studies" by the corporation, which evidenced "severe contamination", were not made public; the Indian authorities were also refused access. They believe that Union Carbide "continued directing operations" in Bhopal until "at least 1995" through Hayaran, the U.S.-trained site manager, even after the sale of its UCIL stock. The successor, Eveready Industries, abruptly relinquished the site lease to one department of the State Government while being supervised by another department on an extensive clean up program. The Madhya Pradesh authorities have announced that they will "pursue both Dow and Eveready" to conduct the clean-up as joint tortfeasors.^{[citation needed]}

The International Campaign view Carbide's sale of UCIL in 1994 as a strategy "to escape the Indian courts, who threatened Carbide's assets due to their non-appearance in the criminal case". The successor, Eveready Industries India, Limited (EIIL), ended its 99-year lease in 1998 and turned over control of the site to the state government of Madhya Pradesh.^[45] Currently, the Madhya Pradesh Government is trying to legally force Dow and EIIL to finance clean-up operations.

On 7 March 2009, Indian scientists of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have decided to investigate the long term health effects of the disaster. Studies will also be conducted to see if the toxic gases caused genetic disorders, low birth weight, growth and development disorders, congenital malformation and biological markers of MIC/toxic gas exposure.^[74]

[edit] Settlement fund hoax

Bichlbaum as Finisterra on BBC World News

On December 3, 2004, the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, a man claiming to be a Dow representative named Jude Finisterra was interviewed on BBC World News. He claimed that the company had agreed to clean up the site and compensate those harmed in the incident, by liquidating Union Carbide for $12 billion USD.^[75]

Immediately afterward, Dow's share price fell 4.2% in 23 minutes, for a loss of $2 billion in market value. Dow quickly issued a statement saying that they had no employee by that name—that he was an impostor, not affiliated with Dow, and that his claims were a hoax. The BBC broadcast a correction and an apology. The statement was widely carried.^[76]

"Jude Finisterra" was actually Andy Bichlbaum, a member of the activist prankster group The Yes Men. In 2002, The Yes Men issued a fake press release explaining why Dow refused to take responsibility for the disaster and started up a website, at "DowEthics.com", designed to look like the real Dow website but with what they felt was a more accurate cast on the events. In 2004, a producer for the BBC emailed them through the website requesting an interview, which they gladly obliged.^[77]

Taking credit for the prank in an interview on Democracy Now!, Bichlbaum explains how his fake name was derived: "Jude is the patron saint of impossible causes and Finisterra means the end of the Earth". He explained that he settled on this approach (taking responsibility) because it would show people precisely how Dow could help the situation as well as likely garnering major media attention in the US, which had largely ignored the disaster's anniversaries, when Dow attempted to correct the statement.^[78]

After the original interview was revealed as a hoax, Bichlbaum appeared in a follow-up interview on the United Kingdom's Channel 4 News.^[79] During the interview he was repeatedly asked if he had considered the emotions and reaction of the people of Bhopal when producing the hoax. According to the interviewer, "there were many people in tears" upon having learned of the hoax. Each time, Bichlbaum said that, in comparison, what distress he had caused the people was minimal to that for which Dow was responsible. In the 2009 film The Yes Men Fix the World, the Yes Men travel to Bhopal to assess public opinion on their prank, and are surprised to find that the residents laud their efforts to bring responsibility to the corporate world.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ http://www.mp.gov.in/bgtrrdmp/relief.htm
^ ^a ^b "Industrial Disaster Still Haunts India – South and Central Asia – msnbc.com". http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34247132/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/page/2/. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Eckerman (2001) (see "References" below).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah ^ai ^aj ^ak ^al ^am ^an ^ao ^ap ^aq ^ar ^as ^at ^au ^av ^aw ^ax ^ay ^az ^ba ^bb ^bc ^bd ^be ^bf ^bg ^bh ^bi ^bj ^bk ^bl ^bm ^bn ^bo ^bp ^bq ^br ^bs ^bt ^bu ^bv ^bw ^bx ^by ^bz ^ca ^cb ^cc ^cd ^ce Eckerman (2004) (see "References" below).
^ "No takers for Bhopal toxic waste". BBC. 2008-09-30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7569891.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
^ Broughton, Edward (2005). "The Bhopal disaster and its aftermath: a review". Environmental Health 4 (6): 6. doi:10.1186/1476-069X-4-6. http://www.ehjournal.net/content/4/1/6.
^ Chander, J. (2001). "Water contamination: a legacy of the union carbide disaster in Bhopal, India". Int J Occup Environ Health 7 (1): 72–3. PMID 11210017. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11210017.
^ "Company Defends Chief in Bhopal Disaster". New York Times. 2009-08-03. http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/company-defends-chief-in-bhopal-disaster/. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
^ "U.S. Exec Arrest Sought in Bhopal Disaster". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/31/world/main5201155.shtml.
^ ^a ^b "Bhopal trial: Eight convicted over India gas disaster". BBC News. 2010-06-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8725140.stm. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
^ UCC manual (1976).
^ UCC manual (1978).
^ UCC manual (1979).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q Chouhan et al. (2004).
^ Steven R. Weisman. "Bhopal a Year Later: An Eerie Silence". The New York Times. p. 5.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kalelkar (1988).
^ ^a ^b ^c Trade Union Report (1985).
^ ^a ^b UCC Investigation Report (1985).
^ ^a ^b Varadarajan (1985).
^ Eckerman (2005) (see "References" below).
^ ^a ^b Bhopal Gas Disaster Research Centre (2003?).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Eckerman (2006) (see "References" below).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kovel (2002).
^ ^a ^b ^c Kurzman (1987).
^ Cassels (1983).
^ TED case 233 (1997).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Lepowski (1994).
^ Weir (1987).
^ D'Silva (2006).
^ ^a ^b Sriramachari (2004).
^ Gassert TH, Dhara VR, (2005).
^ Kulling and Lorin (1987).
^ P.G. Blake and S. Ijadi-Maghsoodi, Kinetics and Mechanism of Thermal Decomposition of Methyl Isocyanate, International Journal of Chemical Kinetics, vol.14, (1982), pp. 945–952.
^ K.H. Slotta, R. Tschesche, Berichte, vol.60, 1927, p.1031.
^ Christoph Grundmann, Alfred Kreutzberger, J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 76, 1954, pp. 5646–5650.
^ Bhopal.org
^ Singh (2008).
^ ^a ^b "Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department". 2008-12-05. http://www.mp.gov.in/bgtrrdmp/.
^ Bhopal Memorial Hospital closed indefinitely The Hindu 4.7.2005.
^ Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust(2001).
^ Sick Berth Down to Earth (26.10.2008).
^ "The Bhopal Medical appeal". Sambhavna Trust. http://www.bhopal.org.htm.
^ ^a ^b UCC (1989).
^ "Carbide waste to go: HC". 16 December 2008. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Carbide_waste_to_go_HC/articleshow/3847412.cms. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Statement of Union Carbide Corporation Regarding the Bhopal Tragedy". Bhopal Information Center, UCC. http://www.bhopal.com/ucs.htm.
^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Bhopal Information Center. Union Carbide Corporation. November 2009. http://www.bhopal.com/faq.htm. Retrieved 4 April 2010. "The Indian authorities are well aware of the identity of the employee [who sabotaged the plant] and the nature of the evidence against him. Indian authorities refused to pursue this individual because they, as litigants, were not interested in proving that anyone other than Union Carbide was to blame for the tragedy."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Frequently Asked Questions". Bhopal Information Center, UCC. http://www.bhopal.com/faq.htm.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k "Chronology". Bhopal Information Center, UCC. November 2006. http://www.bhopal.com/chrono.htm.
^ ^a ^b "Incident Response and Settlement". Bhopal Information Center, UCC. http://www.bhopal.com/irs.htm.
^ Broughton (2005).
^ Interview with NDTV
^ ^a ^b "India Acts in Carbide Case". The New York Times. May 17, 1988. p. D15. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE0D71F3CF934A25756C0A96E948260.
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8725140.stm
^ http://www.bhopal.net/pdfs/Sahu%20Opinion%2011.3.08.pdf
^ The Truth About Dow: Govt handling of Bhopal: Blot on Indian Democracy, 224 Indian groups tell PM.
^ The Truth About Dow: 25 years on, Govt wakes up to Bhopal waste but can't find any one to clean it up.
^ The Truth About Dow: Decades Later, Toxic Sludge Torments Bhopal.
^ Oops! You have reached Bhopal.con.
^ 8Cr. Case No. 8460/1996
^ Bhopal gas tragedy: Eight accused jailed for two years
^ http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article447628.ece
^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100607/ap_on_bi_ge/as_india_bhopal
^ ^a ^b ^c "What Happened in Bhopal?". The Bhopal Medical Appeal. http://www.bhopal.org/whathappened.html.
^ ^a ^b Labunska et al. (2003).
^ ^a ^b Down to Earth (2003).
^ Stringer et al. (2002).
^ Srishti (2002).
^ Peoples' Science Institute (2001).
^ "Bhopal faces risk of 'poisoning'". BBC Radio 5. 2004-11-14. http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&tab=av&recipe=all&q=bhopal+faces+risk+of+%27poisoning%27&x=0&y=0.
^ "Bhopal 'faces risk of poisoning'". BBC Radio 5 website. 2004-11-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4010511.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
^ "Bhopal gas leak survivors still being poisoned: Study". Bhopal. 1 December 2009. http://www.cseindia.org/AboutUs/press_releases/press-20091201.htm.
^ "Bhopal marks 25 years since gas leak devastation". BBC News. December 3, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8392206.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
^ India's betrayal of Bhopal – Pamela Timms and Prabal KR Das, The Scotsman, November 22, 2007.
^ 25 years on, study on Bhopal gas leak effects.
^ video.
^ Z-net
^ The Yes Men
^ Democracy Now!
^ video

[edit] References

[edit] Books and reports

Preview of several more books at Google books. http://books.google.com/books?q=bhopal&btnG=Search+Books.
Browning, Jackson (1993). Jack A. Gottschalk. ed (PDF). Union Carbide: Disaster at Bhopal. Crisis Response: Inside Stories on Managing Image Under Siege. Detroit. http://www.bhopal.com/pdfs/browning.pdf. "Union Carbide's former vice-president of health, safety and environmental programs tells how he dealt with the catastrophe from a PR point of view."
Cassels, J. (1993). The Uncertain Promise Of Law: Lessons From Bhopal. University Of Toronto Press.
ChouhanTR and others (1994, 2004). Bhopal: the Inside Story—Carbide Workers Speak Out on the World's Worst Industrial Disaster. US: The Apex Press. ISBN 1-891843-30-3. India: Other India Press ISBN 81-85569-65-7 Main author Chouhan was an operator at the plant. Contains many technical details.
De Grazia A (1985). A Cloud over Bhopal,. Bombay: Popular Prakashan. http://www.grazian-archive.com/governing/bhopal/index.htm.
Dhara VR (2000). The Bhopal Gas Leak: Lessons from studying the impact of a disaster in a developing nation.. US: Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell. http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications/Health%20Effects%20&%20Epidemiology/Dhara%20Disseration%20Bhopal%20Disaster.pdf. Doctoral thesis.
Doyle, Jack (2004). Trespass Against Us. Dow Chemical & The Toxic Century. US: Common Courage Press. ISBN 1-56751-268-2. http://www.trespassagainstus.com/index.php. A story of how one company's chemical prducts and byproducts have damaged public health and the environment. 466 pages.
D'Silva, Themistocles (2006). The Black Box of Bhopal: A Closer Look at the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford. ISBN 1-4120-8412-1. Review Written by a retired former employee of UCC who was a member of the investigation committee that reproduced the tank residue and determined the true cause of the incident. Includes several original documents including correspondence between UCIL and the Ministries of the Government of India.
Eckerman, Ingrid (2001) (PDF). Chemical Industry and Public Health—Bhopal as an example. http://www.lakareformiljon.org/images/stories/dokument/2009/bhopal_gas_disaster.pdf. Essay for MPH. A short overview, 57 pages, 82 references.
Eckerman, Ingrid (2005). The Bhopal Saga—Causes and Consequences of the World's Largest Industrial Disaster. India: Universities Press. ISBN 81-7371-515-7. http://www.eckerman.nu/default.cfm?page=The%20Bhopal%20Saga. Preview Google books All known facts 1960s – 2003, systematized and analyzed. 283 pages, over 200 references.
Fortun, Kim (2001). Advocacy after Bhopal. Environmentalism, Disaster, New Global Orders. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-25720-7. Preview Google books
de Grazia, Alfred (1985). A Cloud over Bhopal—Causes, Consequences and Constructive Solutions. ISBN 0-940268-09-9. http://www.grazian-archive.com/governing/bhopal/Publishers%20Note.html. "The first book on the Bhopal disaster, written on-site a few weeks after the accident."
Hanna B, Morehouse W, Sarangi S (2005). The Bhopal Reader. Remembering Twenty Years of the World's Worst Industrial Disaster. US: The Apex Press. ISBN 1-891843-32-X USA, 81-85569-70-3 India. Reprinting and annotating landmark writing from across the years.
Jasanoff, Sheila ed. (1994). Learning from Disaster. Risk Management After Bhopal. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 081221532X, 9780812215328. 291 pages. Preview Google books
Johnson S, Sahu R, Jadon N, Duca C (2009). Contamination of soil and water inside and outside the Union Carbide India Limited, Bhopal. New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment. In Down to Earth
Kalelkar AS, Little AD. (1998) (PDF). Investigation of Large-magnitude incidents: Bhopal as a Case Study.. http://bhopal.bard.edu/resources/documents/1988ArthurD.Littlereport.pdf. London: The Institution of Chemical Engineers Conference on Preventing Major Chemical Accidents
Kulling P, Lorin H (1987). The Toxic Gas Disaster in Bhopal December 2–3, 1984. Stockholm: National Defence Research Institute. [In Swedish]
Kurzman, D. (1987). A Killing Wind: Inside Union Carbide and the Bhopal Catastrophe. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Kovel, J (2002). The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World?. London: Zed Books.
Labunska I, Stephenson A, Brigden K, Stringer R, Santillo D, Johnston P.A. (1999) (PDF). The Bhopal Legacy. Toxic contaminants at the former Union Carbide factory site, Bhopal, India: 15 years after the Bhopal accident. http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications/Environmental%20Health/Greenpeace%20Bhopal%20Report.pdf. Greenpeace Research Laboratories, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter UK
Lapierre, Dominique; Moro, Javier (2001). Five Minutes Past Midnight in Bhopal. New York, NY: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-53088-3. A novel, based on facts, that describes the development from the 1960s to the disaster itself. Very thrilling.
Mitchel, James (1996). The long road to recovery: Community responses to industrial disaster. Tokyo and New York: United Nations University Press. ISBN 92-808-0926-1. http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu21le/uu21le00.htm#Contents.
Singh, Moti (2008). Unfolding the Betrayal of Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Delhi, India: B.R. Publishing Corporation. ISBN 8176466220. The chief coordinator of rescue operations at the district level writes rather critically on how the administration and bureaucracy functioned after the disaster.
Shrishti (2002). Toxic present—toxic future. A report on Human and Environmental Chemical Contamination around the Bhopal disaster site. Delhi: The Other Media.
Stringer R, Labunska I, Brigden K, Santillo D. (2002) (PDF). Chemical Stockpiles at Union Carbide India Limited in Bhopal: An investigation. Greenpeace Research Laboratories. http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/chemical-stockpiles-at-union-c.pdf.
The Trade Union Report on Bhopal. Geneva, Switzerland: ICFTU-ICEF. 1985. http://www.bhopal.net/oldsite/documentlibrary/unionreport1985.html.
Varadarajan S et al. (1985). Report on Scientific Studies on the Factors Related to Bhopal Toxic Gas Leakage. New Delhi: Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
Weir D (1987). The Bhopal Syndrome: Pesticides, Environment and Health. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

[edit] Articles and papers

See also "International Medical Commission on Bhopal". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Medical_Commission_on_Bhopal.
"Health and Epidemiology Papers About the Bhopal Disaster". http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications.
Bisarya RK, Puri S (2005). "The Bhopal Gas Tragedy - a Perspective". Journal of Loss Prevention in the process industry. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TGH-4H21R3C-1/2/922a6ed2ebad15a178dea4a26daa0683. 2005:18;209-212
Broughton E (2005). "The Bhopal disaster and its aftermath: A review". Environmental Health 4 (1): 6 pages. doi:10.1186/1476-069X-4-6. PMID 15882472. PMC 1142333. http://www.ehjournal.net/content/4/1/6. 10 May 2005
Chouhan TR (2005). "The Unfolding of Bhopal Disaster". Journal of Loss Prevention in the process industry. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TGH-4H2G8YH-1/2/2f70debf0a05a3303428303074800554. 2005:18;205-208
Dhara, V. Ramana; Dhara, Rosaline (Sept/October 2002). "The Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal: A review of health effects" (reprint). Archives of Environmental Health. pp. 391–404. http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications/Health%20Effects%20&%20Epidemiology/Health%20Effects%20Review%20articles/Health%20Effects%20Review%20AEH.pdf.
Dhara VR, Gassert TH (September 2005). "The Bhopal gas tragedy: Evidence for cyanide poisoning not convincing". Current Science 89 (6): 923–5. http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications/Toxicology/Current%20Science%20article%20&%20critique/Current%20Science%20critique%20Gassert%20Dhara%20&%20Sriramachari%20response.pdf.
Dinham B, Sarangi S (2002). "The Bhopal gas tragedy 1984 - ? The evasion of corporate responsibility". Environment&Urbanization. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/42335332/The-Bhopal-gas-tragedy-1984-to-The-evasion-of. 2002:14;89-99
D'Silva TDJ, Lopes A, Jones RL, Singhawangcha S, Chan JK (1986). "Studies of methyl isocyanate chemistry in the Bhopal incident". J. Org. Chem. 51 (20): 3781–3788. doi:10.1021/jo00370a007.
Eckerman, Ingrid (2005). "The Bhopal gas leak: Analyses of causes and consequences by three different models.". Journal of Loss Prevention in the process industry. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TGH-4GWC0T0-7&_user=99318&_coverDate=11%2F30%2F2005&_alid=1193044136&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=5255&_sort=r&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=1&_acct=C000007678&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=99318&md5=34c0e3b6b93cd1ef9dd2d5f0f6e11788. 2005:18;213–217
Eckerman, Ingrid (2006). "The Bhopal Disaster 1984 – working conditions and the role of the trade unions." (PDF). Asian Pacific Newsletter on occupational health and safety. http://www.ttl.fi/NR/rdonlyres/AF130282-A0AB-4439-8E3C-AFF55CDEF59F/0/AsianPacific_Nwesletter22006.pdf. Vol 13, No 2;48–49
Gassert TH, Dhara VR, (Sep 2005.). "Debate on cyanide poisoning in Bhopal victims." (PDF). Current Science. http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications/Toxicology/Current%20Science%20article%20&%20critique/Current%20Science%20critique%20Gassert%20Dhara%20&%20Sriramachari%20response.pdf. (Response) Vol 89, nr 6
Jayaraman N. "Bhopal: Generations of Poison". http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15485. CorpWatch, December 2, 2009
Jasanoff, Sheila (2007). "Bhopal's Trials of Knowledge and Ignorance". Isis 98: 344–350. doi:10.1086/518194. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/518194.
Katrak H (2010). "Provision of health care for Bhopal survivors". Pesticides News 87 (March 2010): 20–23. http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Free%20Articles/PN87/PN87_p.20-22.pdf.
Khurrum MA, S Hafeez Ahmad S (1987). "Long term follow up of ocular lesion of methyl-isocyanate gas disaster in Bhopal". Indian Journal of Ophthalmology 35 (3): 136–137. PMID 3507407. http://www.ijo.in/article.asp?issn=0301-4738;year=1987;volume=35;issue=3;spage=136;epage=137;aulast=Khurrum.
Lakhani N (2009-11-29). "Bhopal: The victims are still being born". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bhopal-the-victims-are-still-being-born-1830516.html. Retrieved 2010-04-26. The Independent, 29 November 2009
Lepowski, W. "Ten Years Later: Bhopal". Chemical and Engineering News, 19 December 1994.
McTaggart U. "Dioxin, Bhopal and Dow Chemical". http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/555. Solidarity ATC 106, September-October 2003
Mishra PK, Dabadghao S, Modi1 GK, Desikan P, Jain A, Mittra I, Gupta D, Chauhan C, Jain SK, Maudar KK (2009). "In utero exposure to methyl isocyanate in the Bhopal gas disaster: evidence of persisting hyperactivation of immune system two decades later". Occupational and Environmental Medicine 66 (4): 279. doi:10.1136/oem.2008.041517. PMID 19295137. http://oem.bmj.com/content/66/4/279.extract.
Naik SR, Acharya VN, Bhalerao RA, Kowli SS, Nazareth HH, Mahashur AA, Shah SS, Potnis AV, Mehta AC (1986). "Medical survey of methyl isocyanate gas affected population of Bhopal. Part I. General medical observations 15 weeks following exposure". Journal of Post-Graduate Medicine 32 (4): 175–84. PMID 0003585790. http://www.jpgmonline.com/article.asp?issn=0022-3859;year=1986;volume=32;issue=4;spage=175;epage=84;aulast=Naik.
Naik SR, Acharya VN, Bhalerao RA, Kowli SS, Nazareth HH, Mahashur AA, Shah SS, Potnis AV, Mehta AC (1986). "Medical survey of methyl isocyanate gas affected population of Bhopal. Part II. Pulmonary effects in Bhopal victims as seen 15 weeks after M.I.C. exposure.". Journal of Post-Graduate Medicine 32 (4): 185–91. PMID 0003585791. http://www.jpgmonline.com/article.asp?issn=0022-3859;year=1986;volume=32;issue=4;spage=185;epage=91;aulast=Naik.
Peterson M.J. "Case study: Bhopal Plant Disaster". http://www.umass.edu/sts/ethics/bhopal.html. Science, Technology & Society Initiative, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Ranjan N, Sarangi S, Padmanabhan VT, Holleran S, Ramakrishnan R, Varma DR (2003). Methyl Isocyanate Exposure and Growth Patterns of Adolescents in Bhopal "Methyl Isocyanate Exposure and Growth Patterns of Adolescents in Bhopal Methyl Isocyanate Exposure and Growth Patterns of Adolescents in Bhopal". JAMA (14). http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/290/14/1856 Methyl Isocyanate Exposure and Growth Patterns of Adolescents in Bhopal.
Rice, Annie; ILO (2006). "Bhopal Revisited—the tragedy of lessons ignored" (PDF). Asian Pacific Newsletter on occupational health and safety. http://www.ttl.fi/NR/rdonlyres/AF130282-A0AB-4439-8E3C-AFF55CDEF59F/0/AsianPacific_Nwesletter22006.pdf. Vol 13, No 2;46–47
Sriramachari S (2004). "The Bhopal gas tragedy: An environmental disaster" (PDF). Current Science 86: 905–920. http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications/Toxicology/Current%20Science%20article%20&%20critique/Curr%20Science%20Bhopal%20article%20Sriramachari.pdf.
Sriramachari S (2005). "Bhopal gas tragedy: scientific challenges and lessons for future". Journal of Loss Prevention in the process industry. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TGH-4GTW8RJ-1/2/367c60ca972ec8fde9ad2d3c1234e01c. 2005:18;264-267
Toogood C (2010). "Toxic groundwater – Bhopal's second disaster". Pesticide News 87 (March 2010).

[edit] Reports from governmental institutions, UCC and DOW

[edit] Governmental institutions

Health Effects of the Toxic Gas Leak from the Union Carbide Methyl Isocyanate Plant in Bhopal. Technical report on Population Based Long Term, Epidemiological Studies (1985–1994). Bhopal Gas Disaster Research Centre, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal (2003?) Contains the studies performed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
An Epidemiological Study of Symptomatic Morbidities in Communities Living Around Solar Evaporation Ponds And Behind Union Carbide Factory, Bhopal. Department of Community Medicine, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal (2009)
At A Glance. Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation 1985–2009. Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation Department, Bhopal (2009)
"Cr. Case No. 8460/1996". http://www.cbi.gov.in/whats_new/bhopalgas_judgement.pdf. The verdict in the Court of the Chief Juidicial Magistrate Bhopal MP. Date of Institution 01.12.1987. Delivered on 07, June 2010.

[edit] Union Carbide Corporation

Methyl Isocyanate. Union Carbide F-41443A – 7/76. Union Carbide Corporation, New York (1976)
Carbon monoxide, Phosgene and Methyl isocyanate. Unit Safety Procedures Manual. Union Carbide India Limited, Agricultural Products Division: Bhopal (1978)
Operating Manual Part II. Methyl Isocyanate Unit. Union Carbide India Limited, Agricultural Products Division (1979).
Bhopal Methyl Isocyanate Incident. Investigation Team Report. Union Carbide Corporation, Danbury, CT (1985).
Presence of Toxic Ingredients in Soil/Water Samples Inside Plant Premises. Union Carbide Corporation, US (1989)

[edit] Dow Chemicals publications

Stockholder Proposal on Bhopal 2006. http://www.dow.com/financial/2006prox/161-00639.pdf. In Notice of the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on Thursday, May 11, 2006 (Agenda item 3, pp 11–13)
Stockholder Proposal on Bhopal 2007. http://www.dow.com/financial/2007prox/161-00662.pdf. In Notice of the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on Thursday, May 10, 2007 (Agenda item 4, pp 39–41)
Annual Meeting Final Voting Results. http://www.dow.com/corpgov/pdf/20070510_voting.pdf. May 10, 2007

[edit] Mixed

Garrett KT, Cralley LJ. "Bhopal: The Fruit of Industrial Policy". The Intellectual Activist. http://www.intellectualactivist.com/php-bin/ecomm4/products.php?category_id=8&product_id=140. 1985:4;113. Also in "Industrial Hygien Management". http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=f0a_zfxmSbEC&lpg=PA113&ots=zm5HW8Qz--&dq=The%20Indian%20government%20had%20its%20heavy%20hand%20on%20every%20aspect%20of%20the%20Bhopal%20plant%2C%20from%20its%20design%20and%20construction%20to%20its%20eventual%20operation.%20Initially%2C%20the%20facility%20merely%20imported%20raw%20pesticides%2C%20such%20as%20one%20called%20Sevin%2C%20and%20then%20diluted%2C%20packaged%20and%20shipped%20them.%20This%20was%20a%20relatively%20safe%20and%20simple%20operation.&pg=PA113#v=onepage&q=The%20Indian%20government%20had%20its%20heavy%20hand%20on%20every%20aspect%20of%20the%20Bhopal%20plant%2C%20from%20its%20design%20and%20construction%20to%20its%20eventual%20operation.%20Initially%2C%20the%20facility%20merely%20imported%20raw%20pesticides%2C%20such%20as%20one%20called%20Sevin%2C%20and%20then%20diluted%2C%20packaged%20and%20shipped%20them.%20This%20was%20a%20relatively%20safe%20and%20simple%20operation.&f=false. p 113 (Googlebooks)
Smith D. "Causes of Bhopal Disaster Analyzed". http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1988/03/03-30-88tdc/03-30-88dnews-06.asp. The Daily Collegian Online. Originally published March 30, 1988.
"Bhopal Disaster". Trade Environmental Database. TED case studies no. 233, American University, Washington (1 Nov 1997). http://www.american.edu/ted/bhopal.htm.
"Bhopal Papers. Conference Announcement and Call for Papers". http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/papers.htm. A collection of different articles and papers concerning the Bhopal disaster.
Three part series on Horrors of Bhopal Gas Tragedy
"Bibliography on Bhopal disaster". http://www.alyssaalappen.org/2002/12/04/bibliography-on-bhopal-disaster/. A condensed list of books, reports, and articles on the Bhopal disaster and related issues.
"Chemical Terrorism Fact Sheet: Methyl Isocyanate." (PDF). http://bioterrorism.slu.edu/pulmonary/quick/methyliso.pdf. CSB&EI, Saint Louis University School of Public Health, US
"Unproven technology". Bhopal.net (14 Nov 2002). http://www.bhopal.net/oldsite/unproventechnology.html.
"Clouds of injustice. Bhopal disaster 20 years". http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA20/015/2004/en. Amnesty International, London (2004) Report (pdf).
"Summary of "Clouds of injustice – Bhopal disaster 20 years on"". http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA20/104/2004/en. Amnesty International 29 Nov 2004.
"No more Bhopals". http://old.studentsforbhopal.org/Resources.htm. Contains original documents. This page does helpfully categorize information resources by subject. Some material seem to have disappeared.
Sharma H. Rajan. "Catastrophe and the Dilemma of law" (PDF). http://www.icjb.org/legal/catastrope-dilemma.pdf. (2004) A chapter from The Bhopal Reader by Hanna B et al.
The Bhopal Memory Project Material from UCC, the trade union and other original material has been scanned and can be found here. Some seem to have disappeared.
"Subterranean Leak". http://www.downtoearth.org.in/webexclusives/story1.htm. Down to Earth Dec 1, 2009.
Fighting for Our Right to Live. Bhopal: Chingari trust. 2008. Chingari Trust works with disabled children.
"Charter on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights" (PDF). http://www.pan-uk.org/Internat/indhaz/Charter.pdf. Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights, 1996, adopted after the session in Bhopal, 1992.
"The Politics of Mutual Plunder". http://www.objectivistcenter.org/ct-2089-mutual_plunder.aspx. The Atlas Society, 2009?

[edit] Contamination of site

A Report on Mercury Contamination of Groundwater near the Union Carbide Factory at Bhopal. Peoples' Science Institute, Dehra Doon (2001)
"Chemical Stockpiles at Union Carbide India Limited in Bhopal: an investigation". http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/chemical-stockpiles-at-union-c.pdf. Greenpeace Research Laboratories, Technical note, 12/2002
Foul Debris. The UCIL plant is still a health hazard. Down to Earth, Dec 15 (2003).

[edit] Presentations

Eckerman, Ingrid. "The Bhopal Gas Disaster 1984 – Children's Acute and Chronic Exposure to Toxic Substances" (PDF). http://www.lakareformiljon.org/images/stories/LfM_blandat/Bhopal_Bangalore_2010.pdf. Power point presentation (2010)
Eckerman, Ingrid. "The Bhopal Saga—Causes and Consequences of the World's Largest Industrial Disaster." (PDF). http://www.lakareformiljon.org/images/stories/dokument/2009/bhopal_gas_tragedy_march_2008.pdf. Power point presentation in easy English (2008)
Eckerman, Ingrid. "The Bhopal Gas Leak—too late for good epidemiology." (PDF). http://www.lakareformiljon.org/images/stories/dokument/2009/epidemiology_lkarstmman_2007_engelska.pdf. Poster presentation (2007)

[edit] Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bhopal disaster

[edit] Websites

The Bhopal Post A website edited by Raajkumar Keswani, the journalist who warned what was going to happen
The Bhopal Europe Bus Tour, October–November 2009
End 25 years of injustice, Amnesty International, 16 October 2009
The Bhopal Library, The Apex Press, New York
International Campaign For Justice in Bhopal
Bhopal Medical Appeal and Sambhavna Trust Clinic
Students for Bhopal
Lesson of Bhopal
Bhopal Information Center, Union Carbide
Statement of The Dow Chemical Company Regarding the Bhopal Tragedy 2005
Toxic Hotspots Greenpeace, 2003
Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation Department, The official website of the Government of Madhya Pradesh
Dow Ethics, parody website by The Yes Men
Bhopal: 25 years on BBC News' website on the Bhopal disaster
Bhopal court to pronounce historic judgment in gas leak case on Monday The Hindu June 6, 2010
Chingari Trust Provides medical care for children being born in Bhopal with malformations and brain damages.

[edit] News

Bhopal's health effects probed, BBC News 26 March 2009
"Bhopal faces risk of 'poisoning'", BBC News, 14 Nov 2004
25 years on, Bhopal gas victims still suffering, DNA India newspaper
25 years after Bhopal gas tragedy, plant to be open to public, Indian-Express newspaper
Bhopal court to pronounce historic judgment in gas leak case on Monday The Hindu June 6, 2010
Times of India Search "Bhopal"
Union Carbide rejects Bhopal court's verdict Rediff News June 7, 2010

[edit] Films

Twenty Years Without Justice: The Bhopal Chemical Disaster International Campaign for Justice for Bhopal video
Bhopal.fm Arts website with broadcasting, photos, music and videos
"One Night in Bhopal". BBC News. 2009-12-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/bhopal/default.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
It Happened in Bhopal, 27 Aug 2007
Shrouds of Silence, August 2008
Bhopal: Prayer for Rain, upcoming film based on the Bhopal disaster.
The Yes Men Fix the World, documentary film released on October 23, 2009, which includes discussion of the disaster and shows
The Bhopal Chemical Disaster. documentary film
Chingari Trust at YouTube

[edit] Photos

No More Bhopals, Micha Patault
Raghu Rai, 1984
Pablo Bartholomew, 1984
The Ghosts of Bhopal, Common Language Project
Child killed by the poisonous gas leak in the Union Carbide chemical plant disaster, World Press Photo of the Year, 1984
Poison in Bhopal, ReMedAct, 2008
Bhopal XXV, Stephane Bouillet
Bhopal Gas Tragedy – 25 Years On | 26 Photos, Reuters India
25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, The Boston Globe

[edit] Texts

Animal's People A fictionalized story of a Bhopal survivors that recreates present day Bhopal for the reader
Bhopal Gas Tragedy A railway officer describes how he received victims coming by train, 2002

[edit] Music

"No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain" by Tim Finn, from the 1986 album Big Canoe, presents a lyrical narrative of the disaster.
The Bhopal disaster is referenced in the song R.S.V.P. by B Dolan in which he decries Warren Anderson's involvement and gives out his home address.

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Assets & Products:	Lorsban · Polystyrene (Styrofoam) · Saran Wrap · Union Carbide · Windsor Salt

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Toxinology · History of poison

Fields	Aquatic toxicology · Ecotoxicology · Entomotoxicology · Environmental toxicology · Forensic toxicology · In vitro toxicology · Toxicogenomics

Concepts	Poison · Venom · Toxicant (Toxin) · Acceptable daily intake · Acute toxicity · Bioaccumulation · Biomagnification · Fixed Dose Procedure · Median lethal dose (LD₅₀) · Lethal dose · Toxic capacity · Toxicity Class

Treatments	Antidote · Gastric lavage · Whole bowel irrigation · Activated carbon · Cathartic · Hemodialysis · Chelation therapy · Hemoperfusion

Incidents	Bradford · Minamata · Niigata · Alexander Litvinenko · Bhopal · 2007 pet food recalls · Seveso disaster · List of poisonings

Related topics	Hazard symbol · Carcinogen · Mutagen · List of extremely hazardous substances · Biological warfare · Food safety

Coordinates: 23°16′51″N 77°24′38″E / 23.28083°N 77.41056°E / 23.28083; 77.41056

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster"

Categories: Bhopal disaster | Man-made disasters

Can BP Survive Gulf of Mexico Catastrophe?

Selah Hennessy | London 18 June 2010

Photo: BP

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Following a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP's reputation in the United States has been badly tarnished.

BP once stood for "British Petroleum'" The company rebranded itself as simply BP in 1998, but that has not stopped many Americans from using the old name.

Even the U.S. president has referred pointedly to the company as "British Petroleum," and many in Britain have taken it as an attack against their country.

BP is one of Britain's largest companies. Its founders began oil explorations in modern-day Iran more than 100 years ago. Now it operates in 80 countries around the world.

Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of research at stockbroker Charles Stanley, says BP is now a global company.

"BP is a British company, but it is a multi-national company as well," said Jeremy Batstone-Carr. "It owns substantial businesses in the United States. It has substantial assets in Asia and in Russia, so it is an extremely important global economy."

But, as tens of thousands of barrels of oil continue to flow daily into the Gulf of Mexico, killing wildlife, damaging the environment and ruining livelihoods, the company is suffering as well.

BP has already spent over $1 billion on the clean-up operation . That sum pales in comparison to the planned $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the disaster.

The company's reputation is also in tatters. Lawmakers in the U.S. Congress have accused BP of taking shortcuts that raised the risk of disaster and of being dishonest about the scale of the problem.

Even before this oil leak, BP's safety policies were in doubt following major accidents in Alaska and Texas in the past decade. And now many Americans say they have had enough.

Batstone-Carr says he thinks BP is strong enough to sustain this double-blow to its bank balance and its reputation, but the ultimate outcome is still unknown.

"I don't think at this stage, nobody knows whether BP will be forced to be broken up, whether it might actually end up being so weakened that it falls into the arms of somebody else," he said. "My suspicion is at this moment in time, that that won't happen. But there is a lot of uncertainty, and of course that is manifest in the share price which has lost about 40 percent of its value over the course of the past six or seven weeks."

Alan Smith, chief executive of the financial planning firm Capital Asset, says with BP's value almost cut in half, it is not just the people at the top who will be hit. He says it is worrying for the millions of Britons who are invested in the company.

"BP is hugely important to the British economy in general and particularly to private interests and members of pension schemes, most of whom have got exposure to BP just simply due to the size as an institution," said Alan Smith. "So their shares tend to be very widely owned and widely held."

Under pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama, BP bosses have decided not to pay out dividends to their shareholders this year.

Smith says many people may depend on those payments.

"How that affects the individual who owns BP shares and relies upon those to generate income, means that they're not going to have any income at all during this month," he said. "Let's hope that that is a short term, temporary situation and that BP will revert to paying their dividends out in full later in the year."

And he says it is not just Britons whose bank balance may suffer.

"Although it is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and is generally perceived to be a British company, BP is definitely much more an international company of huge importance to the American economy and the American employees," said Smith. "BP actually when they merged with Amoco some years ago, the profile of the employees within the organization changed significantly and now for every British employee of BP there are two and a half Americans working for BP."

But, back in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil is still gushing out. And until BP finds a way to stem the flow, no one can estimate the full effect of this disaster on BP, its shareholders, or employees.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Can-BP-Survive-Gulf-of-Mexico-Catastrophe-96649674.html

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