Bhopal - May you rest in Peace

The growth figures of India makes us all so very conceited. We take pride in the fact that India has weathered the storm of recession better than any of the developed countries. The internal consumption led by the infamous middle class, government expenditure at the risk of increasing the fiscal deficit and inflow of foreign capital as a safe parking place had contributed to the growth. The political class is vying for the credit whether with the BJP’s “India Shining” campaign [which was a sort of blunder] or the Congress’s untoward affection for the “Common Man”.

The basic question arises if we are capable of handling such growth? Are we self disciplined enough to respect this fantastic opportunity that has been bestowed on us?
On the seventh of June the landmark judgement was passed by the court on the Bhopal Gas tragedy. The tragedy happened in 1984, when the Congress government headed by Rajiv Gandhi was at the centre and the undivided state of Madhya Pradesh had Arjun Singh [who recently fell out of favour of the Congress high command] as the Chief Minister.

Bhopal, even today is considered to be a tier 3 city, in spite of it being the capital of Madhya Pradesh. It had very few industries [Union Carbide India Limited was one of the biggest, apart from BHEL] and India was still reeling under a license Raj. The leakage of the MIC [methyl isocyanate] killed nearly 20,000 people and maimed an entire generation [some five hundred thousand people were affected by the gas and has permanent disabilities]. It is considered as one of the worst of the industrial tragedies that happened in the planet.

Candle light protests were not a fashion during those days; we were more Indian than westernized. The social activists tirelessly campaigned but the might of the government and the corporation is something even God will find difficult to fight against, and that to a corrupt government and a rogue corporation.
After 26 year and the fresh verdict there is renewed interest in the case and as usual we like rumination. We get wiser in afterthoughts.

The news channels are fielding their “best man” for the show to raise their TRPs. Is anyone concerned for real justice? I do not think so. Every morning we need some spicy news to make our day – death, tragedy, injustice – all such incidents make us feel a little better before we commence on our daily boring grind.
UCIL flouted safety norms in lieu of saving money like we do every day, not wearing a helmet while riding a two wheeler, carrying more load than a tuck can bear, carrying more passengers in a car than what is prescribed for a truck and the list goes on. They ran the plant with little or no maintenance and on depleted manpower [cost cutting had always been a fashion for multinationals for making more profits]. It was a very American way of operation, typified by running a subsidiary as an illegitimate son.

But is UCIL to blame for all these? Everyone is running after Warren Anderson, who was the Chairman of Union carbide at that point of time. One news channel in their unbridled imagination compared him with Adolf Hitler. What was his fault? He was born in a country where his mother taught him from his birth how to love the color GREEN. It was in his blood, capitalism is written large on every American. But India, which always had been on the fringes of so called socialism, what did she do repudiate the diabolical plans of the corporation? Our governments are always effete against corporation, whether foreign or innate.

Every country has strict specifications published by statutory bodies. India also does have such bodies like the Pollution Control Board, the Bureau of Indian Standards and so many others. They all have been legacies of our colonial rule and after independence, they fluttered like headless chicken. They clung to the old British Standards of the forties and never ever thought of revising them.
There are hardly any guidelines for installation of hazardous chemicals, electrical installations or anything that can lead to danger to society at large. Such is the apathy of the government and its obstinate departments to change that still today we lose more than a thousand lives every year in industrial accidents only.
Any government regulatory board can be bought or influenced with and that is not new – so the verdict of this case does not ring a new bell anyhow.
The chemical hub of Ankleswar has toxic levels which can reduce the life of people staying there by more than ten years – but the industrialists and the government take cognizance of the fact that in a country with a population of more than a billion such exigencies are always pardonable.

As a citizen we are equally culpable. More we are educated more is our disrespect for the law. A degree in engineering or medicine makes us immune to the constitution of India – we detest standing in a queue as it undermines our privilege of education. We hate to follow the lane discipline while driving as we want to prove to the world how important our role in office is for the survival of the nation.

I find one dialogue from Spiderman very apt, “With great power come greater responsibilities.”
Who are we trying to blame? It would always be between us and them as that best suits our status quo.
The victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy were mostly people from labor class. They only have the number on their side, but not the relevant voice. Their voices pass through us, who refine it, mould it and use it for our own good.

For few good days the new channels, media will come with more and more revelations until people are fed up and then Bhopal will be once again forgotten till we again wake up from slumber to another new tragedy, the opposition will try to harass the government, the government will defend all allegations to their teeth, Arjun Singh’s stoic silence will renew his bargaining power [what goes up always comes down and the old man will have the last laugh before he dies] and the victims will lay buried in injustice simply because they cannot recite ‘Jack and Jill’ or differentiate between a wine from Boudreaux or Burgundy.

The Wikipedia page on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has a lot of interesting information. It may be a good read on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I recommend the same and do not forget your wine as tragedy is to be relished until it strikes you.