Villagers and the people of the Varkari sect are on one side and state government and Dow Chemicals on the other. The bone of contention is the future of Dow Chemicals' $100-million R&D project, for which 100 acres of land was allotted in the village near the Sudha -- held sacred by the followers of a Bhakti cult called Varkaris.
The chairman and CEO of Dow Chemicals Andrew Liveris will not attend the Indo-US CEO Business Forum meeting scheduled to be held in Washington.
Reuters Group Plc, which runs one of the world's leading news agencies as well as other financial data businesses, today said it has received an unsolicited takeover offer, but did not identify the potential bidder.
A former Dow research scientist was convicted for stealing trade secrets.
Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is all set to purchase Dow Jones and Co., publishers of the Wall Street Journal, for $5 billion, ending the century-long ownership of the Bancroft family.
Terming court's decision to summon Dow Chemicals in the Bhopal gas tragedy case as an "important step", Amnesty International today demanded that the company must acknowledge its responsibility towards the survivors of the 1984 industrial disaster.
India's largest software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services on Friday said it will expand its strategic business alliance with US-based Dow Chemicals that will create new jobs in Midland-Michigan.
The Maharashtra government fears that the agitation against Dow Chemical's proposed Research and Development centre was orchestrated by its aggressive neighbour to influence Dow to take its $400-million project to that particular state.
Dow Chemicals' acquisition of the Indian born billionnaire Raaj L Gupta headed speciality chemical company Rom and Haas for over $18 billion, is likely to impact its proposed joint venture with Reliance Industries (RIL) and expansion plans in India worth over $100 million.
Chemicals giant Dow say they are fully committed to providing the decorative wrap for London's Olympic stadium despite continuing criticism of its involvement because of its link to the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster.
A member of the body that oversees the sustainability of the London Olympics has resigned in protest at a sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical because of the American company's ties to the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster that killed thousands in Madhya Pradesh.
Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, has removed scandal-hit Satyam Computer from its 'Dow Jones India Titans 30 Index' and replaced it by Axis Bank.
The government has asked its Olympic association to raise the issue of the London Olympic Games' sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical, the latest sign of pressure on organisers to reconsider involvement of a company linked to the Bhopal gas disaster.
Hundreds of Warkaris (devotees of Lord Vitthal) who had gathered outside the prison premises late last evening, chanted name of Vitthal in chorus as Karadkar declared the sects resolve to oppose the setting up of the Dow Chemicals unit near Shinde village in the district.
The two issues that remain are whether Dow inherited Union Carbide's liabilities and why the government never cleaned up Bhopal after settling with Carbide
Dow Chemical Co hoped an Olympic sponsorship would boost its global cache, but the company's link to a gas leak tragedy 28 years ago threatens to curb some of the benefits from the $100 million advertising deal.
Heads continued to roll in the News of the World phone hacking scandal as Rupert Murdoch's top executive and Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton became the latest high-profile personality to resign from his post. Hinton was the chief executive of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal. Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of the media group's UK newspaper arm News International had quit on Friday.
The joint venture speculation between Reliance Industries and Dow Chemicals for Dow's underperforming commodity businesses could cost Reliance anything between $15 billion and $21 billion for a 60 -100 per cent stake.
An internal note obtained by activists from the Prime Minister's Office and dated February 2 this year says that the Ministry of Law believes that 'irrespective of the manner in which Union Carbide has merged or has been acquired by Dow, if there is any legal liability it would have to be borne by Dow Chemicals.' The note also puts a question mark on the prospects for future investments by US-based Dow in India.
'India's fundamentals are a lot better (than those of other emerging market economies).' 'India will suffer (witness a fall in its stock market) what I call the second order effect.' 'And the second order will happen when these funds (belonging to macro and hedge fund investors and which have leveraged Japanese yen-carry trades), because they lose money elsewhere as lot of their positions were financed by borrowing Japanese yen, will have to book profits in investment destinations where they are making money, including in markets like India.' 'They (these investors) will have to effectively sell in countries like India and which is the consequence (the crash in equity markets) that Indian markets might see.'
About 1,000 alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have sent a petition to the directors of the seven premier government-owned engineering institutes urging them to ban Dow Chemicals, which acquired the Union Carbide plant in 2001, from any partnership or role in the premier institutes of the country. This comes soon after the company was forced to cancel pre-placement talks, due in the last week of October, in IIT Madras and Bombay.
The Campaign estimates that 22,000 people are already dead and says yet Dow wants to deny all responsibility and wants the Indian government to pay millions of dollars for the clean of its mess in Bhopal.
Analysts said News Crop bid could result in similar offers from other media giants.
Last Friday's tumble on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones index falling nearly 400 points, is sure to have its repercussions on the already shaky Indian market. With both the benchmark indices, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty having lost 5 per cent apiece last week, investors are already skittish.
The reasons may not appear compelling, but an alliance with Dow Chemical could help RIL. Here are the reasons.
India's premier technical institute, IIT-Bombay's golden jubilee celebrations -- to be held in New York from July 18 to 20 this year -- have stirred a hornet's nest. The reason is that Dow Chemicals is one of the main sponsors.
Shooter Gagan Narang became the first Indian athlete to say Dow Chemical should be allowed to be a sponsor of the 2012 London Games even though the Indian Olympic Association wants the organisers to reconsider it.
Did the Indian government guarantee Dow Chemicals, the parent company of Union Carbide, that it will not be held liable for the Bhopal gas tragedy?
Reaffirming its stand, the International Olympic Committee Wednesday rejected calls from the Indian Government to drop Dow Chemicals as sponsor of the London Games because of its links to the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
Rohm & Hass is a Philadelphia-based chemical giant and a Fortune 500 company. Gupta was the point person in the negotiations between his company and chemical conglomerate Dow Chemical for the sale of Rohm & Hass.
Dow Chemicals, the US-based petrochem giant, may announce its intent of floating a joint venture with Reliance Industries this week.
After repeated letters of protest by the IOA failed to move the International Olympic Committee, the Indian government has now stepped in by asking the international body to drop Dow Chemicals as sponsor of this year's London Games for the company's link to the Bhopal Gas tragedy.
The 50-50 partnership would bring together BSE's closely watched India index suite, which includes the Sensex, with S&P Dow Jones Indices' 115 years of experience in publishing transparent and independent global benchmarks.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to a lifetime peak of Rs 404.18 lakh crore on Thursday helped by a five-day rally in benchmark indices, making investors richer by Rs 11.29 lakh crore. Recovering after a sell-off in early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 486.50 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 74,339.44 on Thursday. During the day, it surged 718.31 points or 0.97 per cent to 74,571.25.
London Olympics organizers, on Monday, made it clear that it was never their intention that Dow Chemical's name would be on the fabric wrap around the main stadium for the Games and the company has now agreed to remove its branding.
Three Bhopal gas tragedy survivors' organisations have opposed West Bengal government's move to invite Dow Chemicals to the proposed chemical hub in Haldia after the state government failed to acquire land at Nandigram.
London politicians called on Olympic officials to rethink their sponsorship contract with Dow Chemical on Wednesday, saying the company's links to the 1984 Bhopal disaster damaged the reputation of this month's Games.
Dow India would comply with all the directives stated by the government to work outa solution to the current situation, the company said. Recently the company's research facility at Chakan was razed by a group of villagers, following which members of the Warkari sect claimed responsibility for the act, saying they would not allow the facility to come up at a place which is sacred to the followers of the 17th century Bhakti movement saint Tukaram.
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