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 Chemicals, the US-based petrochem giant, may announce its intent of floating a joint venture with Reliance Industries this week.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In a list compiled by international chemical business information provider ICIS, Ambani has moved up four positions in this year's list, topped by German chemical major BASF chairman and CEO Jurgen Hambrecht. Ambani is the only Indian on the ICIS Top 40 Power Players list for 2008.
A children's movement in Bhopal takes on the might of Dow Chemicals.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Union Carbide Corporation, Dow Chemicals and others on a Centre's plea seeking enhancement of compensation to the victims of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy from Rs 750 crore to Rs 7,700 crore.
Pune villagers are protesting against Maharashtra govt's move to give about 40 hectare of grazing land to Dow Chemicals for a R&D facility in Shendi village. The area's dairy business has suffered due to this and the villagers were also not informed. Activists say there is no environmental impact assessment report for the project. Over 10 villages in the Pune district have launched protests to save their grazing land, by not allowing construction material into their villages.
It has emerged that a senior US government functionary offered to help India garner greater funding from the World Bank in return for protecting Dow Chemicals from possible legal fallout from the gas tragedy.
Dow Chemicals will be converting its Pune unit into a global R&D centre that will focus on a wide spectrum of products.
As Air Force One landed in India's financial capital with promises of bonding between the United States and the country in many sectors, one of the key people missing from Barack Obama's 200-member business delegation was, The Dow Chemical Company chief.
Amnesty International has called on the Dow Chemical Company to appear before a Bhopal court this week to explain why its subsidiary Union Carbide Company repeatedly ignored summons in the 1984 gas leak case.
A petition has been filed in the National Green Tribunal's Bhopal bench, seeking an assurance from the Madhya Pradesh government that the Union Carbide waste disposal in Pithampur won't harm people in nearby areas. The petition, filed by a Jabalpur-based social organisation, has urged the NGT to direct the state's chief secretary to declare on oath about the safety of people in Pithampur in Dhar district where the waste has been transported for disposal. The petition also seeks direction to the MP government to publish a specific report regarding the disposal of this waste to allay public concerns.
A day ahead of the crucial General Body Meeting of the Indian Olympic Association on the controversial Dow Chemicals issue, its acting president VK Malhotra, on Wednesday, demanded the company to be removed from being one of the sponsors of the 2012 London Games.
Activists burnt the US flag and logos of Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals - as they have done nothing to end the sufferings of the victims for the last 32 years.
As the year-long countdown begins for the 2012 London Olympics, organisers have been hit by the first major controversy around the mega sporting event, with activists of Bhopal gas disaster planning protests against Dow Chemical Company, one of the official sponsors.
Amid growing chorus against Dow Chemicals's association with the upcoming London Olympics, a group of para-athletes urged the government to boycott the event unless the contentious company was dropped as a sponsor.
The Madhya Pradesh high court in Jabalpur on Monday directed the state government to take steps within six weeks for disposal of Bhopal-based Union Carbide's 337 tonnes of hazardous waste as per safety protocols, while restraining the media from publishing any fake news on the same.
An Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP secured a debate in Westminster Hall of the UK parliament to call for justice for the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy, which will mark its 38th anniversary early next month.
United States-based Union Carbide Corporation has filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding early hearing on the government's curative petition in the Bhopal gas disaster case, saying delays are being used to besmirch the reputation of its parent firm, Dow Chemicals. UCC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, in the petition sought a fixed timetable for hearing and early disposal of the curative petition filed by the Union government in December 2010.
Clarifying that the government has not asked athletes to boycott the London Olympics over the Dow Chemicals sponsorship, Sports Minister Ajay Maken said that the matter has been pursued at a diplomatic level with the host nation.
The work to remove 377 metric tonnes of hazardous waste from the now-defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal has begun. The waste will be transported to an incineration site in Pithampur near Indore, around 250 km from Bhopal. The move comes after the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered the authorities to clear the site, 40 years after the deadly gas leak that killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands with health problems.
Two women survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy will go on an indefinite hunger strike here from May 1 to press Dow Chemicals, the present owner of Union Carbide, to own up responsibility for the tragedy and assume the liabilities.
Under tremendous pressure from India to drop Dow Chemicals as London Olympics sponsors, the Games' organising committee chief Sebastian Coe said they are ready to meet the activists protesting against the company because of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
Sports Minister Ajay Maken, on Monday, said that the International Olympic Committee should keep the sentiments of Bhopal Gas tragedy victims in mind and drop Dow Chemicals as sponsors of next year's London Olympics.
The Indian Olympic Association are not considering boycotting the London Olympics despite local demands to do so over a Games sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical, the IOA's acting president said on Monday.
The top court said that a sum of Rs 50 crore lying with the RBI for the victims shall be utilised by the Union of India to satisfy pending claims of victims.
The clean up issue, ignored in the Bhopal gas tragedy settlement, emerged 20 years later, with the government trying to hold Dow Chemicals, UCIL's successor, liable on the 'polluter pays' principle. From the legal perspective, for the victims, efforts at Anderson's extradition or a Law Ministry face off with Dow on cleanup are pointless, writes Kumkum Sen
Sports Minister Ajay Maken on Wednesday said the government has not yet thought of pulling the Indian athletes out of London Olympics due to row over Dow Chemicals' sponsorship.
The Union Carbide Corporation gave a compensation of $470 million (Rs 715 crore) after the toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide factory on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killed over 3,000 people and affected 1.02 lakh others.
Lapierre welcomed the beginning of distribution of fresh compensation of Rs 1567 crore to the victims.
The IOA on Monday indicated that India may take part in the London Olympics under protest after the International Olympic Committee rejected its demand to scrap the controversial Dow Chemicals as one of the sponsors of the mega-event.
A boycott of the London Games because of Dow Chemical's sponsorship has not been mentioned by the Indian Olympic Association, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.
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