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
NGOs working for the rights of the survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster on Wednesday alleged that various governments in Madhya Pradesh and at the Centre have failed to bring the culprits of the world's biggest industrial tragedy to justice even after 37 years.
Indifferent parent, dithering states and a lethargic Centre have allowed Union Carbide's deadly waste to poison the soil and groundwater in Bhopal.
According to the sources in the government, in a major U-turn, the Union law ministry has submitted a note to the Group of Ministers headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram on the Bhopal gas tragedy, where it has, reportedly, recommended that the government of India should undertake the cleanup operation of the site of Union Carbide.
A nation angered may spur the the Bhopal gas victims in their seemingly endless battle to get justce, writes Sheela Bhatt.
The Congress jumped into action as it found former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's name was being dragged into the ongoing controversy over Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson's disappearance from the country in December 1984 after a gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal killed tens of thousands of people.
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.
The India-US nuclear deal was aimed at ending India's nuclear isolation and nuclear apartheid, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
The Dow Chemical Company, which owns Union Carbide Corporation, on Tuesday said the Indian government had "fully released" UCC and its subsidiary in Bhopal from any civil liability for the 1984 gas tragedy.
The government is not likely to succeed in reopening the settlement issue in the Bhopal gas tragedy case, said noted jurist Fali S Nariman.
A TV channel reproduced Anderson and Arjun Singh's bytes, before the Union Carbide chief left the country on December 7, 1984, three days after the world's worst industrial disaster. "House arrest or no arrest or bail, no bail, I am free to go home...There is a law of the United States...India, bye, bye, Thank you," Anderson had said.
A 12-year-old Indian American activist tried to issue summons for Warren Anderson, former chief of Union Carbide over the deadliest 1984 gas disaster in Bhopal.
A synergy of the 'very worst' of American and Indian cultures led to the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984, a local court has held, adding that Union Carbide cynically used a third world country to escape from the strict safety standards imposed at home."The tragedy was caused by the synergy of the very worst of American and Indian cultures. An American corporation cynically used a third world country to escape from the strict safety standards imposed at home," said the judge.
Twenty-six years after one of the worst industrial disasters in the world -- the Bhopal gas tragedy -- claimed thousands of lives, a local court found all the eight accused guilty of criminal negligence in the case.
Victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy and their families held a rally outside the Union Carbide Factory to mark the 25th anniversary of the world's most deadly industrial disaster.
The premises of the defunct Union Carbide factory will be opened for the public from January, 25 years after the gas leak from it killed and maimed thousands of people, a senior minister said on Tuesday."The Union Carbide factory premises will be thrown open for the public in January. The date of opening has not been finalised yet. The state also has plans to build a Hiroshima-like memorial there depicting the detailed account of the disaster," said a minister.
Back in September 2002, Shakti Bhatt/Rediff.com located the former Union Carbide chairman's luxury home in New York, declared unknown by the American and Indian governments. Rediff.com reproduces the feature about his life in hiding.
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.
The money deposited by the Union Carbide, following the US multinational's settlement with the Union Government, was directed to be disbursed within three months by the apex Court earlier.
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.
Former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, wanted in India in connection with the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy which claimed over 3,000 lives in one of the world's most lethal industrial accidents, died in Florida, US. He was 92.
The survivors had demanded damages from the company and alleged that their water aquifiers were polluted due to the leak of hazardous chemicals from the UCC factory in Bhopal.
Twenty years after the deadly Bhopal gas leak claimed 15,000 lives and injured 500,000 more, the Supreme Court on Monday directed that Rs 1,503 crore deposited by the Union Carbide as compensation be distributed among the victims.
A case filed by Ramavtar Sahu for compensation, medical monitoring and clean-up of toxic waste near Union Carbide's plant in Bhopal as well as offsite water pollution is pending before the Court of Second Circuit of Appeals in USA.
Sanjeeb Mukherjee, who was eight years old when the deadly gas leaked from Union Carbide's factory, gives his account of living in the city during that fateful period
There's far too much to be said against Nuclear Liability Bill
Meetings and protest marches in support of the demands of the victims marked the 29th anniversary of the Bhopal gas catastrophe here today.
Families of the deceased and people who bore the brunt of the industrial disaster are now signing a petition, to be sent to the Supreme Court, requesting it to start hearing a curative petition of the government filed in December 2010 for more compensation.
Amid strong public reaction to the judgement in the Union Carbide case, the government is understood to be looking at legal position to check if Carbide India's non executive Chairman Keshub Mahindra could be barred from taking directorship in any company.
The development comes at a time when Eveready is on the lookout for strategic investors, including a possible stake sale in its battery business.
Saluting the people who saved scores of life, YRF announced this project on the same day that the tragedy struck Bhopal 37 years back.
'Why should we disclose classified information to satisfy those who doubt our Hydrogen Bomb capability?'
Laying emphasis on striking a balance between environment and development on the 30th anniversary of Bhopal Gas tragedy, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said all measures should be taken to avert a repeat of such an industrial disaster.
A Group of Ministers on Friday gave its approval to the Madhya Pradesh government to dispose of 350 metric tonnes of Union Carbide toxic waste in Germany.
Former Union minister Vasant Sathe said on Tuesday that there was nothing wrong or illegal in giving safe passage to then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson and the Congress should not feel embarrassed about it.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan urged the government to boycott next year's London Olympics because of the event's sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical company, according to local media reports.
The extradition request of former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson, the main accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy case, is still under examination as no decision has been taken by the United States Department of Justice in this regard, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in its status report filed with a local court.
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.
The Central Information Commission has held that the External Affairs Ministry should disclose all information related to the Bhopal Gas tragedy, including communication exchanged between it and the Central Bureau of Investigation on the extradition of the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson.
A sessions court on Tuesday upheld a 2010 verdict of a trial court in the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy case while dismissing the Central Bureau of Investigation's petition seeking re-trial and enhancement of sentence awarded to former Union Carbide officials.
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