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 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.
Unconscious children being carried by parents in their arms, people laying on roads, health workers scrambling to attend to those affected by the styrene vapour leak and residents fleeing were some of the scenes that played out near Visakhapatnam on Thursday, bringing back grim memories of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
Meetings and protest marches in support of the demands of the victims marked the 29th anniversary of the Bhopal gas catastrophe here today.
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.
Thirty-seven years and some three generations later, the darkness of that night when 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate leaked out of the Union Carbide plant hangs like an impenetrable cloud over the lives of untold thousands, including children as young as three whose parents were exposed to the toxin when they themselves were children.
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.
"We are ready to evaluate purchase for any additional shares including from the IndusInd Bank. But, our headroom is about four per cent. We will keep our holding below 25 per cent," Dabur India Vice Chairman Mohit Burman told PTI from Greece on Sunday.
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.
Photojournalist Chandu Mhatre, one of the first to reach Bhopal after India's worst industrial disaster ravaged the city, remembers his worst seven days, in a conversation with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gas affected areas in Bhopal are still bereft of basic amenities.
New Scientist in a report, based on documents just released in the US, said "The owner of the chemical plant cut crucial corners in its design, and reduced investment to maintain control". \n\n
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.
Even nearly 30 years after the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Centre has declined to disclose information on its extradition requests to the United States for then Union Carbide Chief Executive Officer Warren Anderson on the pretext that it will 'impede' investigation into the matter.
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.
'If journalism is the first draft of history, then photojournalism is the first draft of its evidence,' Raghu Rai, arguably India's finest living photojournalist, tells Pavan Lall.
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.
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.
Talks are on with a German firm for disposal of toxic waste left at the Union Carbide plant in the aftermath of the 1984 disaster after Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra declined to allow its destruction in their territory, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday.
The quest of Bhopal victims for justice must continue and till the truth prevails because it is not their struggle victims of Bhopal alone. It is a litmus test that will determine that what prevails in the conflict between naked lust for profit at any human cost and public health of the present and future generations, says Gopal Krishna.
The government on Tuesday approved the disposal of nearly 350 metric tonnes of Union Carbide toxic waste in Bhopal by a German company. The approval was given following recommendations from a Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas tragedy, chaired by Home Minister P C Chidambaram, officials said.
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.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has appreciated Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) concern for the victims of 1984 Bhopal Tragedy but maintained that Dow Chemicals had no ownership stakes in Union Carbide till 2000.
The Supreme Court on Thursday set a six-month deadline for removal and disposal of toxic waste of the the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal and asked the Centre and Madhya Pradesh government to do the job within the stipulated time frame.
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.
'We are rolling out a vaccine when we don't even have the phase 2 trial results; forget about phase 3 trial results.' 'Why are we playing with people's lives?'
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.
A bus-borne museum will take the experiences of Bhopal gas victims round the country, says Rrishi Raote
Even after the passage of 27 years, a consensus -- between the government and the non-government -- on the number of victims of Bhopal gas disaster is elusive.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who has triggered a fresh controversy over the calibre of the faculty of India's premier higher education institutes, on Thursday claimed he had ample support at home as well as abroad.
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.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances