Comments on: Bhopal at 25: Thoughts?

By: Thatsright

Thatsright — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:18:42 +0000

So nice of Mr. Singh to take note of Bhopal. Something else happened 25 years ago in India. Can you help me?

By: narayan

narayan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:55:41 +0000

Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre

In 2005, I spent five days in Bhopal visiting cousins who are doctors working full-time at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital. It is a huge facility on a sprawling campus, replete with guest house and staff housing, built to provide free follow up care for victims of the UC disaster. It attracts both bona-fide victims and numerous others with dubious claims. When I visited, there were no throngs of patients in distress, nor signs of overworked staff. So I don't see what special claim the Sambhavna Clinic can make of providing similar care. Please investigate before donating!
While I am no expert on the Bhopal disaster and its extended aftermath, the issue seems to get a lot of coverage based on limited, casual, or armchair-bound research into the current state of affairs. Suketu Mehta's column is an op-ed piece that just doesn't say anything new. In his column, "I have traveled to Bhopal ..." sounds to me like a cop-out for not having done any serious investigative update in 25 years. I too can honestly say that "I have traveled to Bhopal ...", and fill in the rest of the column with details gleaned from published sources.

By: half-desi

half-desi — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:26:00 +0000

I definitely recommend reading:

Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster http://www.amazon.com/Five-Past-Midnight-Bhopal-Industrial/dp/0446530883

In addition to the amazing story of what happened that night, the writers detail the daily operations of the plant--and later--absolute neglect of the operation. (I think it had simply stopped making money and was allowed to rot.)

Anyway, read the book years ago and it was far from "an accident", murderous neglect?

Given the amount of daily maintenance needed for the plant (which was performed regularly for years) over a long period of time, it's astounding that it held up so long.

By: PKS

PKS — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:49:34 +0000

To add a legal perspective here: American courts will defer to the courts of a foreign nation in many situations. The idea of “forum non conveniens” means that where all or most of the witnesses and evidence are in another country, particularly a country that has a functioning civil legal system, it is right to defer to the jurisdiction of that other country. With a few exceptions, American corporate parents of Indian companies can be sued in India. Would justice be swifter in the United States? Most probably. But generally, that’s not a good enough reason in the American legal system to allow cases to be brought here that should really be within the jurisdiction of a foreign nation.

By: Mina

Mina — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:43:37 +0000

Whether it was an "American" corporation or an "Indian" corporation, the fact that a corporation got blamed means none of the individual people who made the bad decisions that killed and hurt so many went to jail for it!

By: Boston_mahesh

Boston_mahesh — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:05:03 +0000

The Bhopal Tragedy was perpetrated by sons of Satan named Union Carbide. These Dracula blood suckers murdered many Indians of all different faiths and political beliefs to maximize shareholder value of their death cult called capitalism. I hope that the Indian victims are renumerated, that these acts dint occur again anywhere; and these dollar-sucking vampires are punished by a Loya Jirga.

By: gaddeswarup

gaddeswarup — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:49:47 +0000

Related. I do not know whether this report is correct: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\11\21\story_21-11-2009_pg7_9 The Indian government has absolved American nuclear companies of liability in case of a possible accident during the building and installation of nuclear reactors and facilities in India. A Civil Nuclear Liability bill cleared by the Union Cabinet late on Thursday presents Indiaâ€™s desire to work with the American firms. Washington has been asking New Delhi that the nuclear deal the two countries signed last year would be futile as the American companies, and most Western firms, would not do business with India unless the liability law was promulgated. Most American companies see huge investment potential in India and only want it to have a law to limit the claims for damages in the wake of an accident that may occur before they hand over a nuclear plant to the country. In the bill, the Indian government is seeking to bear the entire compensation for any nuclear accident. iftikhar gilani

By: Anand

Anand — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:14:08 +0000

Would be good (and more constructive as a practical matter) to see more criticism of the GOI in the press as well. None of the reemployment schemes have done anything. The relocation plans have been totally botched. People are still drinking water known to be contaminated. The private NGOs are the only ones providing any meaningful healthcare. All of this is stuff that funding was allocated for independent of UC/Dow.

By: Priyanka

Priyanka — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:57:35 +0000

Yes! http://desicritics.org/2009/12/03/204247.php

By: confuzeus

confuzeus — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:37:50 +0000

Have you read anything insightful or enlightening with regards to the Bhopal disaster in recent days?

This op-ed in the Hindu is very well-written and informative. It also throws some light on the ‘legality’ and culpability aspects that have been discussed in previous comments. http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article58541.ece

Thanks, Amardeep for writing about Bhopal.