Do you know who killed more Indians than John Wayne?
Union Carbide did.
Today is the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy when a gas leak at the Union Carbide fertilizer plant caused the biggest industrial accident, and you can see all kinds of media coverage about it. Unfortunately, most have missed an angle of the tragedy, caused by the Government of India, and the bribe regime that the tragedy established subsequently. While Bhopal gas tragedy was horrible beyond words, bigger tragedies occurred in the aftermath, and I list them below:
Tragedies of Bhopal- Anybody who is familiar with India, knows about the poor environmental and safety standards. So, IMHO this accident could have happened anywhere else in India, even in a Government facility. No improvement in the standards has taken place in India since, although companies elsewhere learnt a big lesson.
- Once word got around that the facility belonged to a US company, all the officials jumped with joy with the potential for bribes they could milk. The management of Union Carbide was harassed to no avail, and Union Carbide was denied the opportunity to take corrective action, or provide compensation, because if allowed, the officials would get no bribe. I recall that Union Carbide executives who came to India to offer sympathies were arrested and harassed. Eventually Union Carbide agreed to pay a mere $530 million in compensation -- I am sure they spent another $500 million in bribing the various parties to agree to that deal. This shameful behavior on part of Indian Government is a great tragedy and caused untold hardships to victims and damaged the dignity of India.
- India is a large agricultural economy and Union Carbide at that time was a large manufacturer of fertilizers. In a knee jerk move, the Government closed down all of Union Carbide factories, and their assets were seized. This caused a tremendous shortage of fertilizer in India during 1985, and farmers had to buy them in black market. There was even a black market for Eveready batteries.
- Finally the compensation, supposedly paid by Union Carbide, and accepted by the Government as the final deed, never reached the victims. This is the ultimate tragedy.
See ghastly pictures of Bhopal Gas Tragedy at Greenpeace. Such a great great tragedy it was, in so many ways.
