jalote@uiucdcsb.UUCP (02/14/85)
I recieved the following news items from a friend of mine, following some convoluted route. I am posting it here, as it is of interest to all Indians. Will the original author please claim them, by putting a small response? I suggest that in future such (very useful, I may add) notes be posted in this notesfile. If the peole who wrote these feel that such items should be distrbuted by mail, can I be added on the mailing list? Thanks. Our host name for usenet and csnet is "uiucdcs"; for Arpa it is "uiuc". --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. In a series of articles during this week, the New York Times has concluded that the deadly gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal on December 3 which killed over 2500 people and injured over 200,000 was the result of operating errors, design flaws, maintenance failures and training deficiencies. The reports are based on a seven week inquiry by the reporters of the newspaper following the leak of methyl isocyanate. The inquiry involved more than 100 interviews of present and former employees of the Union Carbide India Ltd., company technical documents, the Indian government's chief scientist in Bhopal, New Delhi, Bombay, New York, Washington, Danbury Connecticut, and Institute, Virginia. The investigation produced evidence of at least 10 violations of the standard procedures of both the parent company and its Indian subsidiary. According to the Times reports, executives of the Union Carbide India are reluctant to address the question of the responsiblity of the tragedy. The plant's manager declined to discuss the irregularities. When questioned about the shortcomings disclosed in the inquiry, a spokesman of the Union Carbide, USA characterized any suggestion of the accident's causes as speculation and emphasized that the Union Carbide would not contribute to that speculation. One of the reports also discussed the relationship between the parent company and its subsidiary indicating that the parent company essentially enjoyed full control over the management and operations of the subsidiary in India. One of the reports in the New York Times said that the stage of disaster was already set in the Bhopal Union Carbide plant prior to December 2 as a result of a number of violations of safety regulations. According to this report which is based on interview of the workers, (i) a refrigeration unit designed to keep the lethal methyl isocyanate cool and nonreactive had been shut off and the chemical was warmer than allowed by the plant's operatign manual, (ii) two of the plant's major safety systems to handle escaping gas - a gas neutralizer and a flare tower to burn it off - were not designed to withstand pressure anywhere near that of the gas during the accident, (iii) a water spray system was not high enough to reach and contain the escpaing gas, and (iv) the ill-fated tank had been overfilled with the consequence that the pressure would rise faster in an accident. Already, there were more than half a dozen violations of plant procedures; more were to occur during the accident itself. In addition, workers and operators in the plant were not cautioned about the devastating nature of the methyl isocyanate gas. Most workers and operators knew that the gas caused skin and eye irritation and that few people could die if there was a major accident but they were never aware that it could result in a worst industrial disaster of human history. There were no preventive measures or public education programs undertaken by the company for its workers, public officials, not to mention those who lived around the plant. Staff and training had been reduced and important instruments including pressure gauges were unreliable. A cost-cutting program was also jeopardizing safety. In a related development, JB Browning, Vice President of health, safety and environmental affairs of the Union Carbide said that the report of the safety inspection of the Viriginia plant which had warned of a possibility of a runaway reaction and a massive leak of methyl isocyanate from a storage tank was not shared with the Bhopal Union Carbide plant. It had been revealed last week by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environment Chairman Representative HA Waxman that a safety inspection report of the Virginia plant had warned of a possibility of the kind of accident that resulted in the leak of methyl isocyanate gas in the Bhopal plant in Septemeber, three months prior to the Bhopal accident. Following the disclosure of this report by the House subcommittee, the Union Carbide management had called the possibility of such an accident as being totally hypothetical. According to Browning, plant management at Institute had given an immediate attention to the report and a simple change in the operating procedure had completely eliminated the concern. He also aded that there was no reason to share the report with the Bhopal plant because different devices were used to cool the tanks at the two facilities. Brownings's understanding is apparently in contradiction with the House subcommittee's information that the two plants had the same designs and the same procedures. Meanwhile the Union Carbide announced that 61 leaks of the MIC had taken place from the Institute plant since January 1, 1980. This was 33 more than the number reported by the Environmental Protection Agency. II. At least 2717 people were killed in nationwide violence directed against Sikhs following Mrs. Gandhi's assasination. Out of this, 2146 were killed in New Delhi alone. The parliament wast told this by Minister of State for Home Affairs Ram Dulari Sinha recently. Over two months ago, the then home minister PV Narsimha Rao had said that 1277 people had been killed in the riots out of which 651 deaths occurred in New Delhi.The new figures are more than double nationwide and almost three times those in Delhi. In their report based on an independent inquiry, the two civil liberties bodies People Union for Civil Liberties and People Union for Democratic Rights had estimated that over 2000 people had died in New Delhi. According to the minister, property worth Rs 500 million was destroyed in 15 states where the violence erupted. This figure does not include the damage in New Delhi which the authorities said that they have not been able to fully assess yet. After New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh was the worst affected with 203 deaths and the property damage estimated at Rs 250 million. The minister also said the the families of those killed in the riots had been paid compensation of Rs. 10,000 by the governement and those injured had received Rs 1000. The minister did not indicate whether the goverbment had any plans to set up an independent inquiry commision into the causes and imact of violence. Such an inquiry has been demanded by the Sikh community, sections of the media, and the two civil liberties organizations PUCL and PUCR as Congress(I) involvement has been alleged in the violence. On January 21, members of the All India Sikh Conference marched to the parliament wearing black clothes and demanding an early solution to the Punjab problem, assurance of their saefty and a judicial inquiry into the riots in New Delhi. Recently, a report by the Sikh temples Management Committee has accused that the government and police had instigated the violence. The report called the violence as a black blot on the country's forehead which cannot be removed easily. III. Prof. MGK Menon and Prof. CNR Rao have been named for the Padam Vibhushan awards. 21 Padam Bhushans have been awarded; among those is included a classical singer Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Movie stars Naseerudin Shah and Smita Patil, sprinter PT Usha, trade unionists Ela Bhatt and AN Buch of Ahmedabad, Punjabi folk singer Asha Singh Mastana are among the 44 named for Padam Shri. IV. Leaders from six countries, Argentina, Mexico, Tanzania, Greece, Sweeden and India called on Jan 28 for an all-embracing halt to testing production and deployment of nuclear weapons and prohibition of outer space for such weapons. In a joint statement, Argentina's President Raul Alfonsin, Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Prime Ministers of Greece, Sweeden and India, Andreas Papandreou, Olof Palme and Rajiv Gandhi affirmed their determination to facilitate agreement among nuclear states saying the future of all peoples is at stake. The four page declaration warned that a holocaust awaited mankind and that over the last 5 decades, every nation and every human being has lost ultimate control over their own life and death. The meetings urged the five nuclear weapons states United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China - to immediately halt the testing of all kinds of nuclear weaopons and to conclude a trearty on a nulcear weapons test ban. According to the declaration, such a treaty will be a major step towards ending the continuous modernization of nuclear arsenals. It also urged that instead of spending the resources on the arms race, it is urgently necessary to transfer precious resources currently wasted in military expenditures to social and economic development. V. Indian government has announced that France has recalled its ambassador to India. An Indian spokesman refused to give any reasons why the Ambassador Serge Boldevaix was asked to return to Paris. But according to the New York Times, Indian sources said that the Ambassador was held responsible for the conduct of the ousted diplomat Lieut. Colonel Alain Bolley who has been linked with the espoinage scandal. Sources: India Now, India Abroad, the New York Times
jalote@uiucdcsb.UUCP (02/14/85)
Subject: The Bhopal disaster. Finally, some encouraging news. The Washington Post's Business section reported that a federal court ruled against Union Carbide's contention that liability cases arising out of the disaster should be tried in India and not in the U.S. Eighteen of the more than thirty cases have been consoildated, to be heard at the Federal Court at New York. -- Deepak.
jalote@uiucdcsb.UUCP (02/14/85)
Subject: news bulletin I. An Indian businessman Coomar Narayan reportedly confessed on Feb. 4 that he had been passing confidential information to French, Polish and East German diplomats for the last 25 years and was being handsomely rewarded for that. The 15-page confession recorded in a closed session in Delhi is the first admission in the spy ring scandal that was exposed few weeks ago in India. Over 15 people, including two deputy secreatries in the PM office and in Defense ministries, clerks and other officials in President's office and other departments, and three businessmen were reportedly arrested after the ring was busted. Over 1500 people are reportedly being questioned. Deputy military attache in the French embassy left India because of alleged involvelement. Last week France recalled its ambassador from India as Indian sources claim that the French government has held him morally responsible for the involvement of the deputy military attache. Following Narayan's confession, Indian government asked a East German and a Polish diplomat to leave India. Two top government officials, the Secretary for the Defense Production, MC Sarin and theh Additional Financial Secretary AS Baijal were also asked to go on leave. II. Assembly elections in 10 states and the union territory of Pondicherry will be held on March 5. States going to the polls are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnatka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajsthan, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh and Pondicherry Election will be held for two days in Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. This was announced by Chief Election Commissioner RK Trivedi. The ballots will be counted on March 5 and all results will be announced by the next day. Election will not be held in Punjab even though the term of the assembly expires in June. The same reason was given as the one given for not holding the Lok Sabha elections namely that the situation there was not yet normal enough to hold elections. In a related development, the Himachal Pradesh Governor Hokishe Sema dissolved the state assembly on January 23 on the recommendation of Congress(I) Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. The elections will be held there also on March 5 along with other states. III. An anti-defection bill was passed in both the hosues of the parliament with rare unanimity. According to the bill, a member of Parliament or a state assembly will lose membership in the legislature if the member either gives up membership in the party on whose ticket the member was elected and joins another party, or is expelled from the party under its constitution rules and regulation. Abstention from the house or voting against party's directive will also subject him to disqualification if the member does not have prior permission or fails to obtain subsequent approval from his party within 15 days of such act of abstention or voting. Splits or mergers are permissible under the bill provided these are approved by one-third and two-thirds of the members respectively of the concerned legislative parties. Majority of the clauses in the bill were apparently arrived at consultation with the opposition parties. In the full bill, however, the Congress(I) government added additional clauses which seek to extend disqualification to members following what happens outside the parliament and the state legislature. These clauses have been objected to by the opposition. Janata leader Madhu Dandavate accused Rajiv Gandhi's government of having violated the consensus reached at the talks. Members of the opposition as well as Congress(I) argued that this clause could be misused by domineering party bosses into blackmailing a dissenting member into submission. IV. Another damage suit on behalf of about 1400 victims of the lethal methyl isocyanate leak from Bhopal Union Carbide plant was filed in Federal District court in New Jersey by a Newark based lawfirm. According to the lawyer representing the victims, the plaintiffs had asked that the suit be classified as a class action but he doubted that the request will be granted because of the small number of plaintiffs. In a related development, the Washington Post reported that a federal court ruled against Union Carbide's contention that liability cases arising out of the disaster should be tried in India and not in the U.S. Eighteen of the more than thirty cases have been consoildated, to be heard at the Federal Court at New York. V. According to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Ramarao, every regional party heading a state must get representation in the central government for better economic administration. NTR added, "Our constitution speaks about a federal union of states. There must be a federal government at the Centre. One party rule does not benefit anyone. The non-Congress governments in the states must be represented at the Center." In reference to Andhra, Ramarao said, "Suppose we have a majority in the next assembly election. How can we fulfill social welfare schemes if we do not have our say at the centre which controls the purse? Today, the politics is that of food and shelter. The 50% people living below the poverty line have to be elevated." Commenting on the constitution, NTR said, "more subjects should be transfered to the states. The center has too many powers. After the assembly elections, I shall convene a meeting of political parties, intellectuals and others to discuss this matter." In reference to his Bharat Desam party, Ramarao said, "I want regional parties like the Telugu Desam in every state. They should come together on the basis of a minimum time-bound program. They should electe a leader who will be the prime minister. In their own area, a particular Desam will be supreme to administer the subjects delegated to the states. This will make our country federal in structure." The Chief Minister also added that after assembly elections, he would make a tour of the country and explain the idea of Bharat Desam to emphasize the idea of unity would be well served in keeping diversity." VI. Dr. Laxmi Berwa of Volunteers in Service to India's Oppressed and Neglected (VISION) called the apartheid policy of the government of South Africa as "repugnant" and "primitive", and had "no role in civilized society." Berwa added, "My people, who are called as "Harijans," have suffered inhuman and brutal oppression for over 2000 years at the hand of high caste Hindus. I, as one of them, can feel the plight of the blacks in South Africa. " Calling upon Indians to speak up against apartheid, Berwa said, "Recent round of brutal oppression by the white minority government of South Africa is unconscionable. All human beings irrespective of their religion, color, race, caste, must speak against a system which suppresses its own countrymen because they are black. In America, Asian Indians are approximately half a million strong, we have several organizations and institutions. Time has come to take a stand and join hands with black organizations in America and other organizations who are supporting the rights of blacks in Africa..." Sources: India Abroad, India Now and the New York Times.