Last week I blasted Jug for his piece on the dollar, but this week I'm applauding his piece on Bhopal. I couldn't agree more. Aside from the fact that Anderson should be extradited to India, the fact remains that if India treats its people without value so will the rest of the nations who do business here.

I work in the green industry and the Bhopal disaster is just the most notorious of the '1000 baby bhopals' that Greenpeace claims there are in India.

One need look no further than Government incentive programs to build homes for the poor. The houses that are erected for poor and tribals are environmentally inappropriate and actually look like something where livestock would live. In fact in the Ghats, a housing development made of concrete and rebar started disintegrating only 6 months after erection. Not to mention that the vault-like houses were like tandoor ovens in the summer and melted like sandcastles during the rainy season. The tribals eventually abandoned the homes after one family was killed in one that collapsed and now live in huts on the hillside above the housing. They use the abandoned houses for livestock and storage.

If you use the Government's 'model' homes for the poor as an indicator, one quickly realises that these people are being viewed as having no worth. The lack of any design or use of traditional indigenous knowledge in the house's design demonstrates that these are houses for a segment of society not worthy of a decent place to live.

A well designed home would not only be a good value for use of government funds, but may even inspire the impoverished to raise themselves out of their condition. The pride of having a suitable dwelling would translate to its dwellers, their children and eventually the society as a whole.

Sir, hullabaloo about a 26 year old incident, not likely to yield meaningful result, should be diverted to appeal the police, the administrators, the politicians not to betray the common man and render most needed help to the distressed. Pray India becomes a clean country with activism of judiciary.
Thanks for thoughtful awakening.

All the problems you have mentioned can be traced back to an ever increasing population competing for ever decreasing resources. Increasing scarcity breeds greed among the rich and discontent among the poor.
When people are fighting for their jobs and their livelihood, everything else goes out the window, be it concern for the environment or for other peoples lives.

There have been enough warnings by the Media and Scientists/ Agriculturists on the decay of the soil or overuse of fertilizers and pesticides all over the country, the Government has never bothered to look into the affairs.
I still recollect when a married lady used to get pregnant and till the child gets two years old, how much the whole family used to take care of the health of the lady despite all odds. EVEN IN SOME CASES MATING WAS NOT PERMITTED.

Same should be true with the fertile land.
May be the solution lies with Organic Fetilizers being recommended by so many Agriculturists, and the gap between the two yields, and strictly implementation of laws against the Industries who are violating all norms.

BUT WHO WILL BELL THE CAT?

As people we have no right to seek justice from other countries or companies belonging to other countries.While we boast to be a first world or second world nation, our attitude to our own people belongs to fourth world.Bhopal is receding in to history.People should know the number of Indian or foreign companies brought to book by our factory inspectors.NGO's pursuing Bhopal should also pursue those cases.there will be thousands of such cases where factories/plants have gotten away with day light murders.What kind of improvements in safety standards have taken place in our railways, road networks,ports, air ports,electricity boards,schools, colleges, hospitals, markets, cinema halls?
As rightly stated by you, we are callous.And we will continue to suffer, if we continued to be so. Andersons of the world can't help us.

this is the situation because we have waited for someone (don't know who) to take care of us and our lives.... its not that we don't have rights... its just that we don't know them.
Its time we woke up to them and exercised them. The country is definitely not the personal fief of some. Its ours and I think its time we made it ours.

A good piece of writing?, of course it is, but my problem lies in equating this with Bhopal and its aftermath.

Naxalism, Communalism, Sarkari Attitude, Terrorism are problems we face everyday, do we need to find a solution, of course we should, if not for anything else at elast to improve our lives and that of our children, but remember the moment you equate this problem with Bhopal you are saying "So what this happens everyday in our life"

Does it happen everyday that 20,000 people die everyday and lakhs suffering from aftermath, I do not think so and therefore we need to treat Bhopal as a seprate case and not equate it with our daily issues. Daily issues are to solved and we will

But as a civil society we need to ensure all those (not just Anderson) who have committed this crime and are sleeping peacefully are punished in such a way that the punishment should be a deterant for anyone else who may even dream of commiting such crime

While it's true that the attention of the politicians should be more focussed upon the righteous use of their powers to render relief to the millions who suffer everyday in India, we do need to pay special attention to the Bhopal Tragedy. The verdict is indubitably unjust. The issue might be 26 years old as suggested, but many thousands had their hopes clung on the Indian Judiciary and were betrayed.
The extremely high death toll, and the amount of time taken in bringing about the ineffective decision places this case in a very different realm from the others. Delay or denial of justice in high profile cases often becomes the quintessence of justice in many minds and it is therefore, very important that all necessary measures be taken immediately to resolve this gross miscarriage of justice.
In saying all this I do not deny that other situations like the Naxals are of a lower significance. But I do vehemently deny the notion that uproar over this issue is meaningless, futile, or any less important.

The blame game is part and parcel of our life. Our politicians, public servents or any one else - represents us - what we are. We as a common man also believe and take refuge in blaming others. We as common man do not think that we have any responsibility. The only thing we beleive in doing is ~ blaming others. Have any of us examined "What I have done" or "How I could have done".
I am sorry but I would like to ask - is only CEO responsible for a Company's functioning? All the management and staff has no responsibility or role? Why we always have to cry on spilt milk? When we will take pro-active actions? Bhopal tragedy was not result of one night or one day? This was result of practices being adopted by Company. If practices were wrong and unsafe, why no one in the Company acted? If for us - only important thing is job i.e. money then these incidents will never happen.
Also the "Media" is very seasonal and have no memories. One new issue and all issues are forgotten for all the time.
Again I feel bad writing such comments, may be no one will read or like, but are they wrong?

It is so hard to digest that everybody is still only trying to play the blame game, even after 26 long years. Nobody is to care about either the victims or tougher regulations to prevent such tragedies.

It seems Jug does not want to accept that Congress is responsible for the Tragedy.

We the people of India are irresponsible.

We just look up to the government to give direction from petty little things to large ones....and often times the direction shown is wrong.

I have heard the dialogue "is it a rule?" so many times that it is not funny.

Unfilled bore wells, get the government to set rules. Litter everywhere, why doesn't the government do something. Polluted rivers, why doesn't the government do something.

Even Punjab soil, why can't the farmers NOT OVER use the fertilizer? Is it sprayed by the government and the farmers have no control over it?

Take responsibility and the problems will disappear....but then there is no rule for it.

Remember Gandhiji won freedom for India through his mass movement....he made people responsible for their own individual freedom. People ignored the wrong government rules and did the right thing.....

Its indeed a very keen insight you have provided us with this valuable piece of information. But i would like to add public apathy towards environmental issues apart from the rapacious industrialists and politicians,that jeopardized many situations in our country.

Sir,realley its horrible to think about the situation, we indians forget humanity in the race of 21st centuary,we are palying blame game.
Sir need to change whole system specially politcal.

Excellent article!! very well written. The day every Indian realizes his\her true worth we will truly be a super power :)

A good write up from Jug after a long time! Hits the nail on the head. Only we citizens can unite and rise to save our country for future generations.

Too many Bhopals in one form or other are happening every day because we have recruited & bred second rate govt employees from last many decades who provide most of the basic services to all class of Indians.

Look at what Nehru said:
“This way lies not only folly but disaster”.The recent meeting we held here at which the CM`s were present to consider national integration, laid down that help should be given on the economic consideration and not on caste. It is true that that we are tied up with certain rules & conventions about helping the scheduled castes & tribes. They deserve help but even so, I dislike any kind of reservation, more particularly in services. I react strongly any thing which leads to inefficiency & second rate standards. I want my country to be first class country in every thing. The moment we encourage second rate we are lost. The recent newspaper reports suggest large scale intrusion of second rate symptoms in all govt services. Govt service is degenerating into a large scale systemic fault line which are leading to many many shades of Bhopals.The unabashed recruitment by governments disregarding the quality aspect of HR in the name of reservation appears to have gathered critical mass of second rate employees at all levels swamping bright and accomplished human resources & breeding second rate work ethics.

We are lost in many unsung Bhopals, Dantewadas, Manipur Blockades, Caste census,Air & Railway accidents, Food Shortages,Man Made famines,Tiger dissapearnces, 2005 Mumbai Floods, Toxic hotspots of Punjab,Destruction of Bangalore lakes TO 64 FROM 200.Just have a look at news paper head lines in the last one year!

This way has proved that we in India are breeding many many Bhopals! This way lies not only folly but disaster! What Nehru feared is coming out to be true!

With reference to the Second Opinion ' Too many Bhopals' (June 16) by Jug
>Suraiya, there is indeed a need to identify and punish our own Andersons
>first who are responsible for all the neglect and callousness resulting
>in loss of innocent lives all the time in various parts of the country on
>account of unsafe and ghastly practices, be it chaotic and
>unregulated traffic conditions on the roads, highly contaminated water
>supply or poisonous gas leakages, avoidable rail and air accidents. Human
>life is definitely treated cheaply by our own people. May be like China, it
>is felt that the loss of a few thousand lives is less significant than a
>drop less in the ever exploding sea of humanity of nearly 1.2 billion people
>that is India. When shall we learn a lesson from the so many ongoing
>tragedies like Bhopal happening in the country on a regular basis and take
>some concrete corrective and preventive measures to save lives being
>sacrificed through sheer callousness, incompetence and negligence?

Human life is very cheap in India. You can blame it on corruption or on the clash/lack of vision so predominant amongst our leaders or perhaps on the fact that overabundance of any product leads to a reduction in its value. So it is with human life.

Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world’s land area, it supports 17.31% of the world’s population. The population increases by 20million every year, which is approximately the total population of Australia.

The life of a child in a hit and run accident in the face of our teeming population with its myriad problems thus sadly amounts to zilch.
Even today in urban India there are many with 6 to 7children, earning barely enough for sustenance. They are employed illegally in factories, in shops, in homes. They are sexually abused and exploited.
There is an increase of 55,000 people per day…. so of course we will have accidents aplenty and callous police officials, we will have illegal kundis ( if I’m using the term correctly)and electrocution, we will have quacks and pretenders and counterfeit medicines, we will have unauthorized settlements outside factories, we will have people traveling dangerously on train tops, we will have industrial waste dumped into our rivers, we will have…. because we are just too many… to monitor, to supervise, to keep an eye on.
We can longer wait and discuss issues. We need to act now. We need to find an urgent cure to the problem and not simply attend to the symptoms …..only then perhaps human life in India will take on a greater significance.