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December 18, 2007
IIT-D returns sponsorship of Dow for GLS-8 conference
PALLAVI SINGH, Express India, December 18, 2007
New Delhi -- In a strong message to the owner of Union Carbide, involved in the Bhopal Gas tragedy, the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi has joined ranks with other IITs in opposing Dow Chemical Company.
Following an urgent meeting on Saturday, IIT-D has decided to reject the sponsorship offered by Dow for an international conference — Gas Liquid Solid Symposium (GLS-8) — being organised in India for the first time.
The matter was put up before the institute after a section of its alumni and students submitted a petition opposing the sponsorship.
Confirming the decision, Dr Surendra Prasad, director, IIT-D, said: “We decided to respect the sentiments of our alumni and students. We are not accepting any money from Dow for the event.”
While Dow Chemical’s name was removed from the brochures of the event soon after the decision, Dr Prasad didn’t rule out the company’s absence in campus recruitments at the institute later this month. “As of now, we haven’t felt the need. But if there is any objections from the alumni again, we may have to consider it,” he explained.
Organised by the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT-D, the GLS-8 conference was inaugurated on Sunday and will conclude on December 19.
A year ago, over a thousand IIT alumni and former faculty members signed a petition, urging directors of all IITs to bar Dow from any partnership or role in the premier institutes. Earlier, IIT Kanpur’s Mechanical Engineering department withdrew the Dow logo from its list of sponsors for a mid-December conference.
“The IITs have sent a resounding message to Dow that they can keep their blood-tainted money ,” said Magasaysay award winner and IIT alumni Arvind Kejriwal, who is leading their campaign against Dow. “The fun is just beginning. We are looking forward to stonewalling Dow at every step. I’m glad our students had more sense than the elders in the government,” he added.
While IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Bombay have already cancelled pre-placement talks scheduled with Dow without specifying reasons, IIT-D is yet to decide on it. But with the tension brewing across IITs, Dow’s recruitment plans in India are likely to run into rough weather. “Dow is not only guilty of sheltering Union Carbide from its Bhopal liabilities, but has also bribed our agriculture officials to license the pesticide Dursban, which is banned in the US for harmful effects on children’s brain development,” said Shalini Sharma, member, International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, which has tied up with IIT alumni to keep Dow out.
Posted by tim at 05:32 AM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2007
Outcast Dow thrown out of IIT Delhi conference day before it begins
Indo-asian News Service, Dec 15, 2007
IIT Delhi rejects Dow Chemicals' sponsorship offer
New Delhi -- Responding to calls from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) alumni, students and supporters of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy victims' families, the IIT Delhi has rejected Dow Chemicals' offer to sponsor an international event in its campus.
The premier technology institute turned down the offer for a three-day international conference organised by its Department of Chemical Engineering, Arvind Kejriwal, a member of the IIT Alumni Association, said Saturday.
At least 20,000 people were killed and several thousands were maimed for life due to the leak of the poisonous methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas from the Union Carbide plant on Dec 2-3, 1984, termed as the worst industrial disaster in history.
Dow Chemicals took over the Union Carbide factory in 2001 but has since been evading its responsibility to clean up the area around the closed plant where toxic waste has continued to affect the health of the people living in the neighbourhood.
The decision to bar Dow Chemicals from sponsoring the event was taken after an institute level meeting of the supporters of the Bhopal survivors and the authorities at the IIT Friday.
'The IITs have sent a resounding response to Dow that they can keep their blood-tainted money to themselves,' said Kejriwal, a Magsaysay award winner.
'We are looking forward to stonewalling Dow at every step of its way. I'm glad our students and youth had more sense than the elders in the government,' he said.
Last October, more than 1,000 alumni and former faculty members signed a petition addressed to the directors of all IITs urging them to bar Dow Chemicals from any partnership or role in the premier institutes.
Learning of Dow's plans to recruit from the IIT Madras, students and 22 faculties signed a petition urging its director to bar Dow from on-campus recruitment. More than 300 students and faculty in IIT Bombay also signed a similar petition.
© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service
Posted by tim at 07:16 AM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2007
Dow Chemical's Indian R&D centre plan faces social boycott
Mumbai: Dow Chemical Co, the new owner of the infamous Union Carbide, is planning a comeback by setting up a research and development centre in India, but is facing stiff opposition from social groups and prospective employees.
Dow has offered to invest $100 million (about Rs400 crore) in a global R&D centre in India. The company has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government, reports said.
Dow is planning to shut a number of plants in the US and shift production to India and other low-cost locations, to cut costs.
Union Carbide, that caused the death of over 5,000 and left several thousands permanently disabled in the Bhopal gas tragedy, was declared an absconder by a court in Bhopal in 1991. The company was taken over by Dow Chemical in 2001. Dow has refused to produce Union Carbide in court, even while providing an avenue for Carbide to continue profiting from sales in the Indian market without threat of arrest.
With the help of industry leaders like Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, Dow has managed to win the favour of the Prime Minister''''s Office which has promised to write off Dow''''s liabilities in Bhopal if the company invests heavily in India.
The company, however, is now facing social boycott in the country.
Young engineers of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are rejecting lucrative jobs at Dow Chemical on moral grounds. They are writing to their IITs to remove its name from the recruiters'''' list, reports quoting NGO sources said.
IIT Madras and IIT Bombay had cancelled their prospective engagements with Dow. Now students from IIT Kanpur have followed suit, on the 23rd anniversary of Bhopal gas disaster, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation has recently raided Dow''''s offices across the country for allegedly bribing officials to the tune of millions in order to get licences to sell their products here.
The US Securities Exchange Commission had also fined Dow for financial irregularities. In February 2007, Dow Chemical was fined $300,000 (about Rs1.2 crore) by the SEC for having paid Rs80 lakh as bribe to Indian officials to licence Dursban, a pesticide that was banned in the US because of its harmful effects on children''''s brains.
The company continues to market this pesticide in India with impunity.
Meanwhile, in Chennai, more than 150 children in their teens gathered at the central lobby of the Citi Center mall to demand the
eviction of Dow Chemical from the premises.
Dow Chemical, the new owner of Union Carbide, has an office in the 6th floor of the mall in the Mylapore area of the city.
The children also threatened to boycott the "unethical" mall and persuade their friends to do the same if Dow was allowed to continue using the mall premises.
Dow, which has been affected by soaring hydrocarbon feedstock and energy costs, has been attempting to improve its earnings through a series of joint ventures and by expanding its more profitable specialty businesses.
Midland, Michigan-based Dow has been under pressure from investors to announce a transformational deal that would reduce its exposure to the more cyclical and low-margin commodity chemicals business.
Dow said it would exit the automotive sealers business in North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America within nine to 18 months and explore strategic options for its Europe business.
It will also shut down its manufacturing facility in Lauterbourg, France. The company will also write down an investment in its Petromont and Co polyethylene joint venture in Canada. Polyethylene is a very common plastic used for bags.
Dow will also idle a styrene plant in Camacari, Brazil, from January 1, amid tougher competition and weak industry fundamentals.
Posted by tim at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2007
Kids want Dow evicted from Chennai mall
Chennai: Marking the 23rd anniversary of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, more than 150 Chennai children aged between 12 and 16 gathered at the central lobby of the Citi Center mall to demand the eviction of Dow Chemical from the premises.
Dow Chemical, the new owner of Union Carbide, has an office in the 6th floor of the mall in the Mylapore area of the city. Union Carbide, which was declared an absconder by a court in Bhopal in 1991, was taken over by Dow Chemical in 2001. Dow has refused to produce Union Carbide in court, even while providing an avenue for Carbide to continue profiting from sales in the Indian market without threat of arrest.
With the help of industry leaders like Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, Dow has managed to win the favour of the Prime Minister's Office which has promised to write off Dow's liabilities in Bhopal if the company invests heavily in India.
"We are ashamed of the Government's stance of welcoming Dow to the country, and want to make it clear to the residents of Bhopal that people believe in their struggle, and the children of Chennai will not sit idle when Dow tries to go about business as usual," said a spokesperson for "Chennai for Bhopal" the forum which organised the event.
In February 2007, Dow Chemical was fined $300,000 (about Rs 1.2 crore) by a US Government agency for having paid Rs 80 lakhs as bribe to Indian officials to license Dursban, a pesticide that was banned in the US because of its harmful effects on children's brains. The company continues to market this pesticide.
The children, many of whom are regular visitors to the Citi Center mall, said they would boycott the "unethical" mall and would encourage their friends to do the same. "If the people in control of Citi Center have children, we believe they will take our action in the right spirit and evict Dow from their premises," the children added.
The children also distributed pamphlets that alerted other shops in Citi Center that their neighbour "Dow Chemical/Union Carbide" was a murderer charged with the murder of more than 8,000 people in the Bhopal disaster.
On December 3, 1984, a poisonous gas leaked from Union Carbide's underdesigned pesticide factory in Bhopal. At least 5,00,000 people were exposed to the poisonous gas that night. Union Carbide ran away to its home country, the United States of America, leaving behind thousands of tons of toxic wastes in and around its factory premises. The wastes have leached poisons into the groundwater. More than 25,000 people consume the contaminated groundwater for want of a clean alternative. The incidence of birth defects and congenital deformities in the community is alarmingly high.
Posted by tim at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2007
Bhopal tragedy-tainted Dow returns to India
Arijit Sen, CNN-IBN, December 03, 2007
New Delhi: Twenty-three years after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, Dow Chemicals is back in India.
The Gujarat government, which has been promoting Gujarat Alkalies, are all set to announce the setting up a unit in Dahej with Dow, right after the elections.
Protests continue till date against Union Carbide, the company allegedly responsible for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy that left over 3,000 people dead in 1984.
But despite the national ill-feeling, Gujarat is welcoming Dow Chemicals with open arms, with the port city of Dahej gearing up to host the new venture between Dow – which owns Union Carbide – and Gujarat Alkalies.
Predictably, neither the Modi Government, now Dow want to attract extra attention.
Sources have informed CNN-IBN that Gujarat Alkalies and Dow Europe would set up a greenfield unit in Dahej in January 2008.
They have chosen Gujarat because of ‘speed of project implementation’
The project’s initial investment will be to the tune of Rs 700 crore. The plant’s outputs will be used products to be used in pharma industries, industrial coolants and dyes.
Gujarat government-promoted Gujarat Alkalies is the market leader in India in chloro-alkali – a key petrochemical product used by sectors as diverse as plastics and pharmaceuticals.
A MoU between GACL and Dow's European arm has already been signed for a possible joint venture.
An official announcement is due after Gujarat polls in December.
Said stock market analyst K T S Tulsian, “This is a via media to enter into the Indian market through a state undertaking because Gujarat Alkalies is largely held by the Gujarat government – it's a state PSU.”
But Dow Chemicals has refused to comment saying this is all speculative and it's too early to say anything.
Gujarat Government sources also have told CNN-IBN that project approvals are not a problem area.
Dow has been trying hard to get into India. Even a Cabinet note from the Commerce Ministry has suggested that Dow Chemicals’ interest in investing in India should be looked into. But petitions across the IITs to ban Dow from campus recruitment and protests in Bhopal are making it even more difficult for Dow to have a clean start in India.
With inputs from George Koshy
Posted by tim at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
IITs, academics snub Dow for Bhopal tragedy link
Arijit Sen, CNN-IBN, December 03, 2007
New Delhi: Petitions are doing the rounds of the seven IITs asking their directors to ban Dow Chemicals from campus. The company is thought to be responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy that left over 3,000 people dead in December 1984.
Now, over a thousand IIT alumni, students, professors and technical staff are protesting against Dow's attempts to recruit engineers from the IITs and the direct fallout is here:
On October 25, IIT-Madras cancelled pre-placement talks by Dow Chemicals. IIT-Bombay followed suit on October 28.
Dow did not get an invite for placements at IIT-Kharagpur and even their sponsorship for a college festival stands cancelled.
And in IIT Kanpur, students are demanding that the institute refuse Dow sponsorship for a big international seminar in December.
The IIT petition gives specific examples of Dow Chemicals facing resistance in campuses like Berkeley and Stanford, but is this something truly in the interests of the students of IIT and of a greater cause?
IIT alumni, Praful Bidwai says, "It's going to raise awareness about the ethical issues of taking up jobs with companies that have caused a great deal of harm to the public through irresponsible corporate conduct."
Dow Chemicals declined to come on camera but issued a statement which read:
"We are aware of the on-going debate in IITs and respect different views. However, we are focused on growth of business in the country and will keep hiring more talent from within the country."
But with a demand for screening recruiters on the basis of human rights and environmental records gathering steam, this might just stand in the way of Dow trying to make a clean start in India.
Posted by tim at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)
IITians decline Dow Chemicals jobs on moral grounds
Young engineers of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are refusing lucrative jobs at Dow Chemicals (which owns Union Carbide) on moral grounds, as the company has been held responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy that killed over 5,000 people and left thousands permanently disabled.
'IIT students are refusing jobs offered by Dow Chemicals for its wrongdoing. They are writing to their IITs to remove its name from the recruiters' list,' said Mira Shiva of All India Drug Action Network, an NGO.
'IIT Madras and IIT Bombay had cancelled their prospective engagements with Dow. Now students from IIT Kanpur have written to their institute for the same,' Shiva told IANS here on the 23rd anniversary of Bhopal gas disaster.
The disaster took place in the wee hours of Dec 3, 1984 in Bhopal after Union Carbide's pesticide plant released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas, killing between 2,500 and 5,000 people.
Dow Chemicals acquired Union Carbide Corp in 2001.
Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor who has been associated with issue for many years, said: 'We need to question and regulate the kind of companies that enter the academic institutes else, before we realise, our students would be manipulated into becoming official spokespersons of these companies to suit their public gimmick.'
'By refusing Dow entry into the campuses, IITians have not only prevented the company to use them to gain legitimacy in the country but also proved that justice comes before business,' Chenoy said.
Eminent people in the capital also condemned the government's reported move to bail Dow out of its legal liabilities.
'The government should not allow Dow for making foreign direct investment in the country at the cost of Indian lives. It seems that government is planning to write off Dow's liabilities in return for investments in India,' said Kuldip Nayar, a noted journalist and columnist.
'For years, the criminal trail has not been able to progress because Union Carbide is absconding and the government has refused to act strongly to enforce its appearance. It is high time that government represents its own people and companies like Dow. It must make Dow honour Indian law and lives,' Nayar added.
Reports of Dow making an investment of $100 million (about Rs.4 billion) in a global R&D centre in India are doing the rounds. Media reports say that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government.
Shalini Sharma, an activist, who has returned from Bhopal, said: 'Health of those who survived in the tragedy is vulnerable. And even after 23 years, the state government has completely failed in their rehabilitation.'
'People are forced to drink water despite being aware of the fact that it is severely contaminated with hazardous chemicals and would make the their health worse. They are still waiting for clean water,' she said.
Sharma added: 'Till now, over 20,000 have been gassed to death and 150,000 continue to be chronically ill in the area. A new generation of children are being born with severe birth defects.'
The Central Bureau of Investigation has recently raided Dow's offices across the country for allegedly bribing officials to the tune of millions in order to get licenses to sell their products here.
The US Securities Exchange Commission has also fined Dow for financial irregularities.
Posted by tim at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)