February – March 1989: Public protest against the unjust settlement followed by filing of a number of review and writ petitions against the settlement in the Supreme Court by the Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangatan (BGPMUS), the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangarsh Sahayog Samiti (BGPSSS) and other concerned groups.

June 1, 1989: Women survivors belonging to the trade union Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karamchari Sangh (BGPMSKS), employed as stationary workers by the Madhya Pradesh State government, begin an epic padayatra when 100 women and children walk 700 kilometres to Delhi in order to get their case for job regularization and equal benefits heard. Though employed as part of the MP government’s economic rehabilitation scheme for gas survivors,  the women were being paid at a below poverty level rate and without sickness or maternity leave. The Padayatra lasted 33 days: www.bhopal.net/oldsite/longwalktodelhi.html

November 27, 1990: The women’s trade union BGPMSKS, led by Rashida Bee, initiate legal action against their employer, the Government Press and other agencies of the state government in the Administrative Tribunal, Jabalpur.

October 1992: The Permanent Peoples Tribunal [PPT] on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights holds its session in Bhopal (PPT was founded in 1979 as the successor to the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Crimes Against Humanity). Recommends the setting up of an International Medical Commission on Bhopal (IMCB).

April 5, 1993: BGPSSS, BGPMUS and BGIA submitted a petition to Shri Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister, GOI, highlighting five issues of utmost importance which were causing grave concern to the victims of the Bhopal gas leak disaster: (1) payment of interim relief; (2) economic rehabilitation; (3) payment of final compensation; (4) medical relief and research; and (5) prosecution of the guilty.

April 22, 1994: BGPSSS addressed letters to the Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Minister for External Affairs and Minister for Home Affairs, GOI, regarding the inordinate delay in seeking the extradition of Warren Anderson. It was pointed out that a non-bailable warrant of arrest issued by the CJM, Bhopal, had been pending against the accused since 27/3/1992.

April 11, 1995: A mass delegation of Bhopal gas victims goes to Delhi to submit another memorandum to the Prime Minister, Shri Narasimha Rao. The memorandum stated the following: “This is the fifth memorandum to you submitted by the gas affected people in your office. Prior to this, thousands of suffering and helpless gas affected people traveled to Delhi, on dates such as 31.7.1991, 17.11.1991, 24.4.1992, 28.7.1993, etc., to present their memorandum in the hope that necessary and concrete action would be initiated to meliorate their suffering. We deeply regret the fact that not only have you disregarded initiating any action, even a formal acknowledgment of the memorandum was never sent to us. Still, we once again travel to Delhi with a lingering hope that even after a delay of one full decade, meaningful action would be initiated to redress the grievances of lakhs of victims, ending a long phase of injustice.” (This memorandum also did not evoke any response from the Prime Minister.)

August 16, 1996: A delegation of survivors, along with a representatives of central trade unions, women, students and youth organisations and others, meet the Union Minister for External Affairs, and submit a petition urging the Central Government to execute the order of the CJM, Bhopal, dated 27/3/1992, and seek the extradition of Warren Anderson from USA to India to stand trial. The Minister assured the delegation that he would do all he could to expedite the process.

November 28, 1997: BGPSSS, BGIA and BGPMUS again plead before the CJM, Bhopal to direct the CBI and the Government of India to seek extradition of Warren Anderson and authorised representatives of UCC (USA) and UCE (Hong Kong) to face criminal trial in India.

November 1999: Several individual victims of the Bhopal disaster and survivors organizations file a class action suit against Union Carbide and its former CEO, Warren Anderson, in federal court in New York, charging Carbide with violating international human rights law, environmental law, and international criminal law.

February 28, 2001: 300 Bhopal survivors and 100 trade unionists and supporters besiege Dow Chemical’s Indian headquarters in Bombay. Dow’s offices are occupied for more than four hours. The protesters hung banners from the building that read: “Dow: You Now Have Union Carbide’s Blood on Your Hands”” and “Killer Carbide is Now Dow Chemical” and demanded a formal meeting with the Dow leadership in India. A memorandum was handed over demanding that Dow assume the ongoing moral and legal liability for the 1984 disaster. The group also demanded that Dow stop production and marketing of Dursban in India, which had been severely restricted in the U.S. due to public health considerations.

March 2001: Dow Chemical-India files a lawsuit against the survivors for the demonstrations outside its Mumbai office. This is the first of many lawsuits filed by Dow against survivors and activists working for justice in Bhopal. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/actionplaint.html

January 9, 2002: Dow accepts Carbide’s liabilities in the U.S. and settles a Texas asbestos lawsuit originally filed against Union Carbide. Dow’s share price dives 23 percent to close at $26.83 on January 18. The plunge wipes out $7.16 billion in equity and puts Dow shares back where they were in October 2000. But still Dow refuses to take responsibility for UCC’s Indian liabilities.

May 9, 2002: Survivors tour of U.S. International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) and Greenpeace members have an informal meeting with Mr. Michael Parker, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dow Chemical, during a demonstration in front of the Dow Annual General Meeting in Midland, Michigan, U.S. Parker suggests that survivors’ compensation money be used to pay for the clean up of Carbide’s Bhopal factory site.

May 25, 2002: “The Ten Bhopal Principles on Corporate Accountability” launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) prepcom in Bali: www.greenpeaceusa.org/bhopal

June 29, 2002: In response to the CBI’s May 24th, 2002 proposal to lower criminal charges against Warren Anderson from culpable homicide to criminal negligence, representatives of three survivors groups launch an indefinite hunger strike in Delhi (in temperatures up to 47 degrees). A global relay hunger strike also announced.

July 17 – August 15, 2002: Diane Wilson, an Unreasonable Woman, starts a 30 day hunger strike outside a Dow facility in Seadrift, Texas. https://www.bhopal.net/presscoverage/houstonchronicle/ archive/20020812hungerforjustice.html

July 2002: Commenting on the plight of survivors, Dow public affairs spokesperson Kathy Hunt claims: “$500 is plenty good for an Indian.” Survivors facing chronic illnesses due to the gas leak and an environment polluted daily by the abandoned factory have received a maximum of US$500 compensation. This amounts to US$0.07 cents a day to ease a life time of suffering. Dow previously paid out US$10 million to a US family whose child was brain damaged by the Dow pesticide Dursban. Now banned in the US, Dow still markets Dursban as safe in India. https://www.bhopal.net/oldsite/campaigningresources/final-info-releases-jpegs/final-info-releases_01.jpg

July 18, 2002: After the collapse of two of the hunger strikers and the CJM of Bhopal’s postponement of a ruling on the dilution of charges, the Delhi hunger strike ends. In the worldwide relay, over a thousand separate hunger strikers from India, USA, UK, France, Italy, China, South Africa and other countries take part.

August 2000: Greenpeace sets up a computer center outside the Bhopal factory to allow survivors of the disaster to demand justice from Union Carbide. Thousands of survivors send emails to the company, which responded by closing its email server for two days and blocking all future messages on Bhopal.

August 26, 2002: Diane Wilson chains herself to a 70 foot ethylene oxide tower at the Dow plant in Seadrift, Texas and unfurls a banner that reads “Dow, Responsible for Bhopal.” She is charged with criminal trespass.

August 27, 2002: Rashida Bee speaks against corporate ‘greenwash’ at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg.

August 28, 2002: ICJB representatives take action at a polluting Dow facility in South Africa during the Johannesburg Earth Summit.

August 29, 2002: Following a lead from the UK’s Daily Mirror, Greenpeace finds Warren Anderson and visits him at luxury home in New York, U.S: he has been in hiding for over a decade. Greenpeace issues him an arrest warrant.

September 2, 2002: The ICJB, along with the student community, do an action outside Dow India Headquarters in Bombay to coincide with the Ministerial meeting at WSSD.

September 5, 2002: President of India visits Bhopal. In his speech at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital, where he was expected to speak for half an hour, he winds up in 3-4 minutes, saying he does not know enough about BMHT to say anything about their work.

September 12, 2002: Diane Wilson and others sit on hunger strike for justice in Bhopal outside the UN building in NYC, where heads of State of both the USA and India addressed the UN general assembly.

September 13, 2002: Diane Wilson and others protest outside Anderson’s house in Bridgehampton, Long Island.

October 6, 2002: Survivors in Bhopal launch the “Jhaadoo Maaro Dow Ko” campaign. The phrase means “Hit Dow with a broom.” In India, the broom is a powerful symbol. By giving it, survivors are inviting Dow to clean up its toxic mess and promising they will sweep Dow out of India if it does not. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/jhadoomaro.html 

October 18, 2002: School children demonstrate before the Bhopal district court during the hearing on the criminal case. The prosecution CBI tells the court that all paperwork related to Anderson’s extradition is nearly complete. Reporting on the ongoing procedure of “verification” of the merger between Union Carbide and Dow, Indian Central Bureau for Investigation representative, Mr Sahay, states that he has appealed to the Union government to name Dow alongside its criminally absconding subsidiary Union Carbide. Once permission is granted, Dow Chemical will also be an accused in the case. https://www.bhopal.net/chlldrensprotest.html

October 20, 2002: The State of Madhya Pradesh, in which Bhopal is located, announces that it will petition the Indian Supreme Court to compel Dow Chemical to clean up the contaminated soil and ground water at the Union Carbide factory site (http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=11645), thus beginning Dow’s ‘week of horrors’.  www.bhopal.net/oldsite/weekofhorrors.html 

October 21, 2002: In Switzerland, Dow’s European CEO Respini is presented with a broom by Champa Devi and responds by fleeing from the room. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/champa-devi.html 

October 23, 2002: G Krishnaveni and others from ICJB present a broom to Dow CEO Michael Parker, a guest speaker at the Tenth Annual Houston Conservation Leadership Awards luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/maarijhaadosaaleko.html 

October 25, 2002: Mrs. Rashida Bee, Bhopal survivor, and Dr. Qaiser of Sambhavana Clinic, go on a 16-day tour with Greenpeace through France, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy, where they confront executives of Dow Chemical and chemical industry associations in different countries with jhadoos they had carried with them from Bhopal. They also meet with victims of other chemical disasters, Dow workers, members of parliament and other public officials, and make a presentation at the European Social Forum in Naples, Italy. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/rashida-drqaiser.html 

November 9, 2002: Bhopal survivor Champa Devi Shukla takes the Jhadoo Maro campaign to Cuddalore and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/jhadoomaro.html

November 10, 2002: More than 400 pollution-impacted people in Cuddalore, including women wielding brooms, fisherfolk and farmers joined activists from the ICJB demanding justice for the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster. The march was led by veteran Bhopal activist and gas victim, Mrs. Champa Devi Shukla.

November 11, 2002: About 60 people, including villagers, women activists, and workers, marched to the gates of Anabond Essex, a Dow joint venture in Pondicherry, to deliver brooms as a message to Dow.

November 13, 2002: At a solidarity March organised by the Tamilnadu Women’s Collective, 200 broom-wielding women, including 50 in black sarees, demanded justice in Bhopal. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/chennaireport.html

November 14, 2002: Survivors release documents obtained via discovery in the New York class action. Documents show that UCC imposed ‘unproven technology’ in the critical MIC unit in order to cut costs and retain control of their Indian subsidiary. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/unproventechnology.html 

November 18, 2002: About two hundred children took over the heavily-contaminated solar-evaporation ponds. Signposts cautioning people about the toxic contaminants are put up, and a billboard in English, Hindi and Urdu is installed calling upon DOW to clean up the soil and water. Some people have been digging up soil from the area and using it to build their houses. Greenpeace activists from USA, UK, Australia, Netherlands, Thailand, Italy, Belgium, France, Brazil, Norway, and India participated.

November 25, 2002: ICJB and local community members attempt to safely contain the hazardous pesticides in Bhopal. Greenpeace activists trained in hazardous material handling arrive from around the world to lend their expertise. Bhopal police arrived and begin shoving and beating survivors including women. Seventy people are arrested and later charged with criminal trespass. http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/news/details?item_id=72482&campaign_id=3991

November 28, 2002: Dow posts an internal memo on its website stating the following: “But what we cannot and will not do – no matter where Greenpeace takes their protests and how much they seek to undermine Dow’s reputation with the general public – is accept responsibility for the Bhopal accident.” A few days later the author Dow CEO M. Parker is dumped.

December 2, 2002: Bhopal survivors and supporters take samples of contaminated soil and water from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to Dow’s Indian headquarters in Mumbai (Bombay) and hand them over, together with more than 4,000 jhadoos collected in Bhopal, Chennai (Madras) and Trivandrum, Accepting the samples and the brooms on behalf of the company, Finance Director Anand Vohra tells the ICJB delegation that he would personally recommend to his superiors “that action should be taken to alleviate the plight of gas-affected people in Bhopal.”

December 3, 2002: As thousands of survivors solemnly gather in a vigil in Bhopal on the 18th anniversary of the gas disaster, activists in the United States confront Dow CEO Michael Parker at his home in Midland, Michigan, as he entertains guests at a dinner party. Parker meets with the activists, and promises to release the composition of the gas, previously considered by the company as an off-limit trade secret. The information could help physicians who are trying to appropriately treat the 150,000 chronically ill gas-affected Bhopal survivors. The information is never released and soon after Parker is let go.

December 3, 2002: Nine investment firms, which collectively manage a total of $13 billion, send a letter to Dow Chemical CEO Michael Parker and Chairman William Stavropoulos expressing their concern about the company’s continued unwillingness to accept its responsibilities in Bhopal. Citing damage to Dow’s reputation and the undermining of its “commitment to sustainability” the companies wrote “We are also concerned about a potential judgment the company may face in a pending lawsuit in the U.S. over groundwater contamination from improper waste disposal at Union Carbide’s Bhopal facility as well as ongoing litigation in Bhopal, India for compensation, environmental remediation, and medical rehabilitation.” http://www.trilliuminvest.com/pages/news/news_detail.asp?ArticleID=203&status=CurrentIssue&Page=HotNews

December 4, 2002: The internet is abuzz with new proclamations on Bhopal from www.dow-chemical.com, which many believe is the official company site. This internet spoof from the Yes Men gathers over 250,000 hits in the first 48 hours. Due to legal pressure, the site eventually moves to www.dowethics.com

December 13, 2002: Citing weak financial performance, Dow replaces CEO Michael Parker with Board Chair and former CEO William Stavropoulos, who was the mastermind behind ht takeover of Union Carbide. Parker was sacked supposedly only because of the “poor financial performance” or Dow – the downturn in Dow’s financial performance and stock value was parallel with its purchase of Union Carbide.

December 18, 2002: After 16 years of struggle, the Bhopal Labour Court gives a decision that directs the State Government to appoint the women survivors of the BGPMSKS to the permanent posts of Junior Binder with effect from Apr 29, 1998. The Court also directed that the women be paid arrears due to them. The MP government decides to appeal the decision.

December 19, 2002: Dow Chemical-India files a lawsuit in the Mumbai High Court against the survivors, demanding approximately US $10,000 in compensation for “loss of work” as a result of the survivors’ non-violent demonstration outside Dow’s gates. That is $10,000 compensation for a two hour peaceful protest where only one Dow employee briefly ventured out of the Mumbai corporate business park to meet the women protestors.

January 2-4, 2003: Champa Devi Shukla and Satinath Sarangi of the BGIA take part in the Asian Social Forum.

January 3, 2003: The State government files an appeal challenging the Dec 18, 2002 order of the Labour Court that directed that the jobs of gas affected stationery workers be regularized.

January 7, 2003: ICJB activists return four barrels of toxic waste from the Bhopal plant to Dow Chemical. The action takes places at Dow’s second largest facility worldwide, in Terneuzen, the Netherlands; the waste travels to the Netherlands from India on Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise sailing vessel. Twenty-one activists are arrested in the protest, including Rashida Bee and Greenpeace U.S. Executive Director John Passacantando. Dow refers to this action as “regrettable.”

January 16, 2003: As the World Social Forum began in Brazil, Greenpeace activists erected scaffolding in front of Dow Chemical’s Latin American headquarters in Sao Paulo with the message “Bhopal Corporate Crime” painted on the sides in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

January 21, 2003: Greenpeace activists deliver 18 barrels of toxic waste collected from Bhopal, India to Dow Chemical’s European headquarters in Horgen, Switzerland, just as business and political leaders are gathering in Davos for the World Economic Forum.

January 23, 2003: After many months where Bhopal supporters sent over 15,000 emails and thousands more postcards to Dow asking it to clean up Bhopal, Greenpeace organized a call in day to Dow’s ethics line. Hundreds of people called in and Dow’s response was the closure of phone lines to any questions on Bhopal.

January 30, 2003: Greenpeace stages a protest at the Dow Chemical factory in Tsing Yi, Hong Kong.

February 25, 2003: The BGPMSKS  undertake an action in front of the Bhopal labour court protesting the MP government’s decision to appeal the Dec labour court judgment. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/discrim.html  

March 5, 2003: A writ petition is filed on behalf of 36 survivors representing the 36 municipal wards declared to be gas-affected by the GOI. The petition alleges that the fundamental constitutional rights of equality before law and right to life of the survivors have been violated due to non-payment of interest on compensation amount due to the claimants (the survivors). www.bhopal.net/oldsite/Bhopal-comp.doc 

March 10, 2003: To highlight Dow’s attempts to silence survivors protests in India with a US $10,000 damages claim, Greenpeace launches an internet sit-in of Dow’s greenwashing website bhopal.com. True to form Dow refuses to drop the suit against peaceful protestors and instead attempts to evade the internet action with technical tricks. The protest brings down bhopal.com on Wednesday March 12th.

March 11, 2003: The ICJB returns contaminated drinking water from Bhopal, India, to Dow Chemical’s Texas headquarters. ICJB volunteers and Greenpeace activists block the entrances to the Houston Dow Center after delivering 250 gallons of contaminated water taken from wells in Bhopal. Protestors from Houston, Dallas, Austin, Seattle, Winston-Salem, NC, and Washington, D.C. demand that Dow meet with Bhopal survivors to discuss their legitimate grievances. The water, the same water that the people of Bhopal are forced to use everyday, is removed from the scene by a US hazardous materials team. Dow gets people in chemical suits to remove the water but is content to let poor Indians use it everyday. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/toxicwaste1.html 

March 18, 2003: The Michigan Student Assembly at the University of Michigan passes an historic resolution, calling on Dow to clean up Bhopal and calling on the University to refuse all of the company’s donations until it does.  Since then, many others have passed resolutions. City proclamations and resolutions in San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Berkeley and Cambridge have condemned Dow and called on them to address its Bhopal legacy and student organizations stopped Dow contributions on multiple campuses.

April 4, 2003: New York’s state attorney said he plans to sue Dow AgroSciences LLC for allegedly breaching a 1994 agreement against false advertising of a pesticide. The action involves Dow’s widely used pesticide, Dursban. As part of the 1994 agreement, the company was supposed to stop making claims that the product was “safe,” State Attorney Eliot Spitzer said in a statement. http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/20371/story.htm

April 9, 2003: As of the 9th, over 50 British MPs signed an Early Day Motion supporting the struggle for justice in Bhopal and commending the Sambhavna Clinic’s work. http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=933

April 11, 2003: Several members of Justice for Bhopal, a University of Michigan student group and member of the ICJB, quarantine the Dow Laboratory Building, which is largely funded by contributions from the Dow Chemical Company.

April 21, 2003: Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla of the BGPMSKS and Satinath Sarangi of the BGIA arrive in Texas for a 40-day US tour. During their tour, Rashida and Champa visit various communities affected by Dow Chemical, and also engage in strategic discussion with support groups to strengthen their struggle for justice. www.bhopal.net/oldsite/tour03-1.html 

May 1, 2003: Rasheeda, Champa and long-time Bhopal activist Satinath Sarangi along with other Bhopal supporters launch a satyagraha – fast for justice – against Dow Chemical, with a demonstration in New York. A Dow spokesman blithely remarks in response to the hunger strike, “We view the situation as resolved.”

May 8, 2003: At the Dow annual meeting in Midland, Michigan, Rasheeda, Champa and Satinath bring the disaster home to top executives of Dow Chemical. The activists are reluctantly granted a meeting with the Dow CEO. However the now familiar stonewalling and another lecture in corporate hand washing and PR is the only result of the short meeting. William Stavaropolos, Dow CEO, claims in a speech to the shareholders at the meeting that Dow-Carbide no longer faces any criminal cases in India. John Musser, Dow’s public relations spokesperson is later forced to admit that this claim is wrong.

May 12, 2003: ICJB and US supporters demonstrate outside the Indian embassy in Washington D.C, demanding extradition of Anderson and indictment of Dow. The three hunger strikers end their personal fast by calling on supporters and justice campaigners around the world to take over and fast in relays from May until the 19th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster.

July 22, 2003: Eighteen members of US Congress send a letter to Dow Chairman William Stavropoulos demanding that his company assume liability for the wrongdoings of Union Carbide (its 100 percent subsidiary) in Bhopal. https://www.bhopal.net/oldsite/congressletter.pdf, https://www.bhopal.net/oldsite/congressletter.html

February 24, 2004: Delegates from survivors’ groups met with the Governor of Madhya Pradesh and handed him a petition addressed to the Prime Minister. The petition, signed by 1020 children of gas affected people, calls upon the PM to issue directions for supply of piped drinking water to the communities affected by ground water contamination and for disbursal of balance of compensation funds among the victims.

May 2005: On May 18, 2005 several hundred residents of the 18 communities gathered first outside and then inside the Directorate of Bhopal Gas Tragedy demanding clean drinking water. Several peaceful protestors were beaten up with sticks and 7 persons were charged under Sec. 332 and other sections of the IPC.

January 2006: On January 21, 2006 well over a thousand residents of the communities affected by contaminated ground water sat outside the residence of the Minister of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation demanding clean drinking water. 9 persons were charged under Sec. 148 and other sections of the IPC.

2006 Padyatra

April 2006: 52 Bhopalis including survivors of the disaster, residents of the communities affected by contamination and activists marched for 37 days to cover 850 kilometeres from Bhopal to New Delhi. Supply of clean drinking water to the communities affected by ground water contamination was one of the prominent demands of the Padyatra. On April 17, following a seven day fast by Bhopalis, the Prime Minister met with a delegation of Bhopalis and among other assurances promised to ensure funds for clean water supply. As per the direction of the Prime Minister, a Coordination Committee on Bhopal (CCB) with bureaucrats from the central and state governments and representatives of Bhopali organizations was formed. An amount of Rs. 14. 85 Crores was sanctioned by the Prime Minister for supply of clean water to the communities affected by contamination of ground water. In June the amount was transferred to the state government. One of the principal tasks of the CCB was supervising the work of provision of clean drinking water to the 18 communities in the vicinity of the abandoned factory. Officials of the State government assure supply of water by the deadline of September 2008.

2007: Six activists including three residents of communities affected by groundwater contamination fasted for 19 days demanding that the State government provide clean water to residents of communities affected by groundwater contamination. The official representative of the Chief Minister conceded this and other demands. Deadline for completion of work shifted to November 2008.

2008 Padyatra

55 Bhopalis marched on a second Padyatra with essentially the same set of demands including the demand of supply of clean drinking water in the 18 communities. On August 8, the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers conceded the demand for clean drinking water and other.

• In 2008, 55 Bhopalis marched again 500 miles from Bhopal to New Delhi, then held a four month sit in on the streets of Delhi and a hunger strike. As a result of this effort, Bhopal has received major international media attention and daily Indian coverage nearly every day for over four months. The campaign won the promise of a federal Empowered Commission on Bhopal to include survivor groups in decision-making bodies with the power to address the welfare needs of the survivors.
• After this major mobilization, the government finally began construction of a clean water pipeline into the affected communities; construction began in early 2009.

April 18, 2010: Dow Live Earth greenwash event was overrun by protestors in 15 locations in 7 countries. Several sponsors worldwide cancelled events after finding out from Bhopal campaigners, Live Earth’s affiliation with Dow Chemical.

May 2010: Bhopal survivors filed information requests regarding civil Nuclear Liability Bill en masse at the Prime Minister’s Office.

June 2010: Demonstration at the office of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board on toxic injury of six workers at the MP Waste Management Facility at Pithampur near Indore.

June 14, 2010: Bhopal activists in New York City deliver a copy of the arrest Warrant  for Warren Anderson and the Union Carbide Corporation to their lawyers.

June 24, 2010: Bhopal survivors rallied in the streets of Delhi against the proposal by the Group of Ministers on Bhopal. The Union Cabinet approved the measures. The US $280 million (Rs 1265.56 crore) plan does little to bring real justice or help to the thousands still suffering in Bhopal.

July 26, 2010-August 18, 2010: More than 150 Bhopal survivors and people from water-affected areas began an indefinite dharna in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi that lasts through the parliamentary session. The agitation pressures the Central Government to revisit its recent decisions on issues of compensation, health care and rehabilitation, legal action against Union Carbide and Dow Chemical, and hazardous waste clean-up. 64 members of Parliament from 20 different political parties sign a letter in support of Bhopali protestors.

April 28, 2014: Torch rally on International Workers Memorial Day.

August 2014: Work of providing clean water to 10 thousand families through pipelines completed. Organizations fought a long and arduous battle from 2006 for these residents near the abandoned factory who were forced to drink local groundwater contaminated with toxic chemicals.

August 4, 2014: The Bhopal District Court summoned Dow Chemical to make its subsidiary Union Carbide appear in the criminal case in response to application by supporter organization in 2004.

Other ICJB Victories 

• Four of the most prestigious universities in India, the Indian Institutes of Technology, rejected money from Dow and barred Dow from recruiting at over half of the IITs until it faces its Bhopal liabilities. IIT Delhi and Kanpur publicly dropped Dow sponsorship for events.
• 280 Indian legal experts declared that under Indian law, Dow should be held liable for the ongoing contamination in Bhopal. Both the Chemical and Law Ministries of the Indian government are now siding with the Bhopal survivors.
• A campaign was able to push the Indian government to distribute the remaining settlement funds from 1989, which it was refusing to disburse to the 500,000 eligible people. Although a pathetic sum—about $500 per person—the government had tried to divert these remaining funds.

 

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