EDITORIALS

The womens movement has for decades targeted certain institutions of and behaviour within the family such as dowry and domestic violence. But it is now time to start questioning the very structure of the Indian family the monogamous, patrilineal, patronymic, and patrilocal family which has been normalised by law. This is a daunting task, not just because it will undermine the entire structure of social, economic and political power in contemporary India,

but also because the Indian family provides, despite all its problems, the closest of emotional ties for individuals. Questioning the family involves questioning ones parents, ones siblings and children; it involves questioning unfreedoms which appear alongside intense love and affection. But unless our present family form is critiqued and transformed, can we really imagine a life free from coercion and violence, whether sexual or otherwise?

Story without an End

he Supreme Court has called it the worst stigma on the entire nation. It was referring to the fact that 28 years after the Bhopal gas disaster, where deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) from the Union Carbide plant killed thousands on one night and many more in subsequent years, the survivors continue to be slowly poisoned. Till today, there is no closure to the tragedy that unfolded that night. In addition to the many who continue to suffer from ailments caused by exposure to the toxic gas, many more are now suffering the consequences of ingesting poisons from the contaminated waste that is still lying in the abandoned plant. Court cases and continuous campaigns notwithstanding, neither the state government of Madhya Pradesh nor consecutive governments at the centre have dealt with this tragedy with the urgency that is needed. With the passage of each year, and the marking of another anniversary of the Bhopal tragedy, there is little progress towards justice for the victims or an end to their exposure to toxins. There are several parts of the Bhopal tragedy that remain unresolved. Perhaps the most crucial, in terms of impact on the daily lives of people, is the neglect by the state and central governments in dealing with the poisonous waste in the defunct plant. Last year, as a result of orders from the Supreme Court that action must be taken, it appeared as if a solution was in sight. A German company, Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) agreed to lift 350 metric tonnes of waste from the Bhopal plant and incinerate it. But the deal fell through, partly due to opposition from within Germany where the consequences of incinerating such waste are well known. As a result, even as the Bhopal victims marked the 28th anniversary in December last year, the toxic pile remained where it was with no solution in sight. An illustration of the indifference of the state and the central governments to the toxic crisis in Bhopal is the lackadaisical manner in which the testing of groundwater has been done. The survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy have been pointing out for years that the poisons from the waste in the plant have been leaching into the groundwater. In 2009, the Centre for Science and Environment conducted a survey conrming this. Yet, both the central and the state pollution boards refused to accept these ndings claiming that the clay layer running under the plant prevented the poisons from leaching into the underground

water aquifers. Finally, in September last year, the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research conrmed that the groundwater was contaminated with high levels of nitrates, lead and nickel and that this had spread over 18 colonies in the area. Why did it take so long to conrm something as basic as this? Surely it did not require some special or high level of expertise to conduct the basic soil and water tests. It is unconscionable that people who survived the lethal MIC have been forced to live next to a toxic pile and survive on contaminated water. Earlier this month, the issue came up again in the Supreme Court wherein it ordered that a trial incineration of some of the toxic waste be done at the Pithampur facility in Madhya Pradesh. The state government had resisted using this plant for dealing with the waste arguing that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had not certied the plants ability to handle the waste. It is well known that even the most efcient plant cannot prevent some amount of toxic organochlorines from being released into the atmosphere when this type of waste is incinerated. This partly explains why the German company pulled out. And the Pithampur facility would probably not qualify as the most efcient waste treatment plant in the world by a long measure. Yet, what stopped the Madhya Pradesh government from conducting a trial run, as suggested by the Court, earlier? The apex court has concluded that the tussle over where the waste should be disposed of has been reduced into a matter of political battle because of two different political parties at the centre and in Madhya Pradesh. And it is probably right in concluding this. If an illustration was needed of how politics overrides basic humanity, this surely must be one. At stake is the health of thousands of people who have suffered for almost three decades. After the 4th March order by the Supreme Court, there is now some hope that 10 tonnes of similar waste from the Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL) plant in Kochi will be sent to Pithampur for a trial run before the matter comes up again for hearing in the Supreme Court on 6 May. But even if this happens, it is only the rst step. Given the way this pile of poisons has been tossed around, there are bound to be other hurdles before it is nally cleared. Tragically, the Bhopal gas story remains a saga without an end because the people who could have done something have simply stopped caring.
march 23, 2013 vol xlviII no 12
EPW Economic & Political Weekly