Monday 3 December, 2007

The Toxic Legacy: No More Bhopals!

23 Years ago, this day, in the early hours (perhaps the same time), when India was sleeping, the worst industrial tragedy in human history, was slowly unfolding its toxic hood over thousands of people in the city of Bhopal. I still remember the newspaper story the next day, a big heading laid in black background. I felt sad, but never understood the gravity of the accident then. There were no discussions about it in the school, and it was 'just another accident' for us.

Years later, on the 15th anniversary of the accident, there were widespread campaigns and through my friends, I learnt more about the tragedy. The injustice to the Bhopal victims and the survivors was so shameful that the protests were widely noticed worldwide. No one can forget the photo of the baby, and the story of Sunil Kumar Varma. I was attempting translation of a few articles on the campaign for the NGO thanal. The campaign was based on the slogan "No more Bhopals". It was a revelation for me. I read many reports, most of them were convincing scientific reports, which clearly showed the thousands of Bhopals happening everyday around us. Industrial pollution and pollution due to pesticides are killing thousands, if not millions of people every year. Eloor, the town near the Periyar river in Keralam is one of such places, which is so heavily polluted that Greenpeace has declared it as one of the world's toxic hot-spots. The village Pedre in Kasargod, is another place where the deadly pesticide Endosulfan has killed hundreds of people.

It is disheartening to see that the toxic legacy still continues in various forms, and the shameful politics and businesses have given no relief to the suffering people and environment. The governments are more inclined to corporates and their rich owners when it comes to compensations and stricter law enforcements.

We are made to believe that Pesticides and deadly chemicals are integral part of our lives and that we cannot live without them. It is all the play of a powerful industrial lobby who cares for dollars and rupees more than life. Among all these political and business propaganda, we, as human beings, have to realise that we are not even fighting a battle for our future generations. No one would love to watch the face of her/his baby on that poster next time. But, the toxic tragedies happening around us should at least force us to that dreadful imagination. Only then we would start reacting.

Bhopal was an outburst, of an irresponsible business greed, a toxic volcano. But the Bhopals around us are slowly happening, perhaps without our knowledge.

This day, we have to realise that a Bhopal is happening slowly in our neighbourhood and that we have to stop it!

It may be the apparently simple, but stupid act of burning plastics in your backyard, or looking down at a protest against an incinerator in your town, or spraying pesticides on a rose in your garden, that is going to add up to the tragedy later.

So, act now. Discuss, and act. Adopt sustainable ways of life. For most Indians, especially those have a village background, it is not a formidable task. You just have to "remember" your old ways of doing things.

Please convey the message to your friends, and write another blog post, a letter to the newspaper, and educate people.

No more Bhopals here, or any where in the Earth.

Watch a music video on "No more Bhopals" here.

Watch a short video on Landfills here.