Sunday, January 3, 2021

Industrial Pollution in Mysuru

 

 

Dalit-Online 

Weekly e news paper 

Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.. Vol.16.....Issue. 86................27/12/2020

 

Will the government hold Big Polluters liable for air pollution, preventable diseases, and untimely deaths?

By Sandeep Pandey 

 

16.7 lakh people died in India in 2019 because of air pollution accounting for 17·8% of the total deaths in the country (source: The Lancet Planetary Health). Air pollution was the 4th leading risk factor for premature death globally, accounting for nearly 12% of all deaths, with more than 6.67 million in 2019 alone, shows the State of Global Air Report 2020. Each of these deaths could have been averted – and every disease caused by air pollution could have been prevented.

Air pollution is the biggest environmental health crisis we face and the WHO has warned repeatedly that air pollution is an invisible killer. The global death rate attributable to air pollution exposure is 86 deaths per 100,000 people. 92% of the global population lives in places where air pollution levels are above the WHO guideline for healthy air. As we write this article from Lucknow, Air Quality Index here is hovering around 465 (WHO limit is 50).

Air pollution is fuelling epidemics. Of all the deaths caused by ischemic heart disease (biggest killer on our planet) 20% are caused by air pollution. Of all the deaths caused by lung cancer (deadliest of all cancers) 19% are due to air pollution. 40% of COPD deaths are because of air pollution. Asthma is another condition people suffer from which is seriously aggravated by air pollution. Also, let us not forget that other major common risk factors- tobacco and alcohol use- for these diseases are also preventable. Should not our governments hold Big Tobacco and Big Alcohol liable for the irreparable loss of human life and suffering it has caused?

More alarmingly, climate change and air pollution are closely interrelated, further escalating the economic costs and health hazards for humankind. Yet it does not seem to be invoking governments to act with urgency. Air pollution warrants much more urgency to save lives and help people breathe life, and not inhale deadly disease-causing polluted air.

MAKE BIG POLLUTERS PAY

The Lancet Planetary Health published earlier this month further states that lost output from premature deaths and morbidity attributable to air pollution accounted for economic losses of US$ 28·8 billion (about INR 2,13,451 crores) in India in 2019 alone. “The states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with the highest economic loss as a percentage of their GDP, had the lowest per-capita GDP among the states of India, indicating that these poor states are most vulnerable to the adverse economic impacts of air pollution” states The Lancet.

With overburdened and appallingly weak health systems in India, and with additional challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, we cannot afford multiple epidemics of preventable diseases. No one should suffer from any disease that is primarily preventable. Likewise, no one should die prematurely from these curable diseases.

The President of India has recently signed an ordinance, ‘The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and adjoining areas, 2020’, with a provision for a fine of INR 1 crore and/or jail for 5 years for those violating air pollution norms. This ordinance has been brought in the background of the problem of stubble burning by farmers. All this while when industrial and vehicular pollution was deteriorating the quality of metropolitan air no government had thought of a strict law to check it. In fact, the history of Pollution Control Boards has been that of compromise on the issue of pollution in exchange for gratification by the Industry. As a proof one has to merely observe the pollution levels in the water bodies situated next to industries or big cities.

We conveniently and squarely blame the poor for pollution but ironically the poor consume and pollute the least. It is us, the privileged people who consume, abuse, and pollute our planet the most. Also, it is us, the privileged people (who live, consume, and pollute in an unsustainable manner) who are getting to decide the ‘sustainable development’ model. So, dumping all blame for air pollution on farmers for stubble-burning is not going to help anyone because we cannot have air purifiers everywhere and we, and our loved ones, need clean air to breathe and live.

Think: Who should be made to pay for these colossal health and economic losses caused by air pollution? Why should not governments recover the economic losses from corporations that have polluted our air? But if we look at past years, governments have diluted, watered down or weakened environmental safeguards for corporations, often in the garb of ‘ease of business’ or the ‘urgency to reboot economy’.

It is the government’s primary responsibility to ensure all citizens breathe clean air. Governments also need to ensure that corporations do not engage in any activity that pollutes our planet and its health, and hold those abusive corporations to account who have harmed our planet or our health in any way. Market-based solutions are not ‘solutions’ but just another way for corporations to fill their coffers. So installing ‘air purifiers’ is not the solution to resolve air pollution but stemming the source(s) of pollution and revamping the development model so that we stop polluting our air and planet, is.

 

 

PIL –  Young Boy  HARSHAL ’s  Death due to Industrial Waste

 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

 CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. OF 2017

 

 IN THE MATTER OF

 

 NAGARAJA . M.R

 editor SOS e Clarion of Dalit & SOS e Voice for Justice

# LIG 2 , No 761 ,, HUDCO First Stage , Laxmikantanagar ,

Hebbal , Mysore – 570017 , Karnataka State

....Petitioner

 

Versus

 

District Pollution Control Board officer , Mysuru

Joint Director , Department of Industries , Mysuru

Joint Director , KIADB , Mysuru

Deputy Commissioner , Mysuru

& Others

 ....Respondents

 

 PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 12 to ARTICLE 35 & ARTICLE 51A OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA FOR ISSUANCE OF A WRIT IN THE NATURE OF MANDAMUS UNDER ARTICLE 32 & ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA.

 

 To ,

Hon'ble The Chief Justice of India and His Lordship's Companion

Justices of the Supreme Court of India.

 

The Humble petition of the   Petitioner above named.

 

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH :

1.     Facts of the case:

Young  boy  HARSHAL  died  by  burn injuries caused by industrial waste in mysuru , Karnataka.

During  planning of  Industrial Areas in Mysuru , waste dumping yards  were NOT  planned  suitably and  NOT  allocated   sufficient lands for the same , keeping in view  industrial requirements 20 years down the line.

It is like building a house without toilet.

It is criminal negligence of duty by KIADB , Industries department officials  who planned and approved  development  of these industrial sites.

It is criminal negligence of duty by  District Industries department   who gave  license  to these industries in the beginning without physically verifying  about  the waste disposal  methods of these industries.

It is criminal negligence of duty by Karnataka state pollution control board officials  who gave No Objection Certificate to these industries in the beginning without physically verifying  about  the waste disposal  methods of these industries.

 It is criminal negligence of duty by Karnataka state pollution control board officials , District Industries department officials  who  are  renewing   License /  No Objection Certificate to these industries  annually ,  without physically verifying  about  the waste disposal  methods of these industries.

It is criminal negligence of duty by Deputy  Commissioner ,  Mysuru District  to  ensure  adherence  to law by  other department officials.

It is criminal negligence of duty , violation of law , CRIMES  by  responsible Executives  / Owners  of the industries who are  dumping these industrial wastes in a  hush hush manner.

 

 

Read  details at following websites :

http://www.newscrunch.in/2017/04/teenager-dies-earth-suddenly-catches-fire-mysore-%E2%80%93-toxic-waste-dumped-says-official-video   ,

http://starofmysore.com/boy-walks-vacant-plot-loose-soil-succumbs-chemical-burns/http://starofmysore.com/boy-walks-vacant-plot-loose-soil-succumbs-chemical-burns/

http://indiablooms.com/ibns_new/video-details/N/92557/watch-soil-catches-fire-due-to-presence-of-rubber-factory-chemical-waste.html  ,

 

2. Question(s) of Law:

Is  commonman’s   life  so  cheap ,  dispensable ?  If so , why cann’t you  dispense off with the lives of  children  of  PCB , KIADB  officials , Industrialists  ? Are not officials  , Industrialists  accountable for this criminal act of negligence ?

 

3. Grounds:

Requests for equitable justice , Prosecution of  guilty officials ,  Responsible Industry owners.

 4. Averment:

Hereby , I do request the honorable supreme court of India to consider this as a PIL for : “writ of Mandamus” and to issue instructions to the concerned public servants in the  present case, to perform their duties  & to  avert further  loss of lives.

 

PRAYER:

In the above premises, it is prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased:

 

1.     To  order  for   fencing of the  whole area , where  industrial  waste is dumped causing  fire.

2.     To   order  for   24 X 7 police vigil  preventing any tress passers.

3.     To   order  for  supreme court monitored  enquiry , as the industrialists  are high & mighty and may manipulate the  samples itself.

4.     To immediately  order district administration  not to   go ahead  with  spraying other chemicals over the dumping yard  to neutralize the waste chemicals.  As it will alter the samples  and  criminals , guilty industrialists  will  escape.

5.     To  order for sample collection by multiple bodies , NGOs  , so that nobody can manipulate the samples.

6.     After  sample analysis by supreme court empanelled experts ,  based on expert advice steps to diffuse  chemical waste must be taken.

7.     To initiate criminal  prosecution against public  officials  who planned , approved these  industrial area without provision for suitable waste dumping yard.

8.     To order for  criminal prosecution against  guilty industrialists.

9.     To order for criminal prosecution against  KSPCB , KIADB , Industries department officials who gave NOC , renewing licenses every year  to these guilty industries.

10.  To order  Government of Karnataka , to pay two  crores compensation to  deceased boy Harsha’s family  immediately  and  to recover  it from the guilty industrialist.

11.  To treat this as a PIL and to issue writ of mandamus to concerned officials in the current case.

 

 

FOR WHICH ACT OF KINDNESS, THE PETITIONER SHALL BE DUTY BOUND, EVER PRAY.

 

Dated :  19.04.2017……… ………………….FILED BY: NAGARAJA.M.R.

 Place :  Mysuru , India…………………….   PETITIONER-IN-PERSON

 

Shocking but true! Mysuru has no place for dumping industrial waste

 

Truth is like a bitter pill. It is tough to swallow. Mysuru, which has bagged the ‘Cleanest city’ award for two consecutive years, does not have an exclusive place for dumping industrial waste. Shocking but it’s true!

The industrial area in the Mysuru district does not have any specific place to dump the industrial waste or hazardous waste. As soon as the news of a 14-year-old boy Harshal, who succumbed with severe burns after stepping in to an open site at Sadanahalli, came to light, localites alleged that the boy may have died when he stepped in to the chemical and hazardous wastes that were dumped illegally in the open place.

City Today went on a reality check to identify where the chemical and industrial wastes are dumped in the city. We found that there is not even a single dumping yard or industrial waste disposal unit across the district.

There are over 11 industrial areas including Hebbal, Metagalli, Koorgalli, Belavadi and nearly 32,000 industries in the district but most of these industries do not have an earmarked place for dumping industrial wastes. Though there is a rule from the KIADB which states that at least 20 acres of land in all industrial area must be reserved for disposal of Hazardous waste, the concerned officials in the district have failed to act.

For more than a decade, Mysore industries Association (MIA) has been battling to bring a dumping yard in the district. In 2007, the MIA requested the KIADB to allot land to set up a waste disposal unit. However, in the year 2009, the state government allotted three acres of land near Koorgalli Industrial area and decided to grant the maintenance responsibility to MIA. But later, the KIADB handed over only part of the land from the allotted property. Realising the fact that the industrial waste can’t be disposed in the partial land, MIA requested the KIADB to at least provide 5 acre of land and the officials agreed orally. But nothing has happened so far.

Speaking to City Today, Secretary of MIA, Suresh Kumar Jain said, “There is no dumping yard or an industrial waste disposal unit in the district. Though we have met and discussed with the concerned officials to sanction a suitable place, the proposal is still in papers and hasn’t come in to force.”

“The issue was brought to the notice during single window meetings but no proper action has taken place till now,” he added.

Last year, Mysuru’s waste management scored over Chandigarh to clinch cleanest city title. It is high time for concerned officials to allot an exclusive place for dumping industrial waste in the district keeping health hazards in mind.

 

Mysuru: Boy's death - did currency note printing chemical wreak havoc?

 

Mysuru, Apr 18: It has been confirmed that waste containing water sensitive chemicals had claimed the life of a boy at Naganalli in the outskirts of the city.

A team of experts, led by the district administration, which collected samples of sand from the area, has sent them for laboratory testing. The team found that the temperature of sand at the spot, which is finer as compared to sand found in other areas in the village, has brown and grey hues. Temperature at the spot stands at 110 degree Celsius, which is quite high. Chairman of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, Laxman, said that four samples from the spot and five from other areas around it have been collected and sent for testing. Geologists and environment pollution officials were among those who visited the area.

 

 

 

Some villagers have complained that discharge of poisonous chemicals by some factories located near this area has caused this catastrophe. Former chief minister of the state, H D Kumaraswamy, relying on certain sources, has placed the blame on the government mint in the city for the tragedy, duly accusing it of disposing off printing chemical waste at the spot. Secretary of Mysore Industries Association, Suresh Kumar Jain, also has supported this notion. He has alleged that the association had complained about the unscientific disposal of printing chemicals by Reserve Bank of India about five years back and that the Reserve Bank neither took steps to correct its mistakes nor did it establish waste processing plant.

Some scientists attribute this phenomenon to the presence of chemicals like Phosphorous and Sodium Hydrate. There have also been chances of graphite and lead having caused the death. The experts hope to receive test reports in about two weeks time. Senior environmental officer in Karnataka State Pollution Control Board here, K M Lingaraju, said that the officials were dumbstruck about the cause of fire in an open field where garbage or chemical were not found to have been strewn around. He also added that the place is far away from proper roads and that no tyre marks were found around the area.

In the meanwhile, district in-charge minister, H C Mahadevappa, announced an ex gratia of two lac rupees to the family of Harshal (14), who died of burns during his visit to the open field for defecation on Sunday. As Manoj (17) suffered burns after sitting on a heap of sand, Harshal, who had accompanied him, had pulled Manoj out. During this effort, Harshal reportedly fell into the heap and suffered severe burns.

Harshal's father, Murthy, who held the factories located around the area responsible for the death of his son, also criticized the officials for not doing their duty of taking steps against the guilty promptly. He wants the officials to at least wake up now to the danger posed by chemical waste and take preventive measures before the waste causes further devastation.

 

 

NSG   Team  in  Belavatha - Radio Active Waste ?

 

http://starofmysore.com/nsg-team-city-probe-belavatha-mystery-fire/  

 

 

Visakhapatnam Accident: Time For Strict Action

 — by E A S Sarma

 

 

 

 

 

To

Shri C K Mishra

Secretary

Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MEFCC)

Govt of India

Dear Shri Mishra,

You are aware of the ghastly gas leak accident that took place at LG Polymers unit near Visakhapatnam in the early hours of 7-5-2020. Several persons in the vicinity of the accident site could not escape to safe places and got asphyxiated to death. Several others had to be hospitalised for serious health problems associated with their lungs, eyes, nose, skin etc. The impact of the toxic gases that got released from the accident site extended upto 5-10km from it. The disease burden caused by the accident will stay on for decades to come. In short, irrespective of the laws, the rules and the procedures in force, such an accident should shake the conscience of the nation and prompt those in authority to introspect and self-correct.

Initial reports suggest that the gases released in the accident predominantly comprise Styrene.

According to a study conducted by IIT, Mumbai (“Vizag gas leak: Styrene levels 2,500 times more on May 8: CSE Analysis” reported at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/tab=wm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgxwHNMTsTdtrpdGPcnSWPrcFQqrM), Styrene levels in the air at several locations around the accident site shot up by more than 2,500 times compared to the safety threshold. If this were to be taken as an accurate estimate, exposure to this of the population residing within 5-10km of the site would have resulted in both short-term and long-term disease burdens. It would result in ailments associated with the lungs, the kidneys, the eyes and so on. Styrene is known to cause cancer. Considering the known toxicity of Styrene, it would also result in stunting the affected children’s mental abilities. All these social costs far outweigh the perceived benefits of giving a red carpet treatment such industrial activity.

Your Ministry cannot afford to assume the role of a passive onlooker in the case of the accident at LG Polymers or any other similar accident. You may have unwittingly or otherwise breached the Constitutional obligation of the State to protect the human rights of the citizens by facilitating ex post facto approvals for such potentially dangerous industrial units to operate.

Article 48A of the Constitution requires your Ministry as well as the State to protect the environment. Article 21 obligates the government to protect the citizen’s right to life. Article 39 directs the government to ensure the citizen’s good health.

In pursuance of Article 48A, your Ministry had brought in the Environment (Protection) Act [EPA] and issued several rules and notifications from time to time. The central theme of this statutory framework is to ensure that no industrial project is undertaken without understanding its adverse impact on the environment, without understanding its implications for the people’s health and without taking into confidence those likely to be affected. That is the rationale underlying the concept of prior Environment Clearance (EC) being obtained by a project proponent. If an industrial project gets implemented without an environmental impact appraisal and without public consultation and if your Ministry becomes a rubber stamp to “regularise” such projects, it will defeat the purpose of Article 48A and EPA.

Over the years, in the absence of a firm commitment to the letter and the spirit of Article 48A, I am afraid that your Ministry has gradually transformed itself from an independent regulatory authority into a an agency that provides a regulatory garb to thousands of hazardous industries and polluting industries that endanger the people’s lives, damage the environment and affect the people’s health.

The LG Polymers accident represents the tip of the iceberg of what is going happen in the case of several thousands of industrial units handling hazardous chemicals, not subject to any worthwhile regulatory scrutiny, beyond public accountability and operating without any meaningful oversight and monitoring.

The notifications issued by your Ministry such as SO 804(E) dated 14-3-2017 and SO 1030(E) dated 8-3-2018 that granted the largesse of ex post facto approvals  “condoned” many errant units that preempted a stringent technical scrutiny, avoided a strict environment impact appraisal procedure and escaped a public consultation process. Had your Ministry respected the letter and the spirit of Article 48A of the Constitution and respected the Precautionary Principle in environmental jurisprudence, ghastly accidents such the one that disrupted the lives of lakhs of people around the industrial unit of LG Polymers would not take place.

We seem to have learnt very little from the Bhopal gas tragedy and I doubt whether we will draw any lessons from the latest Visakhapatnam disaster. In the ultimate analysis, it is the people who are forced to pay the price for the extra-ordinary affection displayed by the rules towards the larger businesses.

A time has come when your Ministry can no longer pretend that the changes being made in the environment impact assessment procedures would subserve the public interest.

I refer to the Draft Notification issued by your Ministry in March, 2020 proposing far reaching “simplifications” and paving the way for ex post facto approvals.

In this connection, I have extracted below an observation made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 1-4-2020 in Civil Appeal No. 1526 of 2016

“The concept of an ex post facto EC is in derogation of the fundamental principles of environmental jurisprudence and is an anathema to the EIA notification dated 27 January 1994. It is, as the judgment in Common Cause holds, detrimental to the environment and could lead to irreparable degradation. The reason why a retrospective EC or an ex post facto clearance is alien to environmental jurisprudence is that before the issuance of an EC, the statutory notification warrants a careful application of mind, besides a study into the likely consequences of a proposed activity on the environment. An EC can be issued only after various stages of the decision-making process have been completed. 

Requirements such as conducting a public hearing, screening, scoping and appraisal are components of the decision-making process which ensure that the likely impacts of the industrial activity or the expansion of an existing industrial activity are considered in the decision-making calculus. Allowing for an ex post facto clearance would essentially condone the operation of industrial activities without the grant of an EC. In the absence of an EC, there would be no conditions that would safeguard the environment. Moreover, if the EC was to be ultimately refused, irreparable harm would have been caused to the environment. In either view of the matter, environment law cannot countenance the notion of an ex post facto clearance. This would be contrary to both the precautionary principle as well as the need for sustainable development “

While an ex post facto approval may enhance the “ease of doing business” as it is fashionable to describe it these days, it is simultaneously encouraging industrial units which are unsafe, which pollute and which damage the people’s heath. I would therefore earnestly request you to revisit the need for issuing the Draft Notification of March, 2020. instead of diluting the environment laws and procedures, in the public interest, it is necessary to strengthen them and introduce a greater sense of public accountability in environmental regulation.

I understand that there are thousands of industrial units which have escaped environmental scrutiny and are awaiting the munificence of your Ministry to “regularise” their dangerous existence. If you grant ex post facto approval for such units, you will only be paving the way for more and more such units to come up, defying any kind of scrutiny and monitoring. Please move away from the repugnant idea of such approvals and introduce professional systems of prior environmental scrutiny.

I would also request your Ministry to identify all such units that handle hazardous substances and all such units that cause heavy pollution and close then down if they have failed to be in strict compliance with the environmental norms. If you take the public into confidence, it will become easy for you in the process of identifying those units because it is the local communities that bear the brunt of pollution and risk.

I hope you will take immediate action on this.

Regards,

Yours sincerely,

E A S Sarma

Former Secretary to GOI

Visakhapatnam

 

Nanjangud turns Kapila toxic

 

Heavy metals from industrial estate pollute Cauvery tributary

The markers of chemical pollution are everywhere in and around Nanjangud, one of the State’s biggest industrial estates. Waterborne disease and “pollution-induced migration” are only some of the documented impacts among communities here.

But toxic effluents from the 532-acre estate — primarily lead from paper mills and also cadmium, chromium, copper and nickel, according recent studies — do not spare the Kapila, a Cauvery tributary on whose banks Nanjangud is situated.

If any further proof is needed, researchers at the University of Mysore have documented the accumulation of trace metals in freshwater fish in the Kapila in Nanjangud area, including zinc, iron, nickel, lead, cadmium and chromium, they report in the Journal of Pharmacy Research.

Not surprisingly, the water source has been classified in ‘C’ category (water needs treatment and disinfection for drinking) by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).

KSPCB officers, however, refute the charges that industrial pollution is a major problem in this town.

 

Edited, printed , published owned by NAGARAJA.M.R. @  # LIG-2   No  761, HUDCO  FIRST  STAGE , OPP WATER WORKS , LAXMIKANTANAGAR , HEBBAL

,MYSURU – 570017  KARNATAKA  INDIA     Cell : 91 8970318202

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Thursday, December 24, 2020

Wistron Crimes

 Dalit-Online 

Weekly e news paper 

Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.. Vol.16.....Issue. 85................20/12/2020

WISTRON  -  WHY MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES ARE INVESTING IN INDIA?

We condemn the brutal massacre by police on farmers – who are going to loss all their lands , sources.of livelihood for the sake of special economic zones , industrial parks , etc in various states of India.

 

In every mega projects undertaken by government , both the state government & central government have functioned  like  REAL ESTATE / COMMISSION  AGENTS for the rich & mighty . the government says it is acquiring lands for development of industries , for public good. In reality there is only good of rich & mighty.

 

For forming S.E.Zs , corporates gets speedy single window approvals from government , lands at concessional rates – lower than market value  , soft loans from Indian banks , tax exemptions for years from the government , dedicated power supply , etc , from the government . these corporates are even given free hand to raise share capital in the Indian market. the government has enacted flexible labour laws specifically for S.E.Zs , they can hire & fire without bothering to pay gratuity , etc and they are exempted from providing P.F / E.S.I  coverage to their employees ie they need not worry about the occupational health hazards of their employees , they can employ them till they are fit & throw them on streets afterwards. These corporates take our own money,  employ our own people , use our own natural resources & finally  take away the net profits to their home countries  – what they give back ? – environmental pollution , tax evasions , low paid occupational hazardous jobs to locals , stock market scams .

 


During Previous License Regime foreign, investment was not directly welcome in India. As people at that time perceived it as "Neo colonisation" & detested it. There were various restrictions on foreign investments. The local industrialists under monopolistic

environment thrived, who were no way better than day light robberers, of course with a few exception. Under the political patronage, the cunning industrialists looted public money, cheated the government of tax, cheated lending banks & cheated the investors

too. They easily flouted labour laws & made labourers to work in inhuman conditions.


During 1990's under the international pressure India signed GATT & slowly started opening it's economy. Now, from 01/01/05 even product patent has come into force in India. Are MNCs bringing high technology intensive industries to India? No, not at all. They are actually denying sophisticated technologies to India. They are only

bringing the FMCG industries - salt, chips, ketch-up, colas, for which India is a huge home market. They are into services like Hotels, medical care, marketing. In other cases, they are just marketing the products manufactured at their bases in U.S.A. or Europe.

 

They are not bringing in new production technologies in the areas like space research, nuclear energy, bio-technology, pharmaceuticals or pollution control, to India. Also, some MNCs are relocating their highly polluting industries to India, as they are subjected to stringent environmental protection standards in their own home countries. Whereas, In India the Government is highly corrupt & can be bought for a price. The attractive points for foreign direct investment (FDI) in India are,


1. There is lack of comprehensive environmental norms.


2. The enforcement of environmental norms is lax.


3. The cost of health coverage, social security net to be provided to the workers exposed to the occupational hazards is less.


4. The cost of compensation to be paid to the persons-who died or suffered damages due to occupational hazards/environmental pollution is meager.


5. The enforcement of labour laws are lax.


6. Public money can be easily raised through lending Banks, primary market within India & the public can be easily cheated.


7. The tax can be evaded through various loopholes like transferring money to holding companies situated at Mauritius or countries which have double taxation avoidance agreement with India.


8. The tax can be evaded, company money can be cheated by lending money to sister / holding concerns at low interest rates or by selling shares, materials to their private companies at low rates or by buying shares, materials from their holding/sister concerns at exhorbitant rates, etc.


9. The corporate governance laws are almost absent in India & it's enforcement nil.


10. Above all, the time can be bought by very slow Indian legal system, if any dispute arise.


11. On top of it, well trained, technically qualified people are available at low rates through contractors.


Just consider the following cases which highlight the apathy, irresponsibility of  government of India and emboldened the cunning, MNCs:-


1. The India which boasts of so much scientific/technological advancements, is till date has been unable to provide potable water to it's people. People of west Bengal , Karnataka , Andrapradesh states are forced to drink Arsenic, Fluoride poisoned water.


2. The people living near the mines of R.E.M.P. in Kerala are suffering due to exposure to the radio active materials, Same is the case with the people of Jadaguda, Jharkhand, living near the U.C.I.L. plant. Both M/S R.E.M.P & M/s U.C.I.L are department of atomic energy enterprises.


3. Few years back, In Mysore railway station containers of radio- active materials were left unattended. The dome of reactor building at construction stage collapsed in nuclear power plant at Kaiga. A fire tragedy occurred in Kakrapar nuclear power plant. In the recent Tsunami waves onslaught, certain important facilities of Koodakulam atomic plant were damaged near Chennai.


4. In 1984, U.S. based MNC union carbide mass murdered nearly 20,000 people, injured lakhs who are still suffering health problems. The polluted poisonous accident site i.e. Union carbide plant in Bhopal is not yet cleared off toxic materials even after 20 years.

This is still further damaging the residents of Bhopal.


5. In the above union carbide disaster, the Government of India didn't present the case properly before supreme courts of India & U.S.A.. As a result the MNC just paid a pittance as compensation. As per that the cost of Indian lives are just a fraction of cost of

American lives. Just imagine if a same disaster occurred in U.S.A. at the plant of a MNC headquartered in India, what would have been the consequence?


6. In India, hazardous chemicals laced with food additives are passed through the drinks, beverages like pepsi, cola, coco cola very easily.


7. The medicines like nimesulide, paracetamol, etc. with hazardous side effects which are banned in U.S.A.& Europe, are easily marketed by the same U.S.& Europe based MNCs in India.


8. In India spurious drugs, medicines, food stuffs are easily marketed.


9. In India, the clinical trials of new medicines under research are done without proper compensation structure to those being tried upon ie. Virtual guinea pigs.


10. In India, the genetically engineered BT crops are being introduced without paying attention to formers, ecology or eco-system.


11. In India, during setting up of large projects, scant attention is paid to environment, eco-system & the displaced persons.


Most of the times, in government projects itself the displaced persons are cheated by the government in numerous ways.


12. In India, various Government as well as private hospitals dumps hospital wastes with deadly viruses in the open, with scant regard to public health.


13. In India, aged ships belonging to foreign countries are breaked down to scrap in ship breaking yards of Gujarath , Maharashtra & AP. Various toxins like the Asbestos, lead, etc & the hazardous, dirty water, Oil inside the ship are drained into Indian seashore. The labourers here are forced to work without any safety gears.


14. When specific cases of human rights violations were brought before the government & Judiciary by us , both of them didn't respond at all.


All the above cases highlight the fact that, government of India & Indian judiciary treats it's citizens lives as cheap, dispensable at will. This is the major attracting force for MNCs to India.

 

Karnataka Labour Dept finds Wistron did not record deduction in pay for workers


 TNM accessed the Labour Department’s inspection report of Wistron’s manufactory in Kolar and found several violations of labour laws.



Contract employees at Wistron’s iPhone manufacturing unit in Karnataka’s Kolar were not given offer letters, employment contracts and were denied salary slips on request, the Karnataka Labour Department has found. “When asked to produce, the (company) did not,” the report says. The inspectors also found that contract employees were not given offer letters, employment contracts and were denied salary slips on request. The report indicates that contracting companies including Quess Corp, Adecco India Ltd and Creative Engineers violated norms related to hiring personnel. However, it does not specify whether the other violations it noted were incurred by Wistron or the contracting companies. 


The Karnataka Labour Department visited the plant on December 12, the day thousands of disgruntled workers vandalised the factory, alleging that their repeated requests to pay deducted wages and overtime amounts were stonewalled. The Labour Department found several violations of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970 and the state government’s rules pertaining to this legislation. The inspection was conducted by Kolar district’s inspectors working in the Labour Department -- Lokesh Kumar and Renuka Prasad. 

Sources with the Labour Department told TNM that a report including the inspection’s findings were sent to the Union Labour Ministry. “We don’t know what action the Union government will want us to take. In such a situation, the contracting companies could be blacklisted,” a senior official with the Labour Department said. 


The Labour Department official also said that its “findings” based on multiple inspections and interactions with company representatives indicate violations by the contracting companies.

What the report states

The report, signed by Rajeshwari, the Labour Officer in Kolar district Labour Office, noted that contractors including Quess Corp Ltd, Adecco India Ltd and Creative Engineers had hired more people without prior approval of the labour department. “Contracting companies Creative Engineers and Quess Corp Ltd, had obtained permission to hire 2,350 and 1,350 employees for Wistron. They hired 2,410 and 1,511 personnel in total and had not obtained permission to hire the additional employees. Adecco India Ltd had obtained permission to hire 3,000 employees but they hired 111 additional personnel without prior approvals,” the report added. 


However, the most important finding was that the workers salaries were deducted, which was in violation of the Contract Employees (Regulation and Abolition) Rules. According to the rules, salaries can be deducted if there is a record of employees taking unpaid leave, or if it is proved that any damages were caused to the company’s infrastructure due to the said employees’ action. “No explanation was given regarding the deduction in pay,” the report noted.

TNM spoke to several employees who stated that every month three or four days’ pay was deducted despite them having worked those days and that this had gone on for over six months. Employees said that despite multiple requests submitted to Wistron’s to the HR Department, no action was taken to rectify the deduction in pay.

An earlier report submitted by the Department of Factories, Boilers and Industrial Safety, had stated that overtime wages for the housekeeping staff were not paid. The report also stated that the company violated section 8 of the Minimum Wages Act where complaints of employees were not officially recorded. 

The report also found that the company had violated norms under the Industrial Employees (Standing Order) Act 1976, where the management’s decisions were not effectively communicated with the employees. However, this report does not specifically state whether these violations were incurred by Wistron specifically or the contracting companies.

What the human resource contracting companies claimed

A source at Quess Corp told TNM on condition of anonymity that Wistron hasn’t been able to meet with the increased workload coming its way, especially after the lockdown ensuing the pandemic. “They went up from 2,000 employees to nearly 10,000. The unprecedented increase in workforce in a rather abnormal pandemic situation impeded their ability to put systems that would have enabled them to discharge their fiduciary responsibilities,” the source said.

He also said that Wistron had failed to maintain a good relationship with its workers. “If there is an issue at the plant, they should have been able to call somebody, there should have been community connect that they generated like someone to mediate between bureaucracy and legal resources. Hence there was a rampage. And that’s where I think the focus should be as you analyse this issue,” the source added.

Industry sources also say that service providers such as Quess Corp, which is a listed company, are expected to follow the same level of governance as a Wistron or Apple is, and as service providers, they will also begin looking at clients keenly and whether or not they want to work with them and under what circumstances.

Responding to TNM, another contracting company, Randstad India said that it strictly abides by the law of the land and that it has a zero-tolerance approach to non-compliance.

“We are working with Wistron Corp to identify the root cause of the problem. As a responsible organization committed to the welfare of our staff, we believe in upholding our values of fair employment practices and pay structure. At this juncture, we are committed to do everything that is necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees deputed to Wistron and will continue to work with the authorities,” Paul Dupuis, MD and CEO, Randstad India said.

Is Wistron accountable?

Employees that TNM spoke to said that when they approached Wistron’s HR Department, they were informed that the company had handed over wages to the contracting companies. When employees approached the contracting companies, they were informed that payments disbursed by Wistron were made and that the contracting companies only disbursed the money received from Wistron, the principal company. 

Speaking to TNM, Professor Matthew Babu, adjunct professor at National Law School India University in Bengaluru and Director of Centre for Labour Studies, said that both the contracting companies and the principal company, in this case Wistron, are accountable to ensure that labour laws are not violated. 

“The principal employer should ensure that the wages are paid properly and it should appoint personnel to monitor whether contracting companies are also following these norms. They can’t escape so easily. First of all they get labour at cheapest price and don’t pay minimum wage and overtime, which is a violation of the Minimum Wages Act,” he said. 

He said that such lack of monitoring would be counterproductive to increasing investment in Karnataka as employers would prefer to work in states where such systems are in place and function properly. “It is the job of the principal company to ensure that all contract employees are registered and should ensure that management’s decisions are communicated properly. This seems like a blame game,” he added. 



CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY IN INDIA


CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY Scandals related to the appalling practices of multinational corporations like Union Carbide (now DOW), Enron, Coke, Cadbury, and

others may have shocked the nation and the world in the recent past, but the media rarely highlights corporate crimes that extend to murders, destroying habitats, threatening indigenous cultures, causing disease, contaminating the planet's food supply, poisoning

our groundwater and even destroying the very air we breathe.


You think this is an exaggeration? Well consider this. In Bhopal, India more than 8,000 people died in the first three days after 40 tonnes of lethal gas spilled out from Union Carbide's pesticide factory in December 1984. People woke in their homes to fits of coughing, their lungs filling with fluid. 520,000 people were exposed to poisonous gases. 150,000 victims are chronically ill, and even now one person dies every two days. Union Carbide merged with Dow Chemical Corporation two years ago and has ceased to exist as an entity while the present owners Dow refuse to accept any pending liabilities in Bhopal including clean-up of the abandoned site.


In Kodaikanal, India, Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of Unilever Plc, an Anglo-Dutch multinational dumped mercury waste from its thermometer factory in the surrounding forests and on an innocent local community. When the scandal was exposed, first the company denied that there was a problem and later fudged facts and figures until the Indian authorities forced them to come clean. Since then Unilever has retrieved and sent back to USA some of the waste for disposal but are shying away from compensating affected workers and further environmental remediation measures.


Monsanto, one of the world's largest pesticide companies, continues to sell its genetically engineered seeds to farmers around the world despite growing evidence of failure of crops like Bt cotton, that has reduced once well-to-do farmers in the developing world to penury and poverty while the threat of contamination of indigenous species by GE

seeds increases everyday.


Bayer AG, a German transnational continues to manufacture and sell phased out pesticides like Methyl Parathion (brand name Folidol/Metacid) in Asia despite an assurance to their European investors and stake holders that they would stop manufacturing these organo-phosphate poisons.


Ship-owning companies (and indeed, their countries) like Bergesen (Norway), and Chandris (Greece) meanwhile, regularly violate international and national laws and dump their hazardous wastes at ship-breaking yards in India, Pakistan, China, Turkey and Bangladesh. The voluntary guidelines issued by International Marine Organisation

are not enough and it is imperative that these guidelines are made mandatory to make the ship-owners liable and responsible.


In the era of globalization, multinational companies increasingly move around assets, products and wastes on a global chessboard to maximize their profits and minimize their costs. These companies are using differences and loopholes in national environmental and health laws for example to export pesticides and destructive technologies to

poorer countries to the detriment of local communities. What international body oversees them, or sets rules for their behaviour, or holds them accountable when they transgress?


It is no longer just the conspiracy theorists who believe our world is increasingly ruled and ruined by large multinational corporations. The World Trade Organisation has supplanted environmental treaties and regulations. Corporations have become accountable only under the rules of a free market, free trade and a free for all on human rights and the environment.


The state of our environment has not improved, in fact it has deteriorated. The gap between the world's rich and poor has widened. Instead of providing developing countries with the tools for sustainable development, corporations have pushed their dirty

technologies and polluting industries on to some of the world's poorest countries.


A recent UN report revealed that Exxon, with $63 billion, is worth more than Peru or New Zealand. General Electric more than Kuwait. Shell is worth more than Morocco or Cuba.


In the past ten years, corporations have not only resisted

environmental challenges, they have lobbied to water down

international treaties and even succeeded in getting countries to

pull out of environmental agreements altogether. They have maintained

their unsustainable practices in all sectors. It is apparent that

more than just voluntary measures are needed to control these

corporations.


A recent report by WWF states that if we continue at current levels

of consumption we will use up all of the Earth's resources within 50

years, and we will need two more planets to meet our resource needs.

We either take urgent action to save the planet, or we get off.

The UN Environmental Programme agrees that "the state of the planet

is getting worse." They say "there is a growing gap between the

efforts of business and industry to reduce their impact on the

environment and the worsening state of the planet."


At the root of our environmental problems are the unsustainable

practices of the corporations that shape our economies. But what is

the good of a short-term healthy economy if we can't drink the water,

eat the foods in the fields or breathe the air?


Current systems of governance in Asia (as elsewhere) are proving to

be deficient against the activities of abusive multinational

corporations. To roll back the excessive powers of corporations and

to pressure governments to check corporate abuse and prosecute

corporate crimes, greater public participation is a must. The Rainbow

Warrior's Corporate Accountability Tour of India is part of a global

movement to change the climate of opinion against abusive

corporations and to turn the tide in favour of fundamental human

rights.


Corporations need to be held accountable for their actions that are

destroying the planet, destroying people's lives around the globe.

There is only one answer. We must stand up to the corporations. Our

governments must agree on international, legally binding rules for

corporate responsibility, accountability and liability: a set of

rules that business must follow, and governments must enforce.

The list of rules is long, but so are the crimes.


The world needs corporations to be held accountable to the following

laws – no matter where they operate in the world. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

is calling upon the Indian Government to endorse the Bhopal

Principles on Corporate Responsibility, which call on Multinational

Corporations to:

• Accept liability for environmental damage and compensate victims of

pollution;

• Accept liability for the damage, no matter when it happens, what

the cause or who in the corporation is responsible;

• Accept responsibility for damage and injury beyond national borders

including accidents in the oceans and atmosphere;

• Ensure that they do not infringe upon basic human rights;

• Disclose all information regarding releases into the environment to

the public;

• Protect human and social rights including the highest standards for

rights to health care and a clean environment;

• Avoid influence over governments, combat bribery and practice

transparency;

• Allow states to maintain their sovereignty over their own food

supply;

• Implement a precautionary principle and take preventative action

before environmental damages or health effects are incurred; and

• Promote and practice clean and sustainable development

 

Editorial : CORPORATE CRIMINALS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ILLS IN INDIA


In India , a small shop owner to big industrialist have mastered the art of TAX EVASION . their teachers - some corrupt tax officials & auditors. The black money thus created

is causing inflation, feeding the mafia , underworld. Some industrialists lobby ( bribe ) with the government & gets favourable laws enacted. This black money is the main source of funds for political parties , religious bodies & terrorist outfits.


The recent raids by C.B.I & KARNATAKA LOKAYUKTHA have proved how the tax officials have become multi-millionaires. The sad part is that some of the police officials who are on deputation to C.B.I & LOKAYUKTHA themselves are utterly corrupt.


This scourge can only be cured by corporate accountability intoto. However , all the industrialists , traders who are demanding for more flexible labour reforms , economic reforms , infrastructure , etc are not at all concerned about their own accountability with respect to tax , environment , other laws. The MNCs coming to India are not coming here for best Indian talents or infrastructure alone. In their own countries they are feeling the

heat of strict environment laws , consumer laws , share holder disclosures , corporate accountability. Some of these MNCs are being kicked out of their countries , by it's own people .These MNCs are aware that in India , by greasing the palms environment laws , labour laws , tax laws , etc everything can be flouted , cases in courts can be dragged on for years . share holder disclosures , corporate transparency is minimum.

 

However when a concerned citizen complains about the crimes of guilty corporates , organizations or corrupt public servants , immediate action is not taken. The file is kept pending for months , years together  , allowing the criminals to manipulate all the evidences , records , ground situations. Finally even if action is taken guilty will be let out due to favorable  evidences , there are chances that the concerned citizen himself is falsely implicated & put behind bars . in all such cases all the involved parties must be subjected to lie detector tests .

 

Bottomline : development is a must , it must be all around . but not at the cost of majority to make a few richer.

 Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.

 

Your’s sincerely,

Nagaraj.M.R.


Edited, printed , published owned by NAGARAJA.M.R. @  # LIG-2   No  761, HUDCO  FIRST  STAGE , OPP WATER WORKS , LAXMIKANTANAGAR , HEBBAL

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