Struggle in Bhopal continues

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha

Children Against Dow-Carbide

Bhopal Group for Information and Action.

13 April 2010

Press Statement

At a Press Conference today, four Bhopal based organizations representing people exposed to Union Carbide’s toxic chemicals and their children announced their indefinite protest in the capital calling for the establishment of an Empowered Commission on Bhopal for long term medical care and rehabilitation of the victims. “Our people will reach Delhi on 15^th and will stay as long as it takes the Prime Minister to fulfill his two year old promise to set up the Empowered Commission,” said Rashida Bee, President of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, who has been awarded Goldman Environmental Prize for her work in Bhopal.

The Bhopalis, including two survivors of the December 1984 disaster and two children exposed to toxic contamination from Union Carbide’s untreated chemical waste, presented a document read out on 29 May, 2008 by the then Minister of State for PMO, Prithviraj Chavan, in which he publicly declared the Government's “in-principle” agreement to set up an Empowered Commission on Bhopal. This was followed by a decision of the Group of Ministers on Bhopal, headed at that time by Arjun Singh, recommending the setting up of the Empowered Commission.

April 17^th marks the fourth anniversary of the Bhopalis' first meeting with Prime Minister Singh, where he assured them that the lingering issues of medical, environmental, economic rehabilitation in Bhopal would be taken care of.

“It wasn’t easy getting to meet the Prime Minister,” said Syed M Irfan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush sangharsh Morcha. “We had to walk 800 kilometers and then we had to do another Bhopal to New Delhi Padyatra in 2008 for the Prime Minister to issue a written promise.” He said that the Empowered Commission is urgently needed to stop the ongoing disasters in Bhopal that are still killing, injuring and maiming the unborn.

“Despite the promises, 20,000 people are still drinking poisoned water; 10,000 gas victims who were promised jobs are jobless; medical treatment for the indigent victims remains elusive; the site and its surroundings are polluted, and the culprit – Dow Chemical – is freely doing business in India,” said Safreen Khan from Children against Dow-Carbide an organization of second generation victims.“What is the worth of the PM's word?” she asks.

According to Rachna Dhingra from the Bhopal group for Information and Action, since the first time that Prime Minister Singh promised action in 2006, nothing has moved in favour of the Bhopalis. Rather, 22 survivors have spent time in high security Tihar jail; 36 people including 12 children have been beaten in the Parliament Street police station; serious charges of assaulting police officers have been filed against a 16-year old Carbide victim and another 75-year old gas victim, and four Chennai-based supporters are facing charges in a Delhi court that could result in a maximum jail term of 5 years. All these people took action to remind the Government of its unkept promises.

Rashida Bee said that they already anticipate violence by Delhi police starting from April 15. She said that they have been told by the Parliament Street police station that out of state protestors, such as those from Bhopal, will not be allowed to camp in Jantar Mantar because of the Commonwealth Games.

“We are beaten and falsely charged just for peacefully reminding the Prime Minister of his unkept promise. If all non-violent and democratic means of articulating our frustration over 25 years of broken promises are prohibited, what does the government expect us to do? Go in to hiding? Take up guns?” asked Rashida Bee.

Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that the Prime Minister’s apathy toward the plight of the Bhopalis is in stark contrast to his commitment to keeping their promise to the US Congress and nuclear equipment suppliers. By actively moving the Nuclear Liability Bill even as Bhopalis are fighting for resolution of Dow Chemical and Union Carbide's liabilities 25 years after the disaster, the Prime Minister is busy indemnifying the likes of GE and Westinghouse Electric from future liabilities that may arise due to nuclear disasters.

Rashida Bee, Champa Devi Shukla Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh

Syed M Irfan, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha

Rachna Dhingra, Satinath Sarangi, Bhopal Group for Information and Action 9582314869

Safreen Khan Children Against Dow Carbide

People are Cretins

Animal refuses to identify himself with humans because from what he has seen in Khaufpur, that the Kampani have made no effort to clean out the factory nor clean up the town nor compensate the people for all that they lost on that night, and also because of the way he has been treated because he does not walk upright like other people, he has decided that people are cretins. Therefore he runs scams on them because " it's all they deserve." However, we know that animal does not hate all humans because he feels that Ma Franci has been like a mother to him and loves her dearly even though her mental stability seems to be leaving her more each day. Thus, I believe it is more that he is so hurt by the conditions in this world, a world that would leave him looking in a way that incited ridicule or pity, that he identifies himself with the world of animals, his dog Jara has been his most loyal companion. However things begin to change for animal as soon as he meets Nisha, who refuses to pity him and welcomes him to her home refusing to buy his whole I'm an Animal bit. This human kindness is striking to animal for rarely does he see it, mostly because he refuses to because he has become so jaded, and so he does not take her offer most likely because he does not believe it is genuine. However, when Nisha comes hunting him down when he doesn't arrive and animal finally admits this time it was impossible for him to say no because "from the first she took me exactly as I was(22)." This is when Animal's transformation begins.

Talk on White Tiger (and conference on Hindi)

Hindi in Texas and Beyond

A symposium in honor of Herman van Olphen
Saturday, April 10, 2010
10 am - 4:30 pm
Meyerson Conference Room, WCH 4.118

In honor of UT Asian Studies professor Herman van Olphen and his long-serving career in Hindi pedagogy, the Hindi Urdu Flagship and the Department of Asian Studies will host a symposium entitled Hindi in Texas and Beyond on Saturday, April 10 in the Meyerson Conference Room,WCH 4.132. This day-long event will feature presentations from both Austin-based and national Hindi scholars. The program will begin at 10 am (with coffee and pastries served at 9:30) and conclude at 4:30pm. All presentations are free and open to the public. A full program is listed below:

9:30am - 10am
Reception with Coffee, Tea and Pastries

10am - 10:45am
Why Meter Matters: Reading 20th Century Hindi Poetry from the Perspective of Metrical Structure
Michael Shapiro, University of Washington

10:45am - 11:30am
Composite Culture and Cosmopolitanism in Ehtesham Manzoor's Sukha Bargad, Arvind Adiga'sWhite Tiger, and Slumdog Millionaire
Kathryn Hansen, University of Texas at Austin

11:30am - 11:45am
Coffee Break

11:45am - 12:30pm
The Rhetorical Energy of Old Hindi Verse Structures
Rupert Snell, University of Texas at Austin

12:30pm - 2:00pm
Lunch Break

2:00pm - 2:45pm
Mahadevi Varma: A Modern Mirabai?
Sarah Green, University of Texas at Austin

2:45pm - 3:30pm
Register and Dialect as Markers of Dalit Consciousness in Contemporary Hindi Fiction
Laura Brueck, University of Colorado

3:30pm - 3:45pm
Coffee Break

3:45pm - 4:30pm
The Language of a Saint: Colloquialisms and Philosophical Concepts
Jishnu Shankar, University of Texas at Austin

How can eyes hear tape recordings?

For the third time in this course we have encountered a novel that is a retelling of a character's life through his own eyes. In Q&A it was Ram having a conversation with a lawyer, in White Tiger it was Balram writing letters to the Premier of China, and in Animal's people it is Animal recording his memories on a tape recorder.
In Animal's people the audience is not a single person, like its two predecessors, it is to a collective audience that he calls "Eyes." I thought this was an interesting choice for the name of the audience since it is through the eyes that readers would encounter his story, but also because one of the main themes in the novel is the way people perceive Animal. Animal is disfigured and disabled because he is forced to walk on all four limbs and because of this he is considered more of an animal than a human, at least at the beginning of the novel.
As the novel continues, though, it is unclear if Animal thinks that people look at him like an animal or if he himself wants people to look at him that way in an effort to gain strength from the fact that he has come to identify himself as an animal. As the novel goes forward it is harder to associate Animal with an actual animal because he is self aware and has very human desires. He is vulgar and rude like a human and even pulls off scams like a human. It is taking this into account that I ask myself: Is Animal associating himself with an animal in efforts to take away the responsibility of his actions and therefore shift the Eyes from his internal motives to his superficial appearance? And in doing so does the message in this novel that having a disability makes people less than human in hopes to bring forth the humanist aspects of poverty in the process?

locus of value-what is inherently human?

Though I am not far along in the novel, our class discussion today shed light on what is going to come. The first passage, end of tape 1, Animal shouts "no one is as happy as they have a right to be." I think what is intended by this, has little (in one sense) to do with political rights as such, but is an inquiry into human nature. That we have an a priori right to happiness, the pursuit of our liberty and fulfillment as beings, and that because of what we have created, our laws redefining what is human (who to protect/why...our long brutal history) in the socially constructed sense, still do not provide for this innate right of realization. Beauty and functionality have also already been introduced into this, and reminded of the Platonic ideal and how we judge what is not beautiful or exemplary of perfection so cruelly, even as Animal judges himself as well as internalizes society's mistreatment/ostracization of him. We are always in conflict with an idea of that which is inherently good must reflect this, in some natural way, an upright, beautiful, strong exterior, manifesting an inner and outer harmony, that seldom correlates in reality with such simplistic ease.

Maneck-The End

I did not consider the last scene in A Fine Balance to be a positive or hopeful gathering. If anything, Dina’s return to her apartment and underground association with Om and Ishvar emphasized Maneck’s isolation and ultimate removal from the events. As a reader, I related most to Maneck’s middle-class, neutral (almost mute) tendencies. He entered the city with his parent’s guidance to study hard and remain true to an upbringing that taught him to accept everyone. In college, he became fast friends with Ashvar but never embraced either side (bully or activist) of the youth political movement. In Dina’s apartment, he was open in his friendships with Om and Ishvar while respectful to Dina. But his convictions remained tongue-tied outside of the apartment. At Nusswan’s he could only prompt the Nusswan’s rantings of eliminating the poverty problem and remained mute in developing a witty retort to Nusswan’s use of democratic eggs. Maneck continues to remain mute and increasingly depressed throughout the story. In fact, it’s a little odd to think Ishvar and Om are happier and more accepting of the constant setbacks; even Om lost a lot of his initial anger half-way through the book while Maneck continued to slide.
Maneck was the romantic, ideal character. By the end, his hopes and expectations (like mine as a reader) simply did not belong. His experiences in the city ruined his return home; life was no longer simple. And meeting Mr. Valmik again sealed Maneck’s fate for me. Once again, Valmik had adapted to the persuasive powers. He had moved from law, to publication, to politics, to religion. In each endeavor, Valmik’s “voice” was renewed. In contrast, Maneck’s ideals remained mute. The final scene after/during Maneck’s suicide was a continuation of the struggle Maneck never fully embraced.

Dina Dalali

Mistry develops a great deal of back-story in A Fine Balance but the story’s representation of poverty is an association with ignorance, disease, laziness, and criminal behavior; progress is inevitably followed by the encroachment of poverty. Dina Dalali is the most developed character to represent this mind-set. Her efforts to maintain her independence essentially force her to invite Om and Ishvar into her home. The majority of the first half is Dina equating caste prejudice against the impoverished untouchable with the stain of filth and deviant behavior. She locks them in when she leaves, sets aside an entire set of dishes for their personal use, chastises Maneck to maintain distance, and is always aware of their odor, which further emphasizes their nasty habits—smoking bedis and the urine smell in the bathroom reveals the poor diet. When explaining her actions to Maneck, she admits her private fear that they will quit or take her contracts. These fears are the underlying motives for her to treating them harshly and with suspicion.
Dina’s prejudice and underlying fears recalls the justification of civilians during the Holocaust in Germany and Poland. Without Maneck’s presence, Dina would be more like the rent collector, Ibrahim. She would have continued to act and conform to the current political climate in order to protect her own interests.