HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Crusading for Justice in Campaign with AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Co-Ordinator : NAGARAJ. M. R. Total Pages : 4 15th January 2005

WHY MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES ARE INVESTING IN INDIA?

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 HRW, 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.

BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY 1984 -Bhopal, India

At the first instance the Government of India failed to ensure that
Union carbide India Limited (U.C.I.L) has installed proper safety
measures and fully implemented it in practice, at it's plant in
Bhopal. The Government of Madhyapradesh through it's labour
department, factory inspectorate & pollution control board failed to
enforce safety practices & environmental protection. In turn, the
U.C.I.L didn't install in full, the safety measures being followed by
it's parent company union carbide corporation (U.C.C) at it's
Various plants in the U.S.A. The U.C.I.L. didn't give community
training to residents of nearby localities, to cope up with
emergencies ie. Industrial accidents. U.C.I.L gave a go - by to
safety practices, as it treated Indian lives as cheap. The
government of Madhyapradesh instead of shifting slum dwellers around
U.C.I.L, to other safe place, gave them legal title deeds just months
before the tragedy in 1984.

Now, refer the following:-

1. After the accident at it's U.C.I.L. plant at Bhopal, India in
1984, when the U.C.C. Chairman/C.E.O. came over to Bhopal from U.S.A
to visit the accident site, local police arrested him on the charges
of manslaughter. However, the Government of India got him released.
2. In 1985, Government of India enacted "Bhopal claims Act" took-
away the right of appeal of all the Gas tragedy victims & declared
itself as the sole representative of all victims. This said act
itself is violative of victim's fundamental & human rights. The
victims didn't choose Government of India as it's representative
under will, agreement, trust or pleasure.
3. The paradox of this "Bhopal claims Act" is that, Government
of India which is also a party to the crime, tragedy, itself is the
appellant. The appellant (Petitioner),defendant are Government of
India, Prosecution by Government of India & Judged by Government of
India.
4. In 1989, when an appeal about interim compensation to be paid
by the U.C.I.L to all the victims was being heard in the apex court,
the supreme court of India without giving a chance to the victims
to make their point, without consulting them, without making a proper
assessment of damages/losses, gave an arbitrary figure as verdict &
dropped all civil, criminal proceedings against U.C.C.&U.C.I.L
5. In the same year 1989, the Government of India without
consulting the victims of disaster, without making proper assessment
of damages/ losses, negotiated a settlement with the U.C.C. and in
turn gave full legal immunity to U.C.C.& U.C.I.L from civil &
Criminal proceedings
6. Even the Government of India didn't present the case of
victim's-gas tragedy victims, properly before the U.S.courts, where
the U.C.C is based.
All these premeditated acts only benefited the criminals- U.C.C&UCIL.
Are not the supreme court of India & Government of India, here to
safeguard Indians and to safeguard Justice?

After all these crimes, the Government of India failed to distribute
compensation in time to victims. It has failed even to provide safe
drinking water to the residents near the accident site, It has
failed to provide comprehensive medical care to the victims, till
date . It has even failed to get the accident site cleared off toxic
wastes either by the culprit management or by it self, that too after
20 years. The very presence of these toxic wastes since 20 years is
further contaminating, polluting the environment and taking toll of
more victims.

Particularly in the case of "Bhopal Gas Tragedy" the supreme court of
India & Government of India are deadlier criminals than U.C.I.L&U.C.C.

Just consider a case here, Just a few years back an U.S.based M.N.C
ENRON set-up a power project in Maharashtra, India through it's
subsidiary. When Maharashtra state Electricity Board failed to lift
power from Enron& pay them monthly guaranteed revenue, Enron
threatened to invoke, open the "Eschrew Clause" with the Government
of India & to approach international arbiter U.K. Government of India
has stood as conter-guarantee in this case. Finally the Government
paid, of course subsequently the parent ENRON collapsed due to other
reasons. If in this case if Government of India failed to pay-up as
a counter guarantee & refused to comply with the award of
International arbiter, definitely Government of U.S.A. would have
stepped into the scene to protect it's MNC. Hypothetically, In the
same vein if Enron has caused damages to Indians either through
negligence of safe practices or industrial accidents or bank frauds
amounting over and above it's Capital base & insurance cover, then
it would have been the duty of parent Enron & Government of U.S.A.
to step in & pay-up.

In the same way, the U.C.I.L has caused massive damages to Indians &
refusing to pay commensurate to damages. Dow chemicals which took-
over U.C.C. is also refusing to pay. DOW chemicals which is the new
owner of U.C.C. naturally inherits both profits, credits lent &
liabilities to pay of U.C.C. Still it is refusing to pay. Now it is
the turn of Government of U.S.A. to cough-up the sum.

Nowadays, it has become routine for central & State ministers to go-
on foreign jaunts, to globe -trott inviting F.D.I/ M.N.Cs to India.
They do sign numerous agreements, only favouring MNC. When tragedies
occur or when they cheat Indian banks/ investors, it is Indians who
suffer. The ministers & bureaucrats thinks themselves as wizards and
enters into agreements with MNCs, industrialists in a hush-hush
manner, with vast scope for possible corruption. Is it not the duty
of government to be transparent ?
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