I have, for the past few years, been reading about poisoning and survival.

It started with a news article, I read about a farmer attempting suicide by drinking pesticide. He owed some money to a moneylender! The story is old and dated, it is also a story oft repeated. So I will not go into the specifications. This post is not about the debt cycle of the poor and impoverished that leads them to poison and suicide. No this is different kind of poisoning I talk about. Industrial oisoning ! a lethal killer, a painful death and in many cases a very painful living! "y awareness and attempts to understand poison started when I was # years old. I remember the incident so well cause my aunty was in $hopal then. She was a teaching in a school in $hopal. "y family called her and then an%iously awaited her return to safe grounds. This was in &ecember '(#). The *nion +arbide factory spewed venom into the air and the misery unfolded. The tragedy is well documented, official figures ,uote that about -... people died and unofficially about '/... people died that night and several thousands still suffer and will be born suffering. The ,uestion of why it took nearly two decade and thousands of deaths before the 0overnment took any concrete action in favour of the suffering victims has never been discussed. This incident triggered of my reading about industrial poisoning and its prevalence in India. +hemical factories in Nandesari industrial 1rea, the chromite mines in Sukhinda 2alley which is predominantly mined by the prestigious Tata 0roup, Tata +hemicals3 soda ash factory in "ithapur, 4allis India3s to%ic waste dump to name a few in North India etc. 1nd in south India the list is e,ually unending pharma companies3 letting to%ic waste in the Nakkavagu stream in Hyderabad, "an5ira 4iver and Ni6am Sagar contamination by pollutants from the 0uddapotaram!$olaram! atancheru industrial a%is, 7ndosulfan poisoning from spraying the cashew plantation in 8erala. The list is so long and unending. It is a given fact that the marginalised in the community take the brunt of the poisoning. 7ven so, the full e%tent of the betrayal of the underprivileged in our ,uest for development has yet to be appreciated. The thirst for growth and profit has led our country down the garden path of industriali6ation. It is pointless to discuss the pros and cons of Industrialisation and the resultant globalisation. 4ailroads were not built for the benefit of the society9 it was built to transport raw materials for development of, initially, the $ritish ra5 then, for the benefits of the corporates. $ut the railroads now serve as lifeline to the teeming population in India. 0lobalisation has its benefits as the learned economists say and it has led to greater opportunities for many million people. However, development should be sustainable !sustainable both in terms of technology and inclusiveness. India has /. odd billionaires in country of about a billion. 1 greater portion of these billionaires have accumulated their wealth poisoning entire communities and future generations and this may not be the best way forward to developing an inclusive society.

lease note that I am not building a case for protectionism : what I advocate is the right for healthy living of one and all in the society. Hence it is e%tremely important to address the effects of Industrial poisoning. ;ollowing the < olluter pays principle= many of these issues can be addressed. It does not serve well for the society if the government works hand!in!hand with the corporates to write!off the loss of lives as collateral damage of development. +S4 is the <in!vogue3 acronym for corporates. +S4 is not 5ust about adopting a school> village. It is about being responsible to the society one e%ists in. +orporates need to wake up to this fact. "y astonishment also stems from our collective ignorance or indifference to the incidents and the suffering! ?es we see occassional reports on marches by the victims, some do! good activists and few environmentalists. $ut this barely makes an impact on us and the media sensationalises it to an e%tent that the feeling of disconnect is intensified. @e make indignant noises and write <letters to the editor3 and then the issue is forgotten until the ne%t time. The poisoning continues and in India it is the survivor who pays : pays because of ill health, pays the doctors, pays for the medicines, pays with his or her life.