Stern reply. Good that Sashi Tharoor gets a proper internship before indulging in kerala polity.
Though I cannot share the excitement for model kerala in this response. . On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 5:26 PM, Venugopalan K M <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: S Faizi [mailto:[email protected]] > > Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 10:13 AM > To: '[email protected]' > Subject: Coca Cola/Plachimada: An open rejoinder to Mr Shashi Tharoor > > From: S.Faizi, R2 Saundarya Apartments, Nandavanam, Thiruvananthapuram, > [email protected] (Environmental Expert Member: Kerala > Groundwater Authority; Chairman: Indian Biodiversity Forum) > > Mr.Shashi Tharoor, Chairman, Afras Ventures, 230 Park Avenue, Suite 2525, > New York, NY 10169 > > > Dear Mr Tharoor, > > I have read with interest your response to the Plachimada Struggle > Solidarity Committee’s criticism of your being in a PR project of the Coca > Cola company in India, in Hindu and the full text on a web site that carries > your PR material. I do not have a grain of opposition to your being in the > cola PR outfit, for it is natural for people like to you to be in places > like that. However, I am writing this public response to you in order to > address the misinformation contained in your letter, outdoing even the PR > staff of the company, and the unwarranted sweeping remarks you have made on > Kerala development. > > The High Court Division Bench verdict in favour of the company that you > have referred to was made subsequent to a single bench verdict against the > company. And the Division Bench verdict is being challenged in the Supreme > Court by the Perumatti Panchayat and by the people’s groups agitating > against the company. The CWRDM-lead report was flawed in many respects, as > is being argued in the SC, which is also an issue of concern for CWRDM > scientists as the institution has suffered an erosion of credibility. The > very assumption of the report, in estimating the total groundwater > availability in Chitoor block, that 20 per cent of the rainfall can be > recharged is flawed as the Central Groundwater Board’s (CGWB) assessment in > 2003 had put the recharge in areas such as Chitoor at 5-8 per cent. While > the committee report put the annual recharge in the block at 74.1 million > cubic meters (mcm), based on the CGWB’s scientific estimation of recharge > rate it is only between 16.6 to 33.2 mcms. The report also suppresses the > domestic and agricultural water needs. The central question in the High > Court case was not as much about pollution and depletion of water resources, > land pollution by heavy metals, or the right to life provision of the > Constitution, as about the power of the local panchayat to ask for the > closure of the factory. The Groundwater Dept, in a report on the groundwater > of Palakkad dist prepared in 2006, presented an alarming picture of the > state of groundwater in Chitoor block. > > The legal status of groundwater has rightly become that of a public > resource with the enactment of the Kerala Groundwater Act which came into > force in 2003. However, this law (as well as several other points from the > environmental jurisprudence) was not considered in the High Court case. > Groundwater was considered as a private resource, while the said law asserts > it as a public resource over which the appropriate agencies of the State > have control in public interest. And this change in the legal status of > groundwater is also going to be examined by the apex court. > > You attempt to deny the toxic sludge. However, the Supreme Court Monitoring > Committee (SCMC), in its report following its site visit in August 2004, had > determined the presence of heavy metals (cadmium and lead) in the sludge, > and this was distributed by the cunning company to the unsuspecting farmers > as ‘fertiliser’. And the State Pollution Control Board had directed the > company to cease operations. The pollution of the well waters around the > factory was reported by independent labs and the SPCB also confirmed it by > asking the people not to use the water of the panchayat well it had tested. > > I visited the area two weeks ago as a member of the expert committee > attached to the State SC/ST Commission and found the situation of the local > people, ST/SC in particular, extremely worrying- there is hardly any water > in the wells and where it is present it is not usable. Pollution of drinking > water is a crime under the SC/ST (Atrocities) Act. On 14-9-2004 the company > agreed to provide piped water to the residents of the area and the KPCB had > constituted a committee to oversee this activitiy. This was upon the > instruction of the SCMC, obviously as a compensation for the water crisis > caused by the company and it was not contingent upon the functioning of the > factory. The company reneged on this agreement too. > > Polluter Pays Principle has become an integral part of our jurisprudence. > The Rio Declaration (principle 16) upholds this as well as the liability and > redress provision of the Biodiversity Convention (I had been a negotiator in > the formulation of both), among other multilateral soft laws and treaties. > And this is squarely applicable in the case of Coca Cola at Plachimada. This > was why the Kerala Goundwater Authority, after study by a subcommittee, > recommended to the govt at its 13th meeting in Oct 2008 that compensation > should be obtained from the company, on behalf of the people, for the > pollution and groundwater depletion it has caused. It also recommended to > make a comprehensive, multidisciplinary assessment of the damage caused by > the company to the environment, human health and agriculture. Bringing an > offender to justice is in the best common interest of business lest the law > abiding competitors are left at a disadvantage. > > Your reference to the Global Compact was interesting. But you have > carefully withheld the information from your readers that this was a project > that was fiercely opposed by the civil society organizations. It was not a > legitimate UN activity, negotiated and agreed by a policy setting body such > as the GA. It was part of a series of initiatives to diminish the importance > of the need for corporate bodies complying with the domestic laws of the > countries, by introducing and promoting a voluntary code of conduct. It was > also part of the move to whittle away the powers of multilateral bodies such > as UNCTAD, supported by the developing countries. As a corporate boss you > will be proud to have promoted the Global Compact, but its real twin role as > a greenwash and as a means to belittle the importance of legal compliance is > obvious to the public. Corporate responsibility is a crooked term, what the > citizens expect from the corporates is corporate accountability to the laws > of the country. If Coca Cola, for example, is willing to comply with the > laws of the country, pay for the public resources it has used at the market > rate and pay compensation for the damages it has caused that will more than > suffice, we don’t need the Cola to take any responsibility for our > development. > > As for your remarks on Kerala’s development scene, it was certainly > uncalled for. Kerala is one of the most globalised societies in the world, > and we were at the centre of open global trade until 500 years ago when the > Europeans came as savage invaders displacing the Arab traders. Your > accusations of Kerala as ‘over-politicised’ and this as a reason for an > imaginary discouragement of investment in the state are amusing right wing > cliché that fit very well with the intellectual immaturity that > characterizes your writings. It is an insult to India’s unity that you are > ashamed that Keralites work in other parts of the India. It is diametrically > opposed to the spirit of Kerala’s globalism that you are ashamed of our > people working in the Gulf and other countries. But you are saying this > sitting in an American city and heading a business firm in Gulf. And you > claim to be a Keralite when your web site proudly announces your fluency in > English and French but does not even mention Malayalam though our language > and its literature has a longer history than English. But such > contradictions are typical of an intellectual simpleton’s writings. The > Kerala model of development is an unavoidable term in the international > development discourse, not the least the UN’s, but you are blissfully > uninformed even about this. In child mortality, for example, we fare better > than the US city you live in. Empowerment thru political conscientisation is > at the core of the relatively high development indices we have achieved. > Your understanding of India, as seen in your writings, is no deeper than a > western tourist’s. > > Let me refer to just a couple of such writings. In one of your articles you > have chauvinistically chided Indian women for giving up sari for western > dress. Even such chauvinistic opinions I have no problem in tolerating but > the fun is when you see the photo of the author of the silly article dressed > in western suit and neck tie totally alien to traditional male attire! And > in a subsequent article you narrated an anecdote where your Danish boss in > the UN abused the Indian kurta you wore as a surgeon’s coat and that made > you resolve not to wear the traditional Indian dress any more. As a > committed supporter of the UN cause and as a some times participant in UN > events, I take offence in the incident you narrated and your acceptance of > the same. As a multilateral body the UN respects the multiple cultures, and > if someone derogatively talked about a country’s traditional dress he should > not have been on the UN staff any longer, if someone had set a norm like > that it should have been brought to the attention of the concerned decision > making body. UN events indeed are also the occasion you find the most > fabulous traditional dress of women and men from west African nations, the > various Arab traditional dresses from Morocco to Yemen, the elegant > sheravni, sari and churidar from south Asia, and so on. I myself presided > over a youth conference organized by Unesco/UNEP in Moscow in 1987 (part of > Tbilisi+10) wearing a white cotton kurta/pyjama, and nobody cared about what > I wore (I wouldn’t have allowed it either). And your sectarian mindset > blamed the Punjabis for giving masculine names for their daughters, > forgetting that what you have done with your own name isn’t anything > different. Sasi is how the masculine name is spelt in Kerala while Shashi, > the way you spell it, is a feminine name in north India! > > Your reply talks of the anti-Cola activists scoring some political point. > No one can read any party politics in their letter, the Plachimada anti-Cola > struggle is beyond divisions along party politics. The ruling LDF supports > the Plachimada cause as much as the opposition UDF. And in the struggle > itself you find people of all political affiliations and creeds. We are all > one on the issue of justice, but you cannot perhaps understand that. But if > you are talking about politics with your ambition to get a seat in the > forthcoming Parliament election in view, I wish the Congress party gives you > a ticket, for it deserves you. That will be a good self punishment for the > Congress party for having allowed you once to embarrass the country with > your UN election. > > Best regards > S.Faizi > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
