When corporations answer nature’s call

A brown, life-size papier-mâché dog, its hind leg elegantly elevated, aims a stream of urine onto a large replica of Tata Tea packet. In January 2007, the dog was part of a tableau created as part of a 'Boycott Tata' procession by survivors of the 1984 Bhopal disaster. Ironically, Tata's efforts at corporate social responsibility had landed its best-known brand at the receiving end of fake dog piss. In a well-publicised series of letters written in 2006 by Ratan Tata to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the industrialist had professed a desire to act in the "national interest" by roping in "responsible corporates in the private sector" to clean up the contamination in Bhopal. But the real motive had been the "desire to bail out Dow Chemical and Union Carbide, who – as polluters – were required to clean up," says Bhopal survivor and activist leader Rashida Bee.

Indeed, Tata's letter to "Dear Montek" was devoid of any reference whatsoever to corporate social responsibility. Dow Chemical and Union Carbide (the latter of which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the former) have stated that they have neither the intent nor the interest to heed the principle of 'polluter pays' at the Bhopal site. But Ratan Tata, in his letter to Ahluwalia, wrote: "I understand from Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow, that he would like to also discuss approaches/solutions to this issue." The reference, it seems, was actually to solutions that would let Dow off the legal hook.