Mock funeral procession marks India disaster anniversary

Holding a body-shaped shroud on their shoulders, graduate student Giri Krishnan and IU researcher Suresh Marru followed a seven-person funeral procession down Indiana Avenue as the procession's leader slowly banged out a funeral cadence with a pot and spoon. The rest of the group carried posters depicting deformed children and other grisly images. \nKrishnan and Marru, members of the IU Association for India's Development, held the mock funeral to mark the 22nd anniversary of one of the worst industrial accidents in history and to send a message to the the group they say is responsible for the action, Dow Chemical Company. \n"We didn't choose to be graphic to get attention, but this is what happened," said Krishnan, the president of AID. \nIn 1984, 3,000 people in Bhopal, India, died after a chemical leak occurred at a Union Carbide factory, which has since been purchased by Dow Chemical. More than 50,000 people are said to have permanent disabilities as a result of the accident, according to a 2004 article on the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Web site.\nThe leak also poisoned the ground water in Bhopal, and today, an estimated 150,000 people are still suffering because of it, Krishnan said. Birth defects have occurred in children born of parents exposed to the toxins, he said. \nThe Union Carbide Corp. has stated the company worked diligently to provide immediate and continuing aid to the victims and set up a process to resolve their claims, according to a statement on the corporation's Web site. It also states all claims arising out of the chemical release were settled 17 years ago with the explicit direction and approval of the Supreme Court of India.\nDespite the $470 million in reparations paid to the victims in 1989, AID representatives said the settlement is not nearly enough since it works out to only $500 per affected victim. \nThe group is demanding that Dow Chemical clean up the site of the accident, provide long-term health care for the thousands affected by the accident and provide a new livelihood for those displaced or disabled by the leak, Krishnan said. AID also wants Union Carbide and its former CEO Warren Anderson to face trial in a Bhopal criminal court. \nMost people are not aware of what happened, said IU optometry professor Jenni Wilkinson, who stopped to look at the protest. She said she knew about accident but believes she is probably in the minority. \n"It goes across the news, and then it just flips to the next thing," Wilkinson said. "It is basically in one ear and out the other." \nAID has protested Dow Chemical's presence on campus in the past, such as recently at November's Life Sciences Career Fair.