Bhopal Disaster and the Impact of Neo-Liberalism on Developing Countries

This essay discusses the impact of neo-liberalism on developing countries, with a focus on the Bhopal disaster. It explores the role of global corporations, political institutions, and Western responses.

Running Head: BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
The role of globalisation and the neo-liberal policies has left great impact on the social
and economic condition of the developing countries. The basic principle of Neo-liberalism can
be identified as the less monitoring and control of the government in the business orientation of
the private organisation and makes reforms of the tax laws in order to maximize profit from the
global companies (Giroux 2018). In other words, the Neo-Liberal policies foster a sense of free
trade and privatization that redeems the government control and expenditure (Peck and Theodore
2015). During the 1980s onwards, the Indian government also followed the same line as other
developing countries to taste the benefits of globalisation. However, in course of her way
towards capitalism the Indian state faced one of the biggest industrial disasters in its history as
the Bhopal disaster. The Bhopal gas leak had a great deal of impact on the local inhabitants of
Bhopal and the local people still carry out the adverse impact of the tragedy on their health
condition. The Union Carbide Chemical Company was responsible for this emphatic disaster but
due to their political connections and global domination the CEO got the chance to run away
(Izarali 2013). At that time the nascent Indian government did not share such power to influence
the world politics into its own fold and as a result of that the entire investigation conducted by
the Indian government became futile. As a matter of fact, the developed countries alleged India
that the country did not have any environmental protection act or other safeguards of
environmental sustainability that instigated the UCL Company to neglect such protective
measures (Okoh and Haugen 2013). However, the ethical consideration for the Company was
supposed to be another factor in the event that the global platform overlooked. In this context,
the present essay is going to understand the role of Neo-Liberalism as a tool to affect developing
countries. Moreover, the activities of the global corporate and Multinational companies are also
incorporated into the discussion. For the discussion, the essay chooses the topic of the Bhopal

2BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
Tragedy as a theme and carries forward the discussion further by making a relation between the
theory of Neo-Liberalism, its impact on the developing countries like India, the role of the
political institutions and the responses of the Western countries.
Since its independence, the Indian State was dealing with financial crisis and political
instability inside and in the global platform. The first five year plan was established in order to
boost the economic condition of the country. However, at that time India followed a protectionist
policy in order to protect the indigenous business organisations (Labib 2015). In 1960s, India
transformed its economic policy drastically and as a result of that an essence of liberal approach
had been maintained by the then Indian government (Paul and Baxi 2015). Despite of that the
Indian economy was based on the agricultural industries and there was no space for the heavy
and big industries. From the mid 1970s the rise of the industrialisation started to dominate the
economy of India and paved the way for the foreign investments that boosted up the economic
condition of the country. With the growing opportunities in the Indian market the Union Carbide
and Carbon Corporation (UCC) started to invest in India. The Company was mainly
manufactured chemicals for agricultural purposes. The Company had its foundation from the
pre-independence times, specifically from 1934 (Odysseos 2015). The company was entitled to
produce batteries, carbon products, welding equipments, plastics, in fact, 50.9 percent share of
the Union Carbide India Limited was owned by the parent company UCC and 49.1 percent was
shared between the Government of India and other ancillary companies in India (Ishizaka, A. and
Labib 2014).
The Union Carbide of India Limited was set up in the year 1969 as a manufacturer of
pesticide Sevin. In this regards, it can be identified that the production of Sevin requires methyl
isocyanate (MIC) as an intermediate. Hence, an MIC production plant was added to the UCIL

3BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
sites in 1979 (Banerjee 2013). In fact, the Union Carbide India Limited was located in the
densely populate Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh district. As a matter of fact, the risk factors were
also there to affect the local inhabitants. Despite of knowing the fact the UICL Company did not
take any concerned steps towards it. In this regards, it was significant to acknowledge that in the
period of 1980s the demand of the MIC became decreased but still the Union Carbide India
Limited continued its production.
It is important to know that the tragedy of 1984 was not the single time that the UCIL
Company had faced leakage issues. In fact, in the 1976 two local trade unions complained
against the pollution of the plants. Furthermore, in 1981 there was an incident inside the plant
where a worker was died because of inhaling toxic phosgene gas and passed away within 72
hours (Pariyadath and Shadaan 2014). The very next year around 24 workers were admitted to
hospital because of the same case. It can be argued that the Company also did not have safety
measures and safety and hazards mechanism for the benefits of its employees.
In the post midnight on 3rd December, 1984 toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) was leaked
from the Bhopal factory of Union Carbide and killed thousands of people (Rajkumar 2017). This
tragic incident is infamously known as the Bhopal disaster. The official record articulated that
the disaster took more than three thousand lives and the Madhya Pradesh government calculated
the death toll of two thousand two hundred and fifty nine innocent lives in Bhopal. During the
initial investigation it was figured out that the gas leak had taken place after the midnight. The
location of the incident was placed at the plant number C of the Union Carbide factory in
Bhopal. Within the morning there were more than three thousand people died due to the toxic
gas leak. It was estimated that about forty tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other
chemicals leaked from the factory and killed the inhabitants in a second. The official

4BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
investigation argued that the reason behind this fatal accident could be identified due to the mix
of MIC and the water that used in cooling the plant. As a result of that it increased the pressure in
the Tank Number 610 and made a leak in the tank. As a matter of fact, the tank was not in a
shape to be used. There was no such maintenance facility inside the Company to check the safety
of the machines and tools. Approximately 5 lakh people were exposed to the leakage of methyl
isocyanate (Jones 2015).
The impact of the leakage was very disturbing and devastating. Coughing and itching in
eyes and skins are the primary impression of the toxic gas. In course of time, it becomes acute
and severe for the people to breath and used internal haemorrhage, pneumonia and ultimately
death. The death is not very swift rather it causes pain and agony that only the victim can feel.
The villages and the slums near the factory were the worst affected areas. As a matter of fact, the
alarm system of the company did not set off during the leakage and as a result of that people did
not understand what was going on. In the morning of the 3rd December the hospitals got
complaints regarding the health issues of the local people (Satgunam and Chindelevitch 2017).
The two government hospitals were not prepared enough to accommodate and started treatment
of half of the population of Bhopal. Dizziness, breathing problems, skin irritation and blindness
were the frequent results of the incident. There were around 50 thousand patients admitted within
the first two days. The government announced the gas would be effective only for 8 hours but
people still found it difficult to breath even 33 hours later.
A Union Carbide Corporation team arrived within the days of the incident. However,
they did not get the permission from the Indian government to visit and investigate the location.
At that time, on behalf of the government the CBI had taken full responsibility of the
investigation and the UCC team had got the permission only to take samples and residue in the

5BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
leakage location. In fact, the CBI and the UCC team came into the same conclusion that due to
excessive water pressure inside the tank, it made a reaction with methyl isocyanate and turned
into a toxic gas. Despite of that investigation further investigation had expressed that there was
no flow of water in the tank 610 during the five years the plant had been in operation (Satgunam
and Chindelevitch 2017).
In an obvious manner the legal proceedings had been started involving the Union Carbide
Corporation, the US government and the Government of India. The local Bhopal authorities were
also became a part of the legal proceedings. As a quick response to the Bhopal disaster the Indian
government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act in March 1985. As a result of that the Indian
Government got the privilege to take legal steps against the UCC management. In fact, the initial
lawsuit of the disaster was sued in United States federal court system. The Federal District Court
judge John F. Keenan advocated that the Union Carbide had to aid $5 million and $ 10 million
for the immediate help to the victims (Mukherjee 2016). With reluctance the Union Carbide
management agreed to pay a financial aid that was turned down by the Indian government.
Throughout 1990s the Supreme Court of India was fight against the settlement proposed by the
US District Court. The Local Bhopal Authorities alleged Anderson, the then CEO of Union
Carbide for slaughtering and gave a verdict of ten years imprisonment for homicide. In fact, the
Government of India also appealed to the United States for extradition of Anderson but the US
government did not intend to hand him over. The death of Warren Anderson in 2014 left the case
unsolved and failed to provide justice for the Bhopal victims.
The Bhopal gas tragedy is believed to be one of the most tragic incidents in the history of
India. The neo liberalism policies taken by the governments will be discussed in this section.
Neo-liberalism or the neoliberal studies have been in great discussion over the years now

6BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
(Duggan 2012). In this section, it can be said that when the economic balance is shifted from the
public sector to the private sector, that can be tagged as the neo-liberalism. When the
government of any country or state makes limits in the subsidies, or rolls in various tax reforms
or that kind, it sets up the new policies to be implemented as a part of the neo-liberalism. This is
when the government decides to implement the free trade policies for the giant organizations all
over the world (Duggan 2012). The developing countries have suffered the ill effects of the neo
liberal policies in many cases. Bhopal has been a victim of this policy as well. It has been noticed
in the political scenario that the governments in some developing countries give the free trade
license to the big organization to increase their revenues. This has laid a very negative impact on
the social sustainability of the countries (Mirowski 2013).
It has been seen that the developing countries have been looking at these issues with not
much attention. It is because these nations do not have such strict rules for maintaining the
ethical and environmental sustainability (Mirowski 2013). The various Latin American and
African countries have really suffered the ill impacts of the neo liberal policies. The main aim of
the countries remains the earning of the foreign money. There are certain challenges in this
issues that have to be overcome as well (Lipman 2013). When the giant companies expand into
these developing countries, they do not follow any rules or regulations as they know there are not
much strict punishment to be practiced by the particular government (Giroux 2015).
This is why the organizations try to implement the things that are only important for their
profit. They overlook the main important things related to the neo liberal policies indeed. The
attitude of these companies to the long-term benefits or growth of the country cannot be
appreciated at all (Joseph 2013). This is why the governments face many problems in this regard
particularly. The internal infrastructure of the countries is not so prominent so the organizations

7BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
try to take the advantage of that only. The impacts of the climate change are overlooked in this
matter as well. This has been the case in the scenario of the Bhopal gas tragedy. In these types of
cases, the organizations do not take the responsibility of the massacres that take place. This is
where the neo liberal policies face the problems (Joseph 2013).
The giant organizations do not think about the well being of the countries which is of
course one of their biggest responsibilities indeed. In the Bhopal gas tragedy, many people had
died and this simply happened because of the absence of the strict laws by the government. If the
government had been a bit stricter, the things could have been better in terms of the outcomes of
the neo liberal approach. The political gains are given the priority where the lives of the common
people are ignored completely (Mittal 2016). These are the reasons as to why the organizations
should be forced to obey some rules and regulations made by the government. These
disadvantages of the neo liberalism should be looked with much caution when the organizations
make their strategies to be implemented in the various countries.
The Bhopal gas tragedy has been a learning lesson for the governments of many nations.
This is why the governments will like to implement some strategies by which they could avoid
these kinds of disasters. Some of the important global level political organizations are World
Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization. These political institutions
always keep a vigil on all the things that keep happening throughout the world. It is a very
interesting fact to be understood that the effects of neo-liberalism have not been to the extent that
it was thought to be (Saheb, Seshaiah and Viswanath 2012).
The International Monetary Fund is constantly of the opinion that the economic neo-
liberalism has completely failed because of many reasons. It is also assumed that they have not

8BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
supported this thing throughout as well. Many people were badly hurt physically and mentally
they were devastated as well. It has been found that the company based in United States that run
the plant there did not provide the proper compensation to the victims of the tragedy. The
international organizations like IMF had been very vocal in this case indeed. The company that
was involved did not meet the ethical and environmental guidelines so the massacre took place in
the worst ways indeed (Qi et al. 2012). The neo-liberal approach has been rejected by the
international political institutions. This has affected the condition as well. The work ethics are
not maintained so the political institutions like World Trade Organization have protested against
this neo liberal approach.
The toxic gases that came out had killed around 2500 people. This is why it is said that
the environmental issues have not been looked after properly. The organization had completely
ignored the situation on an overall basis (Qi et al. 2012). The global political institution focusing
on the global economy is strictly against the neo liberal approach of the countries. It is just
because the neo liberal approach will be very fatal for the well being of the countries. The
developing countries approve the neo liberal approach to allow the free trade policies (Odysseos
2015). They ignore the safety of their common people of the country. When such tragedy like
Bhopal occurs they are left with no options. These kinds of tragedies should be prevented and the
countries should be able to put some strict laws and regulations into practice. The union
government should always make some strategies or laws that should disable the foreign
organizations to implement some plans that will be harmful for the people of the country. The
environmental balance should always be kept at the forefront by the organizations before
implementing any kind of strategy (Izarali 2013).

9BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
The environmental safety of the country is very strongly connected with the maintenance of
public health. If the organizations do not give priority to these things, it would have long term
effect. The political gains should be overlooked in this matter as well, As the public servants, the
government officials should always focus on the implementation of the environmental safety
strategies for the countries (Izarali 2013). The economic aspects should be looked with much
priority but the government can make up for the losses at later time by tax reforms or the
restructuring of the tax laws. These are the ways in which the organizations would be able to
gain the economic advantages as per the global institutions like World Trade Organization,
International Monetary Fund and others. The business deals between the expanding companies
and the government should always be made by keeping in mind the public health issues.
In the year 1984, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has brought the drastic impact on the
Indian economy. It has been identified that near about 50000 people were exposed due to the gas
tragedy (Mac Sheoin, 2015). After the incident, the victim of this disaster was penalised for
10years in prison. After the order passed by the Indian government, the US supreme court reused
for hearing the appeal of that decision taken by the lower federal court in the year 1993.
Therefore, this can be said that at that time the Bhopal gas tragedy became the global issue. The
US government helped to the Indian government in order to collect the sufficient evidence
against the victim of Bhopal disaster named Anderson. The US government took the drastic steps
against the victim of the Bhopal gas tragedy (Rajkumar 2017). By supporting this Washington
has also refused a request of Anderson in this matter. It has been identified that in the future
court processing the Union cabinet decided to bring the financial help to the victims. After the
Bhopal incident, BP had agreed to clean up the accident site that was poisoning the entire water

10BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
supply practices. In that situation, the water supply in the local areas were very important for
providing little help to the local people.
In this study, it has been identified that Britain refused for surrendering to the US court
the BP executives. It has been identified that the agreement between the Dow Chemical and
Indian government was done, in which the compensation of the amount of $470 million was paid
(Mishraet al. 2015). On the other hand, it has been identified that the Union Carbide Corporation
had taken the strong step for providing the facilities to the people, who were suffering from the
Bhopal disaster. The UCC provided the relief fund. The medical experts from the different
countries have played their effective role in order to provide the medical help. Near about $100
million amount was collected from the western charities (Odysseos2015). After this incident, the
Canada Government has introduced various safety, environmental and health management
programs to the Indian government in order to deal with the situation.
Another way, it has been discussed in this study that in the case of US, Dow was compensated
for the UCC victims, however, in the case of India it had not taken such initiatives. The treatment
protocol for the victims was very poor.
Due to the politically unstable situation, at that time the victims also started bargaining
regarding the compensation. The major issue was that after the Bhopal incident Anderson left
India in this situation the entire and took shelter in the US. It has also been determined that the
Indian government has helped to Anderson in the case of escaping from the country. After this
incident, the UCC has entered into the investigation process. As per the investigation report, it
was identified by then that due to the excessive water storage and leakage the chemical explosion
had brought about the disaster. However, by the investigation of CBI, it was identified that from

11BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
the last few years the little drop of water has not passed from that pipe. Therefore, this can be
said that it was the brainwash of the Indian people. On the other hand, the Indian government
repeatedly applied to the US government to hand over Anderson to the Indian police. However,
the US government refused to do so. They had not taken any drastic step against Anderson.
Therefore this can be said that here the domination of developed country on the developing
country has been clearly shown.
It can be concluded that the developed countries did not take any positive initiatives to
make the free trade practice as environment friendly. As a result of that exploitation and political
domination by the corporate giants still exists in present days. The essay tries to depict a clear
picture of the adverse effect of Neo-Liberalism on developing countries and at the same time
highlights the role of the major global organisations and the western countries in this regards.

12BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
Reference
Banerjee, D., 2013. Writing the disaster: substance activism after Bhopal. Contemporary South
Asia, 21(3), pp.230-242.
Duggan, L., 2012. The twilight of equality?: Neoliberalism, cultural politics, and the attack on
democracy. Beacon Press.
Giroux, H.A., 2015. Against the terror of neoliberalism: Politics beyond the age of greed.
Routledge.
Giroux, H.A., 2018. Terror of Neoliberalism: Authoritarianism and the Eclipse of Democracy.
Routledge.
Ishizaka, A. and Labib, A., 2014. A hybrid and integrated approach to evaluate and prevent
disasters. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 65(10), pp.1475-1489.
Izarali, M.R., 2013. Globalization and the Bhopal Disaster: A Criminogenic
Inquiry. International Journal of Social Inquiry, 6(1).
Jones, T.R., 2015. Bhopal Revisited (No. LA-UR-15-22804). Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL).
Joseph, J., 2013. Resilience as embedded neoliberalism: a governmentality
approach. Resilience, 1(1), pp.38-52.
Labib, A., 2015. Learning (and unlearning) from failures: 30 years on from Bhopal to Fukushima
an analysis through reliability engineering techniques. Process Safety and Environmental
Protection, 97, pp.80-90.

13BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
Lipman, P., 2013. The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the
right to the city. Taylor & Francis.
Mac Sheoin, T., 2015. Justice for Bhopal! And No More Bhopals! Three decades of national and
international campaigning. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 97, pp.3-12.
Mirowski, P., 2013. Never let a serious crisis go to waste: How neoliberalism survived the
financial meltdown. Verso Books.
Mishra, P.K., Raghuram, G.V., Bunkar, N., Bhargava, A. and Khare, N.K., 2015. Molecular bio-
dosimetry for carcinogenic risk assessment in survivors of Bhopal gas tragedy. Int J Occup Med
Environ Health, 28(6), pp.1011-1023.
Mittal, A., 2016. Retrospection of Bhopal gas tragedy. Toxicological & Environmental
Chemistry, 98(9), pp.1079-1083.
Mukherjee, R., 2016. Toxic Lunch in Bhopal and Chemical Publics. Science, Technology, &
Human Values, 41(5), pp.849-875.
Odysseos, L., 2015. The question concerning human rights and human rightlessness:
disposability and struggle in the Bhopal gas disaster. Third World Quarterly, 36(6), pp.1041-
1059.
Okoh, P. and Haugen, S., 2013. The influence of maintenance on some selected major
accidents. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, 31.
Pariyadath, R. and Shadaan, R., 2014. Solidarity after Bhopal: Building a Transnational
Environmental Justice Movement. Environmental Justice, 7(5), pp.146-150.

14BHOPAL DISASTER AND THE GLOBAL IMPACT
Paul, T. and Baxi, U., 2015. Mass disasters and multinational liability: The Bhopal case. Indian
Law Institute, New Delhi.
Peck, J. and Theodore, N., 2015. Fast policy: Experimental statecraft at the thresholds of
neoliberalism. University of Minnesota Press.
Qi, R., Prem, K.P., Ng, D., Rana, M.A., Yun, G. and Mannan, M.S., 2012. Challenges and needs
for process safety in the new millennium. Process safety and environmental protection, 90(2),
pp.91-100.
Rajkumar, S., 2017. Safety Security and Risk Management-Aftermath Bhopal Disaster. Int J
Biosen Bioelectron, 2(6), p.00044.
Saheb, S.U., Seshaiah, S. and Viswanath, B., 2012. Environment and their legal issues in
India. International Research Journal of Environment Sciences, 1(3), pp.44-51.
Satgunam, P.N. and Chindelevitch, L., 2017. Vision screening results in a cohort of Bhopal gas
disaster survivors. CURRENT SCIENCE, 112(10), p.2085.