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Warren Anderson

Warren Anderson

Warren Anderson (1921 - ) was the chairman of Union Carbide during the Bhopal Disaster that took place in an plant belonging to an Indian subsidiary, Union Carbide India Ltd. in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. The Indian subsidiary was founded as part of the official policy of the then Indian government under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to import Western industrial technologies and set up industries, factories and manufacturing plants as part of an effort at force-marching India's industrial development. The Bhopal plant's plans were approved by the governments and municipal authorities of India, Madhya Pradesh state and Bhopal city, respectively. As part of Indian legislation, these subsidiaries were established with an Indian crony capitalist and state institutional participations as majority partners, 51%, with only a few select businesses possessing very desirable technologies permitted to own 51%, among which was included Union Carbide. At the same time, Western businesses took the precaution of exporting only outdated technolgies and plant plans to India, in order to prevent these exports becoming a threat to themselves in the world markets. businesses; the cars are 1944 Fiats manufactured under license by Premier Automobiles Limited as the Padmini]] For context, it is useful to consder another example of this policy — the purchase of the rights to Fiat's 1944 automobile model, which was licensed to the Premier Automobiles Ltd. and manufactured as the Padmini, still plying Indian streets in many places, especially in Bombay, where they dominate the taxi trade. As the head of Union Carbide, Anderson knew of a 1982 safety audit of the Bhopal plant that found 30 serious hazards; Anderson did not fix any of these hazards in the Bhopal plant, which was not under his direct management control, but fixed an identical plant in the U.S. On December 3, 1984, due to disputed causes, an explosion in the Bhopal plant released forty metric tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) into the city, killing an estimated 8,000 people, and injured 500,000 others. Even today, tens of thousands of people living in the affected areas are exposed to the toxic groundwater and soil that results from the remains of the contamination — Union Carbide arranged with Eveready Industries, successor of Union Carbide India Ltd to continue the cleaning up of these remains, but in 1998, the government of Madhya Pradesh took on itself this responsibility, since when it has languished. Anderson expressed a desire to visit Bhopal, and the Government of India formally promised him that he would not be arrested; however, after he flew in (via Bombay), to his surprise, Bhopal police immediately arrested him. Following this, he was jailed and only released on bail after several days in custody; once released, to the surprise of the Bhopal police, he jumped bail and flew back by private jet to the US, and has since never returned to India. Anderson is currently considered an absconded fugitive by the Indian police and judiciary and susceptible to immediate arrest, but lives freely in the United States, while U.S. courts, till date, have consistently dismissed Indian demands for his extradition. Nevertheless, despite rejecting liability for the disaster, Union Carbide agreed to a settlement in U.S. courts in accordance with which it transfered in 1992, $470 million to the Government of India, which the government did not disburse immediately, but used to balance its budget deficits, until forced to disburse by the Indian courts, a process still not completed, with some $330 million remaining with the government in 2004. Anderson steered Union Carbide through the glare of the Bhopal investigation, designating a safety and environmental affairs unit to focus on the investigation itself while renewing the company's focus on its base chemicals, intermediates and industrial gases businesses. Anderson and the Union Carbide board later successfully staved off a hostile takeover attempt by GAF and its chairman Samuel Heyman, but had to sell off Union Carbide's lucrative consumer products division to meet the crushing debt commitments of the Bhopal defense. Anderson was born in 1921 in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, New York to Swedish immigrants. He was named for the President of the United States Warren Harding. He later attended the Naval Pre-Flight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he played on the Pre-Flight football team with Otto Graham, who later enjoyed success with the NFL's Cleveland Browns.

1921

1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 1 - In American football, California defeats Ohio State 28-0 in the Rose Bowl.
- January 2 - The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- January 2 - Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia - 244 dead
- January 2 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
- January 20 - Royal Navy K-boat K5 sinks in the English Channel with all 56 hands
- February 25 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by Bolshevist Russia.
- February 27 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is formed in Vienna
- February 28 - Russian sailors rebel in Kronstadt - On March 17 the Red Army crushes the rebellion and number of sailors flee to Finland
- March 1 - The city Kiryu, located in Gunma, Japan, is founded.
- March 6 - The Portuguese Communist Party is founded.
- March 8 - Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
- March 13 - Mongolia declares its independence from China
- March 17 - Marie Stopes opens the first birth control clinic in London, England. The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
- March 18 - The second Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Union ending Polish-Soviet war. Despite the recent Polish successes, Soviets annex Ukraine and Belarus.
- April 11 - The Emirate of Transjordan is created, with Abdullah I as emir.
- April 14 - In Britain, labour unions for mining, railway and transportation workers call for a strike - government threatens to call in the army
- April 24 - Referendum in Tyrol supports joining to Germany
- May 1-May 7 - Riots in Palestine of May, 1921
- 2 May-5 July - Third Silesian Uprising, the Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
- May 5 - Only 13 spectators attend the soccer match between Leicester City and Stockport County, the lowest attendance in The Football League's history.
- May 6 - General strike begins in Norway
- May 8 - Death penalty abolished in Sweden
- May 14 - May 17 - Violent anti-European riots in Cairo and Alexandria
- May 19 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration.
- May 31 - Race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- May 24 - Elections are held for the first time for the new Northern Ireland Parliament.
- June 1 - Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: A race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma kills 85 people.
- June 26 - In Britain, rain ends 100 days of drought
- July 1 - Coal strike ends in England
- July 11 - The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and the Irish forces.
- July 11 - Mongolia becomes independent of China
- July 14 - A Massachusetts jury finds Nichola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely-publicized trial.
- July 18 - The first BCG vaccination against tuberculosis
- July 22 - Irish Truce declared in Britain
- July 26 - US President Warren G. Harding receives Princess Fatima of Afghanistan - and Stanley Clifford Weyman...
- July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chairman of the Nazi Party
- July 27 - Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
- August - The United States formally ends World War I, declaring a peace with Germany
- August 5 - First radio broadcast of baseball game; Harold Arlin announced Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA Pittsburgh
- August 11 - 35 degree Celsius in Breslau - heat wave continues elsewhere in Europe as well
- August 23 - King Faisal is crowned in Baghdad
- August 24 - Airship ZR 2 explodes during a test flight near Hull, England - 41 dead
- August 26 - Rising prices cause riots in Munich
- August 29 - Assassination of German politician Matthias Erzberger causes the government to declare martial law
- September 1 - Poplar Strike in London - 9 members of Poplar borough council are arrested
- September 7 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held.
- September 8 - 16-year-old Margaret Gorman won the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.
- September 12 - Lotta Svärd founded in Finland.
- September 21 - Oppau explosion happened at BASF's nitrate factory in Oppau, Germany - 500—600 dead.
- October 10 - Teaching at the University of Szeged started in Hungary.
- October 21 - Peace conference between Irish and United Kingdom begins in London.
- October 24 - Spanish army defeats rifkabyls.
- October 29 - Construction of the Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project completed.
- November 9 - Riots in Reykjavík - most of the small police force is injured.
- November 11 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding.
- December 1 - Rising prices cause riots in Vienna.
- December 16 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State is signed in London. See Ireland/History.
- December 13 - In the Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, and France agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific.
- December 29 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Canada's tenth prime minister.
- Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman to enter Canadian parliament
- Change of US presidency from Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) to Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
- Invention of the vibraphone.
- Abkhazia becomes an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.

Fictitious Events

1921 is a song on the album Tommy by The Who.

Births

Date unknown


- Norma Macmillan, voice actress (d. 2001)

January


- January 5 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)
- January 5 - Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
- January 10 - Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- January 19 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)
- January 27 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
- January 31 - Carol Channing, American actress
- January 31 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (d. 1959)

February


- February 4 - Betty Friedan, American feminist
- February 4 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)
- February 5 - John Pritchard, English conductor (d. 1989)
- February 11 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (d. 1996)
- February 11 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician
- February 14 - Hugh Downs, American game show host and journalist
- February 22 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
- February 25 - Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (d. 1970)

March


- March 1 - Jack Clayton, British film director
- March 1 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (d. 1983)
- March 1 - Richard Wilbur, American poet
- March 2 - Robert Simpson, English composer (d. 1997)
- March 3 - Paul Guimard, French writer (d. 2004)
- March 5 - Elmer Valo, Czech Major League Baseball player (d. 1998)
- March 8 - Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
- March 11 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (d. 2005)
- March 12 - Giovanni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
- March 12 - Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
- March 13 - Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
- March 13 - Cyril Poole, English cricketer (d. 1996)
- March 20 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer (d. 1973)
- March 21 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (d. 1986)
- March 25 - Simone Signoret, French actress (d. 1985)
- March 28 - Dirk Bogarde, English actor (d. 1999)

April-May


- April 1 - Beau Jack, American boxer (d. 2000)
- April 8 - Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d. 2003)
- April 10 - Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
- April 14 - Thomas Schelling, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 15 - Georgi Beregovoi, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1995)
- April 16 - Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (d. 2004)
- April 23 - Warren Spahn, baseball player (d. 2003)
- May 2 - Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (d. 1992)
- May 5 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- May 6 - Erich Fried, Austrian author (d. 1988)
- May 9 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
- May 9 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
- May 11 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
- May 12 - Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
- May 12 - Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
- May 17 - Dennis Brain, English French horn player (d. 1957)
- May 18 - Sir Michael Epstein, British medical researcher
- May 19 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
- May 20 - Wolfgang Borchert, German writer (d. 1947)
- May 20 - Hal Newhouser, baseball player (d. 1998)
- May 21 - Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (declined) (d. 1989)
- May 23 - James Blish, American science fiction author (d. 1975)
- May 25 - Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 25 - James C. Quayle, American newspaper publisher
- May 26 - Stan Mortensen, English footballer (d. 1991)
- May 28 - Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d. 1999)

June-August


- June 1 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (d. 1985)
- June 8 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d. 1993)
- June 10 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- June 15 - Errol Garner, American jazz musician (d. 1977)
- June 25 - Celia Franca, Canadian ballet dancer
- June 26 - Violette Szabo, French World War II heroine (d. 1945)
- June 28 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)
- July 4 - Gerard Debreu, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- July 4 - Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
- July 6- Nancy Davis Reagan, wife of U.S President Ronald Reagan
- July 10 - Harvey Ball, American designer (d. 2001)
- July 11 - Ilse Werner, German actress (d. 2005)
- July 13 - Friedrich Peter, Austrian poltitician (d. 2005)
- July 14 - Leon Garfield, English children's author (d. 1996)
- July 14 - Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 15 - Robert Bruce Merrifield, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 17 - František Zvarík, Slovakian actor
- July 17 - Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- July 19 - Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- July 22 - William Roth, U.S. Senator (d. 2003)
- July 30 - Grant Johannesen, American concert pianist (d. 2005)
- August 4 - Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)
- August 8 - John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (d. 1979)
- August 9 - J. James Exon Governor of Nebraska and U.S. Senator (d. 2005)
- August 19 - Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (d. 1991)
- August 23 - Kenneth Arrow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 25 - Monty Hall, Canadian actor and game show host

September-December


- September 3 - Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (d. 1971)
- September 8 - Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d. 2001)
- September 12 - Stanisław Lem, Polish science fiction writer
- October 2 - Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)
- October 5 - Bill Willis, American football player
- October 13 - Yves Montand, French singer and actor (d. 1991)
- October 18 - Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator from North Carolina
- October 19 - Gunnar Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d. 1995)
- October 25 - King Michael of Romania
- November 3 - Charles Bronson, American actor (d. 2003)
- November 5 - Princess Fawzia of Egypt
- November 11 - Ron Greenwood, English football manager
- November 14 - Brian Keith, American actor (d. 1997)
- November 22 - Rodney Dangerfield, American actor and comedian (d. 2004)
- November 23 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (d. 1960)
- December 3 - Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
- December 6 - Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
- December 26 - Steve Allen, American actor, composer, comedian, and author (d. 2000)

Deaths


- February 8 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (b. 1842)
- February 26 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
- February 27 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)
- March 2 - King Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)
- April 27 - Arthur Mold, English cricketer (b. 1863)
- May 5 - Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)
- June 5 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (b. 1862)
- August 2 - Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- September 2 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b. 1840)
- September 11 - Subramanya Bharathy, Tamil poet (b. 1882)
- September 27 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b. 1854)
- October 25 - Bat Masterson, American gunfighter
- November 28 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian religious leader (b. 1844)
- December 16 - Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (b. 1835)
- December 31 - Boies Penrose, United States Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Albert Einstein
- Chemistry - Frederick Soddy
- Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - Anatole France
- Peace - Karl Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lous Lange
- ko:1921년 ms:1921 ja:1921年 simple:1921 th:พ.ศ. 2464

Union Carbide

Union Carbide Corporation, headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut, is a United States chemical manufacturer, now a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. The company is most well-known for the Bhopal disaster in 1984, in which the leakage of the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC) killed thousands in Bhopal, India. The chairman Warren Anderson was charged with culpable homicide in India for this tragedy, though he now lives freely in the USA. He is now a declared absconder and a fugitive in Indian courts, against whom India is seeking an extradition ruling from the United States. Though it reached an out of court settlement with the Indian Government, Union Carbide refused to accept responsibility for the disaster, blaming it on terrorism and industrial sabotage.

Company history

The Union Carbide Company was founded in 1898, and in 1917 the Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation was formed from this and other companies. For most of its early history, the company was closely identified with the state of West Virginia, and had major operations in the region surrounding the state's capital, Charleston, although its headquarters had moved to New York City early in its history, and later to the Connecticut suburbs. The company still has a significant presence in South Charleston, though greatly reduced from its peak as an independent company. A hydro-electric project just east of Charleston at Gauley Bridge, West Virginia became known as the Hawk's Nest Incident. During construction of a three mile-long tunnel by Union Carbide beginning in 1927, the tunnel was filled with silica dust. Workers were not given masks for protection, even though management wore such masks during the short times they visited for inspection. As a result, thousands of workers, mostly poor and black, died from silicosis, sometimes as quickly as within a single year. The Bakelite Corporation merged with Union Carbide in 1939. This company was founded by Dr. Leo Baekeland, a pioneer in plastics (specifically Bakelite). In 1997 Union Carbide and the Exxon Chemical Company began a cooperative enterprise with research into polyethylene production. They became a fully owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company on February 6, 2001.

Resources


- The Hawk's Nest Incident by Martin Cherniak (1986)

Related topics


- Pesticide poisoning
- Corporate abuse

External links


- [http://www.dow.com/ucc/index.htm Union Carbide Corporation homepage.]
- [http://www.bhopal.com/ Union Carbide's website about the Bhopal Tragedy]
- [http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rukeyser/hawksnest.htm About the Hawk's Nest Incident] Category:Chemical companies of the United States Category:Defunct companies of the United States

Bhopal disaster

The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 is claimed by many as the worst industrial disaster in history. It was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL, now known as Eveready Industries India, Limited) pesticide plant located in the heart of the city of Bhopal, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. UCIL was a joint venture between Union Carbide and a consortium of Indian investors. The accident, in the early hours of December 3 1984, produced heavier-than-air toxic MIC gas which rolled along the ground through the surrounding streets killing thousands outright. The gas also injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 people, at least 15,000 of whom later died. In addition, a BBC investigation conducted in November 2004 confirmed that contamination is still present.

Overview of the disaster

The Union Carbide plant was established in 1969 and had expanded to produce carbaryl in 1979; MIC is an intermediate in carbaryl manufacture. The chemical accident was caused by the introduction of water into MIC holding tank E610, due to slip-bind water isolation plates being excluded from an adjacent tank's maintenance procedure. The resulting reaction generated a major increase in the heat of liquid inside the tank (to over 200°C). The MIC then gave off a large volume of toxic gas, forcing the emergency release of pressure. There were many factors that contributed to this accident, all of which were preventable. In chronological order, they were:
- Recent documents, obtained through discovery in the course of a lawsuit against Union Carbide for environmental contamination before a New York Federal District revealed that Carbide had exported "untested, unproven technology" to the Indian plant.
- Unlike Union Carbide plants in the USA, its Indian subsidiary plants were not prepared for problems. No action plans had been established to cope with incidents of this magnitude. This included not informing local authorities of the dangers of chemicals used and manufactured at Bhopal.
- Reports issued months before the incident by scientists within the Union Carbide corporation warned of the possibility of an accident almost identical to that which occurred in Bhopal. The reports were ignored outright and never made it to senior staff.
- Due to falling sales, staff had been laid off and safety checks became less and less frequent.
- Slip-bind plates that prevent water from pipes being cleaned leaking into the MIC tanks via faulty valves were not installed. Their installation had not been included on the cleaning checklist.
- The MIC tank refrigeration unit was disabled at the time of the event. A simple press of a button in the control room would have activated it, but this was overlooked by staff.
- The gas scrubber was placed on standby, and therefore did not attempt to clean escaping gases with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which may have brought the concentration down to a safe level.
- The water curtain that may have reduced the concentration of the gas was only set to ~13 m and did not reach the gas.
- Though the audible external alarm was activated to warn residents of Bhopal, it was quickly shut down to avoid causing panic among the residents. Thus, many continued to sleep, unaware of the unfolding drama.
- The flare tower used to burn off gases before they are allowed to escape into the air was inoperational and was due to be repaired.
- Doctors and hospitals were not informed of proper treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation. They were told to simply give cough medicine and eyedrops to their patients. Union Carbide denies these allegations on its [http://www.bhopal.com website] dedicated to the tragedy. It cites a non-peer-reviewed investigation that concluded that a single employee secretly and deliberately introduced a large amount of water into the MIC tank by removing a meter and connecting a water hose directly to the tank through the metering port. Carbide claims such a large amount of water could not have found its way into the tank by accident, and safety systems were not designed to deal with intentional sabotage. UC says that the rest of the plant staff falsified numerous records to distance themselves from the incident, and that the Indian Government impeded its investigation and declined to prosecute the employee responsible, presumably because that would weaken its allegations of negligence against Union Carbide. Union Carbide has never publicly named or identified the employee it claims sabotaged its Bhopal plant. The majority of deaths and serious injuries were related to pulmonary edema, but the gas caused a wide variety of other ailments.

Investigation and legal action against Union Carbide

In an out-of-court settlement reached in [1989], Union Carbide agreed to pay US$470 million for damages caused in the Bhopal disaster. (The original lawsuit was for $3 billion.) The CEO of Union Carbide at that time, Warren Anderson, who had retired by 1986, was declared a fugitive from law by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal on February 1, 1992 for failing to appear at the court hearings in a culpable homicide case in which he was named the chief defendant. Orders were passed to the Government of India to press for an extradition from the United States, with whom India had an extradition treaty in place. However, the demanded extradition never materialized. Many activists allege that the Indian government has hesitated to put forth a strong case of extradition to the United States, fearing backlash from foreign investors who have become more important players in the Indian economy following liberalization. A seemingly apathetic attitude from the US government, which has failed to pursue the case, has also led to strong protests in the past, most notably by Greenpeace. A plea by India's Central Bureau of Investigation to dilute the charges from culpable homicide to criminal negligence has since been dismissed by the Indian courts. To date, Anderson is still an absconder before the Indian courts and faces charges that if proven may result in imprisonment of up to 10 years. Meanwhile, very little of the money from the settlement reached with Union Carbide went to the survivors, and people in the area feel betrayed not only by Union Carbide (and chairman Warren Anderson), but also by their own politicians. On the anniversary of the tragedy, effigies of Anderson and politicians are burnt. In July 2004, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the government to pay to victims, and families of the dead, the US$330 million remaining in the compensation fund. Union Carbide sold its Indian subsidiary, which had operated the Bhopal plant, to an Indian battery manufacturer in 1994. The Dow Chemical Company purchased Union Carbide in 2001 for $10.3 billion in stock and debt. Dow has publicly stated several times that the Union Carbide settlement payments have already fulfilled Dow's financial responsibility for the disaster.

Ongoing contamination

Ownership issues have led to a stalemate on the issue of cleaning up the plant and its environs of hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste, which has been left untouched. Environmentalists have warned that the waste is a potential minefield in the heart of the city, and the resulting contamination may lead to decades of slow poisoning, and diseases affecting the nervous system, liver and kidneys in humans. Studies have shown that the rates of cancer and other ailments are higher in the region since the event. Activists have demanded that Dow clean up this toxic waste, and have pressed the government of India to demand more money from Dow. In an investigation broadcast on BBC Radio 5 on November 14, 2004, it was reported that the site is still contaminated with 'thousands' of metric tons of toxic chemicals, including benzene hexachloride and mercury, held in open containers or loose on the ground. Some areas are reportedly so polluted that anyone entering the area for more than ten minutes is likely to lose consciousness. Rainfall causes run-off, polluting local wells and boreholes, and the results of tests undertaken on behalf of the BBC by accredited water analysis laboratories in the United Kingdom reveal pollution levels in borehole water 500 times the legal maximum in that country. Statistical surveys of local residents, with a control population in a similarly poor area away from the plant, are reported to reveal higher levels of various diseases around the plant.

2004 hoax

On December 3, 2004, the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, a man claiming to be a Dow representative named "Jude Finisterra" was interviewed on the BBC. He claimed that the company had agreed to clean up the site and compensate those harmed in the incident. ([http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow/video.html video]) Immediately afterward, Dow's share price fell 4.2% in 23 minutes, for a loss of $2 billion in market value [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/06/1453248]. Dow quickly issued a statement saying that they had no employee by that name — that he was an impostor, not affiliated with Dow, and that his claims were a hoax. BBC broadcast a correction and an apology. The statement was widely carried [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=6795]. "Jude Finisterra" was actually Andy Bichlbaum, a member of the activist prankster group The Yes Men. In 2002, The Yes Men issued [http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow/bhopalmemorialpress.html a phony press release] explaining why Dow refused to take responsibility for the disaster and started up a website, DowEthics.com, designed to look like the Dow website but give what they felt was a more accurate cast on the events. In 2004, a producer for BBC News emailed them through the website requesting an interview, which they gladly obliged. [http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow/] Taking credit for the prank in an interview on Democracy Now!, Bichlbaum explains how his fake name was derived: "Jude is the patron saint of impossible causes and Finisterra means the end of the Earth". He explained that he settled on this approach (taking responsibility) because it would show people precisely how Dow could help the situation as well as likely garnering major media attention in the US, which had largely ignored the disaster's anniversaries, when Dow attempted to correct the statement [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/06/1453248].

External links


- [http://www.bhopal.net/ International Campaign For Justice in Bhopal]
- [http://www.bhopal.com/ Union Carbide Corporation's Bhopal Information Center Web Site]
- [http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/ Students for Bhopal]
- [http://www.dowethics.com Hoaxer's website]
- [http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications Health and Epidemiology Papers About the Bhopal Disaster] - mostly from peer-reviewed journals
- [http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/vdhara/www.BhopalPublications/Health%20Effects%20&%20Epidemiology/Health%20Effects%20Review%20articles/Health%20Effects%20Review%20AEH.pdf The Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal: A review of health effects]. V. Ramana Dhara & Rosaline Dhara. Archives of Environmental Health. Sep/Oct 2002;57(5):391-404 Category:Indian environment Category:Industrial disasters

Subsidiary

In business, a subsidiary is a company controlled by another company or corporation. When control or ownership is not shared, it is termed a wholly owned subsidiary. Multinational holding companies such as Berkshire Hathaway[http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/subs/sublinks.html], Time Warner, or Citigroup usually organize all holdings into subsidiaries, sometimes with multiple levels of containment. Subsidiaries are separate, distinct legal entities for the purposes of taxation and regulation. They are distinct from divisions, which are entities fully integrated within the main company, and not legally or otherwise distinct from it.

See also

Business models which feature elements similar to subsidiaries:
- Conglomerate (company)
- Zaibatsu
- Keiretsu
- Chaebol Category:Legal entities Category:Business Category:Types of companies

Bhopal

Bhopal is a city in central India, which is the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal has earned the sobriquet City of 7 Lakes sobriquet

Introduction

Bhopāl (भोपाल) is a city in central India. It is the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal is also the administrative headquarters of Bhopal District and Bhopal Division. Historically, Bhopal was also the name of a state of central India (See Bhopal (princely state)). On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal leaked 40 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate gas, which killed more than 3 thousand people outright and injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others. Another 12,000 deaths have officially been ascribed to the disaster's effects, although campaign groups put the figure much higher. See Bhopal disaster.

History

Bhopal is said to have been founded by the Parmara King Bhoj (1000–1055), who had his capital at Dhar. The city was originally known as Bhojpal named after Bhoj and the dam ('pal') that he is said to have constructed to form the lakes surrounding Bhopal. Bhopal during the British Raj: see main article Bhopal (princely state)

After Independence

Bhopal was one of the last princely states to sign the 'Instrument of Accession' 1947. Though India achieved Independence in August 1947, The ruler of Bhopal acceded to the Indian government only on May 1, 1949. Sindhi refugees from Pakistan were accommodated in Bairagarh, a western suburb of Bhopal. According to the Act of Reorganization of States in 1956, Bhopal state was integrated into the state of Madhya Pradesh, and Bhopal was declared as its capital. The population of the city rose rapidly. In December 1984 a cloud of methyl isocyanate was released from the factory of Union Carbide, a multinational company (now taken over by Dow Chemicals). The cloud covered half of the city and killed thousands of people; see Bhopal Disaster.

Bhopal City

Bhopal Disaster

Law and Government

Bhopal is the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. The last mayor was Ms. Vibha Patel, who was removed by the state government. The new mayor is Indian National Congress's Sunil Sood.

Geography

Bhopal is a hilly area, located on the Malwa plateau, and the land rises towards the Vindhya Range to the south. The summers are hot and the winters cold. It rains moderately during the rainy season. The municipality covers 286 square kilometres It has two very beautiful lakes, collectively known as the Bhoj Wetland. These lakes are the Upper Lake (built by King Bhoj) and the Lower Lake. The catchment area of the Upper Lake is 361 km2 while that of the Lower Lake is 9.6 km2. The Upper Lake drains into the Kolans River. The major hills in Bhopal consists of Idgah hills and Shyamala hills in the northern region and Arera hills in the central region. It is well connected to the rest of the country by rail, air and road links.

Demographics

The Old City of Bhopal is a predominantly Muslim area, but New Bhopal is a demographically cosmopolitan area. The chief languages are Hindi, Urdu and English, but there are a substantial number of Marathi speakers as well.
- Population: 1.4 million
- Total generation: 600 ton/day
- Waste generation per capita: 0.43 kg/person per day

Major Parks

Bhopal has many public parks. Some of the major parks are: Kamla Nehru Children's Park (B.H.E.L. Park), Chinar Park (famous for its Bougainvillea varieties and animal statues), Ekant Park, Mayur Park, The Rose Garden (Gulab Udyan), Kilol Park etc.

Neighborhoods

Bhopal is divided into two parts - the Old City and the New Bhopal (these are not the official names). The Old City (often referred to in Bhopal as just "City") is the city built and developed by the Begums. New Bhopal was developed after Bhopal became the capital of Madhya Pradesh. It has modern residential localities like 1250 Quarters, Arera Colony, Malviya Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, Tatya Tope Nagar (T.T. Nagar), Arera Colony, Chunabhatti and the commercial township called Maharana Pratap Nagar.

Major Industries/Products

The major industries in the city are electrical goods, cotton, chemicals (see Bhopal Disaster) and Jewellery. BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited), the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise in India, has a [http://www.bhelbhopal.com/ unit in Bhopal].

Sites of Interest


- Taj-ul-Masaajid: (The name is Masaajid and not masjid because 'masaajid' is plural of mosques and it literally means Crown Among Mosques) It is one of the largest mosques in Asia, built by Shahjehan Begum around a courtyard with a large tank in the centre and with an imposing double storeyed gate-way with 4 recessed archways and 9 imposing cusped multifoiled openings in the main prayer hall. The Quibla wall in the prayer hall is carved with 11 recessed arches, while the mimber is made of black basalt. The structure is enlivened by the limpid expanse of water in the tank outside the northern wall. The monumentality of this structure was much greater originally when it faced the towering bastions of the Fatehgarh Fort. A three-day Ijtima congregation was held here annually draws people from all over the world but has recently been shifted outside the City. Bhopal has over 400 mosques. Interestingly, Tajul Masaajid, perhaps the biggest mosque in India, faces the smallest mosque in the country that lies just on the other side of the road in the same area. The Dhai Seedhi Masjid (2-1/2 stairs mosque) was built in early 18th century when a rampart was converted into mosque.
- Islam Nagar: It has the ruins of the old city built by Dost Mohd. Khan.
- Purana Kila: Situated in the Kamala Nehru Park, it is a part of the 300-year old fort of Queen Kamalapati.
- Jama Masjid: A mosque built by Qudsia Begum in 1837. Gold spikes crown the minarets of this beautiful mosque.
- Moti Masjid: A mosque based on the Jama Masjid of Delhi built by Sikander Begum in 1860.
- Shaukat Mahal: A strange mixture of Indo-Islamic and European styles of architecture. It was designed by a Frenchman, said to be a descendant of an offshoot of the Bourbon Kings of France. Post Renaissance and Gothic styles are combined to charming effect here.
- Gohar Mahal: It is situated behind Shaukat Mahal on the banks of the Upper Lake was built by Qudsia Begum. It is magnificent expression of the fusion of Hindu and Mughal architecture.
- Sadar Manzil: It was built as a hall to be used by the Begums for public audience. Now it is used as the head-office of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation.
- Bharat Bhavan: It is the main cultural center of the city and of the most important cultural centers of India. It was designed by the famous architect Charles Correa. It has an art gallery that exhibits works of famous painters and sculptors. It has an open-air amphitheatre facing the Upper Lake and two other theatres and a tribal museum. The night-view from the amphitheatre set on the backdrop of the old city and the lake is magnificent.
- Van Vihar: It is a zoological garden situated beside the Upper Lake. It has a museum too.
- Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya: It means The Museum of Human Being. It is spread over 200 acres (0.8 km²) of undulating land on the Shamla Hills on the Upper Lake front. It is situated in a prehistoric site and may be the only museum in the world strewn with numerous prehistoric painted rock shelters. It is a post colonial museum of communities rather than objects. One can actually see how the tribals live.
- Government Archaeological Museum
- Lakshmi Narayan Temple or Birla Mandir: It is a temple devoted to Lord Vishnu and his consort Laxmi. It is situated to the south of the Lower Lake.
- Birla Museum
- Bhimbetka: It has pre-historic rock art and is a World Heritage Site.
- Sanchi: Situated at a small distance from the city of Bhopal, Sanchi houses some ancient Buddhist structures built by Emperor Ashoka.
- Bhojpur - A small village situated some 40 km from Bhopal with a huge rock temple of lord Shiva and having betwa river flowing down the valley. The temple is been managed now by archeological survey of India.

Educational Institutes

Universities
- Barkatullah University http://bubhopal.nic.in/
- Bhoj University http://www.bhojvirtualuniversity.com/hm.jsp
- Rajiv Gandhi Technical University http://www.rgtu.net/
- Indira Gandhi National Open University http://www.ignou.ac.in/
- Makhan Lal Chaturvedi University of Journalism Colleges
- Benazir College
- Bhopal School of Social Sciences (HabibGanj)
- Bhopal Institute of Technology and Science, Bhopal [Aabhas]
- Dr. A. V. Baliga Institute of Russian Studies http://russianinstitute.org/
- Gandhi Medical College
- Government Engineering College http://www11.brinkster.com/gecbhopal/index.htm
- Hamidia College
- Indian Institute of Forest Management
- RKDF Institute of Science & Technology
- Oriental Institute of Science and Technology(OIST)
- Indian Institute of Hotel Management
- Lakshmi Narain College of Technology(LNCT)
- Maharani Laxmi Bai (Girls) College
- Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology(MACT)
- Motilal Vigyan Mahavidyalay (Motilal Science College)
- NRI Institute of Information Science and Technology (NIIST)http://www.niist.com/
- Safia College
- University Institute of Technology, Barkatullah University
- University Institute of Technonology, RGPV (Bhopal Engg. College)

See also


- list of environment topics

External links


- [http://bhopal.nic.in/ | Indian Governments official web page]
- [http://www.bhopalmunicipal.com/ Bhopal Municipal Corporation]
- [http://www.bhopal.nic.in/ Bhopal District]
- [http://www.bhopal.org bhopal.org, The Sambhavna Trust & Bhopal Medical Appeal's web site]
- [http://www.bhopal.net International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB)]
- [http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/ Students for Bhopal (SfB)]
- [http://www.epcobpl.org/bwl-main.html Bhoj Wetland Project]
- [http://home.iae.nl/users/triangle/country/bhopal/ Stamps of former Bhopal state] Category:Cities and towns in Madhya Pradesh Category:Indian state-capitals

India

The Republic of India is a country in South Asia which comprises of the majority of the Indian subcontinent. India has a coastline which stretches over seven thousand kilometres, and shares its borders with Pakistan to the west, the People's Republic of China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, and Bangladesh and Myanmar on the east. On the Indian Ocean, it is adjacent to the island nations of the Maldives on the southwest, Sri Lanka on the south, and Indonesia on the southeast. India also claims a border with Afghanistan to the northwest. India is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. It is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of over one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical area. It is home to some of the most ancient civilizations, and a centre of important historic trade routes. Four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have originated from India. Formerly a major part of the British Empire as the British Raj before gaining independence in 1947, during the past twenty years the country has grown significantly, especially in its economic and military spheres, regionally as well as globally. The name India , is derived from the Old Persian version of Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the river Indus; see Origin of India's name. The Constitution of India and general usage also recognises Bharat ( ), which is derived from the Sanskrit name of an ancient Hindu king, whose story is to be found in the Mahabharata, as an official name of equal status. A third name, Hindustan ( ) , or Land of the Hindus in Persian, has been used since the twelfth century, though its contemporary use is unevenly applied due to domestic disputes over its representiveness as a national signifier.

History

Stone Age rock shelters with paintings at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh are the earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent settlements appeared 9,000 years ago and developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, which peaked between 2600 BC and 1900 BC. It was followed by the Vedic Civilisation. From around 550 BC onwards, many independent kingdoms came into being. In the north, the Maurya dynasty, which included Ashoka, contributed greatly to India's cultural landscape. From 180 BC, a series of invasions from Central Asia followed, with the successive establishment in the northern Indian Subcontinent of the Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian kingdoms, and finally the Kushan Empire. From the 3rd century AD onwards the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient India's "Golden Age". Gupta dynasty built by emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC]] In the south, several dynasties including the Chalukyas, Cheras, Cholas, Kadambas, Pallavas and Pandyas prevailed during different periods. Science, art, literature, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, religion and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. Following the Islamic invasions in the beginning of the second millennium, much of north and central India came to be ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, and later, much of the entire subcontinent by the Mughal dynasty. Nevertheless, several indigenous kingdoms remained or rose to power, especially in the relatively sheltered south. Vijayanagara Empire was notable among such kingdoms. During the middle of the second millennium, several European countries, including the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British, who were initially interested in trade with India, took advantage of fractured kingdoms fighting each other to establish colonies in the country. After a failed insurrection in 1857 against the British East India Company, popularly known in India as the First War of Indian Independence and most commonly known in the West as the Indian Mutiny, most of India came under the direct administrative control of the crown of the British Empire. British Empire, Orissa built in the 13th century, is one of the most famous monuments of stone sculpture in the world.]] sculpture in the 10th century AD.]] In the early part of the 20th century, a prolonged and largely non-violent struggle for independence, the Indian independence movement, followed, to be eventually led by Mahatma Gandhi, regarded officially as the Father Of The Nation. The culmination of this path-breaking struggle was reached on 1947-08-15 when India gained full independence from British rule, later becoming a republic on 1950-01-26. As a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, India has had its share of sectarian violence and insurgencies in different parts of the country. Nonetheless, it has held itself together as a secular, liberal democracy barring a brief period from 1975 to 1977 during which the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a "state of emergency" with the suspension of civil rights. India has unresolved border disputes with China, which escalated into a brief war in 1962, and Pakistan which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, and 1971, and a border altercation in the northern state of Kashmir in 1999. India was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations. In 1974, India conducted an underground nuclear test, making it an unofficial member of the "nuclear club", which was followed up with a series of five more tests in 1998. Significant economic reforms beginning in 1991 have transformed India into one of the fastest growing economies in the world and added to its global clout.

Government

The Constitution of India states India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India is a federal republic, with a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system. It has a three branch system of governance consisting of the legislature, executive and judiciary. The President, who is the head of state, has a largely ceremonial role. His roles include interpreting the constitution, signing laws into action, and issuing pardons. He is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The President and Vice-President are elected indirectly by an electoral college for five-year terms. The Prime Minister is the head of government and most executive powers are vested in this office. He (or she) is elected by legislators of the political party, or coalition, commanding a parliamentary majority, and serves a five-year term incumbent upon enjoying this majority. The constitution does not provide for a post of Deputy Prime Minister, but this option has been exercised from time to time. The legislature of India is the bicameral Parliament which consists of the upper house known as the Rajya Sabha, or Council of States, the lower house known as the Lok Sabha, or House of the People, and the President. The 245-member Rajya Sabha is chosen indirectly through an electoral college and has a staggered six year term. The 545-member Lok Sabha is directly elected for a five year term, and is the determinative constituent of political power and government formation. All Indian citizens above the age of eighteen are eligible to vote. The executive arm consists of the President, Vice-President and the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet) headed by the Prime Minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of either house of parliament. In India's parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature. India's independent judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court has both original jurisdiction over disputes between states and the Centre, and appellate jurisdiction over the High Courts of India. There are eighteen appellate High Courts, having jurisdiction over a large state or a group of states. Each of these states has a tiered system of lower courts. A conflict between the legislature and the judiciary is referred to the President.

Politics

Chief Justice of India For most of its independent history, India's national government has been controlled by the Indian National Congress Party. Following its position as the largest political organisation in pre-independence India, Congress, usually led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, dominated national politics for over forty years. In 1977, a united opposition, under the banner of the Janata Party, won the election and formed a non-Congress government for a short period after the unpopular 'emergency rule' imposed by Indira Gandhi in the previous Congress regime. In 1996, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political party with a right wing nationalist ideology, became the largest single party, and established for the first time a serious opposition to the largely centre-left Congress. But power was held by two successive coalition governments, who stayed on with the support of the Congress. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) along with smaller parties and became the first non-Congress government to sustain the full five year term after it returned to power in 1999. The decade prior to 1999 was marked by short-lasting governments, with seven separate governments formed within that period. One however, a Congress government formed in 1991, lasted the full five years and initiated significant economic reforms. In the 2004 Indian elections the Congress party returned to power after winning the largest number of seats, by a narrow margin. Congress formed a government in alliance with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and with several mostly-regional parties called the United Progressive Alliance. The NDA, led by the BJP, currently forms the main opposition. All governments formed since 1996 have required party coalitions, with no single majority party, due to the steady rise of regional parties at the national level.

States and union territories

India is divided into twenty-eight states (which are further subdivided into districts), six Union Territories and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. States have their own elected government, whereas Union Territories are governed by an administrator appointed by the union government, though some have elected governments. India has had two scientific bases in Antarctica – the Dakshin Gangotri and Maitri, but has made no territorial claims so far.

Geography

Maitri in the north to Arunachal Pradesh in the far east making up most of India's eastern borders]] India's entire north and northeast states are made up of the Himalayan Range. The rest of northern, central and eastern India consists of the fertile Indo-Gangetic plain. Towards western India, bordering southeast Pakistan, lies the Thar Desert. The southern Indian peninsula is almost entirely composed of the Deccan plateau. The plateau is flanked by two hilly coastal ranges, the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats. India is home to several major rivers such as the Ganga (Ganges), the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari, and the Krishna. The rivers are responsible for the fertile plains in northern India which are conducive to farming. The Indian climate varies from a tropical climate in the south to a more temperate climate in the north. Parts of India which lie in the Himalaya have a tundra climate. India gets most of its rains through the monsoons.

Economy

monsoon India has an economy ranked as the tenth largest in the world in terms of currency conversion and fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity. It recorded one of the fastest annual growth rates of 6.9% for the year ending March 2005. India's per-capita income by purchasing power parity is US$ 3,262, ranked 125th by the World Bank. India's foreign exchange reserves amount to over US$ 143 billion. Mumbai serves as the nation's financial capital and is also home to both the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India and the pre-eminent Bombay Stock Exchange. While a quarter of Indians still live below the poverty line, a large middle class has now emerged along with the rapid growth of the IT industry. The Indian economy has shed much of its historical dependence on agriculture, which now contributes to less than 25 % of GDP. Other important industries are mining, petroleum, diamond polishing, films, textiles, information technology services, and handicrafts. Most of India's industrial regions are centred around major cities. In recent years, India has emerged as one of the largest players in software and business process outsourcing services, with revenues of US$ 17.2 billion in 2004 to 2005. Many small-scale industries provide steady employment to workers in small towns and villages. business process outsourcing While India receives only around three million foreign visitors a year, tourism is still an important but under-developed source of national income. Tourism contributes 5.3 % of India's GDP. The actual employment generation, both direct and indirect, is estimated to be 42 million, or about 10 % of India's work force. In monetary terms, it contributes about US$4 billion in foreign exchange. India's major trading partners are the United States, Japan, China and the United Arab Emirates. India's main exports items include agricultural products, textile goods, gems and jewellry, software services and technology, engineering goods, chemicals and leather products while its main import commodities are crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, chemicals. For the year 2004, India's total exports stood at US$ 69.18 billion while the imports were worth at US $89.33 billion.

Demographics

India is the second most populous country in the world, with only China having a larger population. By 2030, India is expected to surpass China with the world's largest population, estimated at 1.6 billion. Language, religion, and caste are major determinants of social and political organisation within the highly diverse Indian population today. Its biggest metropolitan agglomerations are Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras). Chennai]] India's literacy rate is 64.8 % with 53.7 % of females and 75.3 % of males being literate. The sex ratio is 933 females for every 1000 males. Work Participation Rate (WPR) (the percentage of workers to total population) stands at 39.1 % with male WPR at 51.7 % and female WPR at 25.6 % inote|eu{inote|demostats{inote|religion{ref|languages{inote|tongues{see2|Christianity in India|Jews in India{seealso3|List of Indian languages by total speakers|List of cities in India|Religion in India{main|Culture of India{seealso4|List of World Heritage sites in India|Indian architecture|Indian family name|Cuisine of India{main|Sports in India{main|Holidays in India{Official Holidays of India{Topics related to India{portal{sisterlinks|India{wikitravel{wikicities|india|India{explain-inote{Web reference | title=India facts and figures | work=Embassy of India| URL= http://www.indianembassy.org/dydemo/indiaprofile/profile.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Forex reserves up by $1bn | work=Economic Times| URL= http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1093864.cms | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= India Economy | work=Travel Document Systems |URL= http://www.traveldocs.com/in/economy.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Services | work=India in Business| URL= http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/india-profile/ser-infotech.htm | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Destination India: An Unpolished Diamond | work=Times of India | URL= http://timesfoundation.indiatimes.com/articleshow/819309.cms | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= US, UAE, UK, China, Japan among India's top trade partners | work=Indian Express| URL= http://www.indianexpress.com/news/business/20050102-0.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= CIA Factbook : India | work=CIA Factbook | URL= http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Provisional Population Totals 2001 Census| work=Census of India| URL=http://www.censusindia.net/results/resultsmain.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Debating India & India's literacy rate | work=Debating India | URL= http://india.eu.org/1963.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= India – Country profiles | work=indexmundi.com | URL= http://www.indexmundi.com/India/ India | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Census of India 2001, Data on Religion | work=Census of India | URL= http://www.censusindia.net/results/religion_main.html | date=August 14 | year=2005{Web reference | title= Languages of India | work=India image | URL= http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm| date=August 14 | year=2005{Book reference | Author=K.M. Matthew | Title=Manorama Yearbook 2003 | Publisher= Malaya Manorama | Year=2003 | ID=ISBN 8190046187{mnb|afgh|1{mnb|LoC|2{South Asia{Asia{Commonwealth of Nations{SAARC{Life in India{Link FA|sv{Link FA|sv

Government

A government is the body that has the power to make and enforce laws within an organization or group. In its broadest sense, "to govern" means to administer or supervise, whether over an area of land, a set group of people, or a collection of assets. The word government is derived the Greek Κυβερνήτης (kubernites), which means "steersman", "governor", "pilot" or "rudder".

Definitions

One approach is to define government as the decision-making arm of the state, and define the latter on the basis of the control it has over violence and the use of force within its territory. Specifically, the state (and by extension the government) has been considered by some to be the entity that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a territory. This view has been taken by the political economist Max Weber and subsequent political philosophers. The exact meaning of it depends on what is understood by “legitimate”. If we use the term in an ethical sense, then this definition would suggest that an organisation might be considered a state by its supporters but not by its detractors. An alternative definition is to take "legitimate" violence to be simply that which has active or tacit acceptance by the vast majority of the population. In this view, the presence of insurrection or civil war against an entity would jeopardise its claim to be a state, provided the insurrection enjoyed significant popular support. Similarly, an entity that shared military or police power with independent militias and bandits could be considered to have a monopoly on “legitimate” violence but to be failing to enforce it, reducing its claim to statehood. In practice, such situations are often described as "failed states". Government can also be defined as the political means of creating and enforcing laws; typically via a bureaucratic hierarchy. Under this definition, a purely despotic organization which controls a territory without defining laws would not be considered a government. Another alternative is to define a government as an organisation that attempts to maintain control of a territory, where "control" involves activities such as collecting taxes, controlling entry and exit to the state, preventing encroachment of territory by neighbouring states and preventing the establishment of alternative governments within the country. In Commonwealth English, the word "Government" can also be used to refer only to the executive branch, in this context being a synonym for the word "administration" in American English (e.g. the Blair Government, the Bush Administration). In countries using the Westminster system, the Government (or party in Government) will also usually control the legislature. The French use of the word gouvernement covers both meanings, whereas Canadian French generally uses it to mean the executive branch. The German word Regierung refers only to government as the executive branch; the wider meaning of the word, government as a system, can be translated as Staatsgewalt.

Forms of government

Various forms of government have been implemented. A government in a developed state is likely to have various sub-organisations known as offices, departments, or agencies, which are headed by politically appointed officials, often called ministers or secretaries. Ministers may in theory act as advisors to the head of state, but in practice have a certain amount of direct power in specific areas. In most modern democracies, the elected legislative assembly has the power to dismiss the government, but in those states that have a separate head of government and head of state, the head of state generally has great latitude in appointing a new one.

Theories

There are a wide range of theories about the reasons for establishing governments. The four major ones are briefly described below. Note that they do not always fully oppose each other - it is possible for a person to subscribe to a combination of ideas from two or more of these theories.

Greed and oppression

Many political philosophies that are opposed to the existence of a government (such as Anarchism, and to a lesser extent Marxism), as well as others, emphasize the historical roots of governments - the fact that governments, along with private property, originated from the authority of warlords and petty despots who took, by force, certain patches of land as their own (and began exercising authority over the people living on that land). Thus, it is argued that governments exist to enforce the will of the strong and oppress the weak.

Order and tradition

The various forms of conservatism, by contrast, generally see the government as a positive force that brings order out of chaos, establishes laws to end the "war of all against all", encourages moral virtue while punishing vice, and respects tradition. Sometimes, in this view, the government is seen as something ordained by a higher power, as in the divine right of kings, which human beings have a duty to obey.

Natural rights

Natural rights are the basis for the theory of government shared by most branches of liberalism (including libertarianism). In this view, human beings are born with certain natural rights, and governments are established strictly for the purpose of protecting those rights. What the natural rights actually are is a matter of dispute among liberals; indeed, each branch of liberalism has its own set of rights that it considers to be natural, and these rights are sometimes mutually exclusive with the rights supported by other liberals.

Social contract

One of the most influential theories of government in the past two hundred years has been the social contract, on which modern democracy and most forms of socialism are founded. The social contract theory holds that governments are created by the people in order to provide for collective needs (such as safety from crime) that cannot be properly satisfied using purely individual means. Governments thus exist for the purpose of serving the needs and wishes of the people, and their relationship with the people is clearly stipulated in a "social contract" (a constitution and a set of laws) which both the government and the people must abide by. If a majority is unhappy, it may change the social contract. If a minority is unhappy, it may persuade the majority to change the contract, or it may opt out of it by emigration or secession.

Operations

Governments concern themselves with regulating and administering many areas of human activity, such as trade, education, medicine, entertainment, and war.

Enforcement of power

Governments use a variety of methods to maintain the established order, such as police and military forces, (particularly under despotism, see also police state), making agreements with other states, and maintaining support within the state. Typical methods of maintaining support and legitimacy include providing the infrastructure for administration, justice, transport, communication, social welfare etc., claiming support from deities, providing benefits to elites, holding elections for important posts within the state, limiting the power of the state through laws and constitutions (see also Bill of Rights) and appealing to nationalism. Different political ideologies hold different ideas on what the government should or should not do.

Territory

The modern standard unit of territory is a country. In addition to the meaning used above, the word state can refer either to a government or to its territory. Within a territory,