Media Mates: MANAGEMENT COMPASS: Flashback

Defining events of the month gone by

Cracking IIT-JEE at 14!
Sahal Kaushik – a 14year old boy hailing from Delhi, shattered records, as he became the youngest person ever to crack the IIT JEE exams. Sahal – a shy and modest boy next door left everyone in a state of awe when he topped the Delhi region and secured 33rd position in all India rankings. Ruchi Kaushik – the proud mother held her head high while answering the questions directed at her during the press conference held to honour the toppers. Ruchi is a doctor by profession but she gave up her career 12 years ago and started schooling Sahal at home. Sahal has received no formal schooling and has only been admitted into Vandana International School in Dwarka for his 11th and 12th exams. A genius by birth, Sahal could spell out long words at the age of 2, at 4 he could recite tables up to hundred. He also has two Asian Physics Olympiad medals to his credit. Furthermore, he is a scholar of the prestigious Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana.

What is more surprising is the fact that Sahal scored just a modest 76 per cent in 10th and a 73% in 12th and yet this little package of super active grey cells was able to top the IIT JEE. Ruchi explained, 'He has a sharp brain, does calculations very fast, but fails to express very well on paper. Perhaps that is why he scored less in CBSE exams.' When asked what he wants to do now Sahal said, 'I want to do research. I will either go for the integrated M. Sc. at IIT Kanpur or for the Indian Institute of Science Education And Research.

Maoists flood innocent blood again
Maoist terror turned a new page of gruesomeness and the nation gasped at the ungodliness of this heartless tribe as they were allegedly involved in one of the most horrific killing spree one has seen this year. Howrah-Mumbai Gyaneshwari Express derailed at 1:15 AM between Khemashuli and Sardiha stations, which is coincidently very near to the Maoists stronghold of Jhargram. Over 200 passengers were severely injured and more than 100 were left dead in this ghastly act of sabotage. Blood and gore was written all over the accident site where mangled bodies of the passengers laid strewn around. The casualties involved women and children of all ages. To make the matters worse, a goods train rammed several of the toppled coaches of the train, which was due on the parallel track just five minutes after Gyaneshwari Express. According to official reports, the Maoists had removed the ‘pandrol clips’, which fasten the fishplates to the sleepers along a fifty foot stretch on both the tracks. The CRPF found a poster of PCPA on the crash site, claiming the responsibility of the act. PCPA is a Maoist backed group, which led the tribal disturbance in Lalgarh too. Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has requested a CBI investigation. She said,” We have 65,000km of rail track running through villages and most trains travel at night. It is easy to target them.”

Injustice personified!
Twenty five years after the horrific night between 2nd and 3rd December 1984 in Bhopal where a poisonous gas leak from a pesticide plant of an American chemical company Union Carbide swept across the city taking lives by poisoning innocent and unsuspecting residents, the court passed a judgment, convicting those who were responsible for the hazard. But did the verdict bring justice to the victims? The answer is – No. Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan P. Tiwari convicted former Chairman of Union Carbide of India Limited, Keshub Mahindra and seven others to two years of imprisonment and a fine, only to release them on bail later that afternoon. Others who were convicted include current Chairman and then Managing Director of Union Carbide, Vijay Gokhale, Vice President - Kishore Kamdar, Works Manager - J. Mukund, Assistant Works Manager Late R. B. Roy Chowdhury, Production Manager S. P. Choudhury, Plant Superintendent K.V. Shetty and Production Assistant - Shakeel Qureshi.

The above names were charged with causing death by doing a rash or a negligible act, not amounting to culpable homicide under Section 304-A of the Indian Penal Code. They have been imposed with the maximum possible sentence for imprisonment of up to 2 years and a fine of Rs. 1.17 Lakh and an additional fine of Rs. 5 Lakh on the company. While the humanitarian societies and the victims’ families are unhappy with the leniency of the judgement, the Court however thinks that the fine and imprisonment imposed is a price good enough to pay for the lives of almost 25000 people which the deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) claimed on that fateful night and years afterwards.

But most amazingly, the Magistrate did not even mention the name of the 89year old Chairman of the Union Carbide, Warren Anderson in his sentence. Anderson is presently in US and did not even subject himself to the trial. While the Government still claims that it is in the process of extraditing Anderson from US, the questions still remains unanswered as to why he was allowed to leave the country in the first place? Tagged as the ‘Butcher of Bhopal’, Anderson, one of the main accused, was booked under Section 304(B) when he arrived in India just four days after the tragedy. He was granted bail immediately under mysterious circumstances and was flown out of the country by Madhya Pradesh Government. While the Center remains unwary of the extradition, the victims have written a letter to the US President Barack Obama asking him to help them by bringing Anderson to justice. In a strategically constructed statement, the United States has said it would "carefully evaluate" any request from India to bring Warren Anderson to justice. State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said, "...if the government of India makes such a request to us, we will carefully evaluate it." But the question is – Will the Indian Government prioritise the Anderson matter against its unruffled relations with US?

After years of torments, the victims are still seeking justice. The first conviction after 25years had injustice written all over it. Not only the convicted were allowed to go free, the value for human life was also decimated. It is only fair to conclude that the organisation at flaw for the most appalling tragedy in the Indian history is not Union Carbide, its managers, its workers or Anderson. It’s the Indian
Judicial System.