A brown, life-size papier-mâché dog, its hind leg elegantly elevated, aims a stream of urine onto a large replica of Tata Tea packet. In January 2007, the dog was part of a tableau created as part of a 'Boycott Tata' procession by survivors of the 1984 Bhopal disaster. Ironically, Tata's efforts at corporate social responsibility had landed its best-known brand at the receiving end of fake dog piss. In a well-publicised series of letters written in 2006 by Ratan Tata to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the industrialist had professed a desire to act in the "national interest" by roping in "responsible corporates in the private sector" to clean up the contamination in Bhopal. But the real motive had been the "desire to bail out Dow Chemical and Union Carbide, who – as polluters – were required to clean up," says Bhopal survivor and activist leader Rashida Bee.
Indeed, Tata's letter to "Dear Montek" was devoid of any reference whatsoever to corporate social responsibility. Dow Chemical and Union Carbide (the latter of which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the former) have stated that they have neither the intent nor the interest to heed the principle of 'polluter pays' at the Bhopal site. But Ratan Tata, in his letter to Ahluwalia, wrote: "I understand from Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow, that he would like to also discuss approaches/solutions to this issue." The reference, it seems, was actually to solutions that would let Dow off the legal hook.
"Tata's offer is classic CSR – hypocritical, insincere and surreptitious about the real intent," says Rachna Dhingra of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal. "It is about blowing one's own trumpet and about everything but responsibility in one's own business." Dhingra is referring to the numerous toxic hotspots that have been caused by pollution from Tata Group companies. "If Tata wants to clean up," she continues, "it can start by setting its house in order." The list of Tata 'legacy' sites provided by the Bhopal activist is long. These hotspots include chromium pollution in Orissa's Sukinda Valley caused by Tata Steel chromite mines; the contaminated site left behind by Tata's Rallis pesticide factory in Patancheru, in Andhra Pradesh; pollution in the Gulf of Kutch caused by Tata Chemicals' soda-ash plant in Mithapur, Gujarat; and the towering mound of boiler ash from Tata Steel's smelters near Jugsalai, a working-class neighbourhood near Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.
The purpose here is not necessarily to single out the Tata Group, as many corporate houses can be blamed for environmental and other types of devastation. What is important in this instance, though, is that Tata is considered by many to be something of a gold-standard in terms of ethical corporate behaviour. But as the Bhopalis point out, public scepticism of CSR initiatives has bloomed in recent years due to the widespread failure of corporations to take on even the minimum 'responsibility' required by law. Ironically, faced with an increasingly powerful corporate sector, governments and even the United Nations is opting for voluntary self-regulation by industries, rather than working to tighten law enforcement by regulators.