What are the lessons for Corporate India from the Bhopal disaster?
Corporate India needs to have strong risk management practices, follow processes rigorously, train their people for proper maintenance, have a strong verification, audit and compliance function, a risk committee at the Board level and a strong Board oversight for risk. Bhopal was a result of these lacks—generally, a cowboy attitude towards risk. Corporate India also needs to understand that society will not accept this and will demand high compensation. There is a glaring contrast between US President Obama deciding to make British Petroleum pay $20 billion for the oil leakage and India accepting just $470 million from Union Carbide. Do you think that the government’s measures are inadequate? The Indian government’s attitude to the life of its own citizens is woeful. Look at the large number of deaths in the public domain. The compensation handed out to the victims is inadequate. It is necessary to make mandatory a life cover for employees of corporations through LIC so that there is s
