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India must share its good green tech with other developing nations
The bad news is not only that people were poisoned, but that this was the subsidiary of an Indian company. In photos, the former factory looked like an unsafe, crude, medieval operation.
The story of India-Africa ties is rich, bubbling over with positive news. There’s ancient trading, Indian professors teaching children mathematics, and Indian traders for whom one or the other country in Africa is home. But today is good news day.
In Kenya’s Owino Uthuru, outside Mombasa, a community fought lead poisoning from Kenya Metal Refineries EPZ Limited, that recycled lead acid batteries. The factory shut down, but in 2016, a class action suite was initiated by the community, demanding compensation. The chemical and lead-laced remains from the factory continue to be a challenge. A former worker, Phyllis Omido, who led the struggle, just got a ruling for compensation of about ~85 crores (11.3 million USD).
The bad news is not only that people were poisoned, but that this was the subsidiary of an Indian company. In photos, the former factory looked like an unsafe, crude, medieval operation.
Meanwhile, India has managed to get excellent local technology off the ground. While regulation in many African countries is poor, and while India can’t stop its entrepreneurs from doing all kinds of business, we can showcase such our own environmental technology that meets our regulatory standards. We must set criterion, identify tech and let other developing countries know of these.
If regulatory authorities in other countries know of these technologies, they might safeguard their citizens and environment by using good tech from India, not the kind of stuff we ourselves don’t allow, and which brings us disrepute.
(The writer is the founder and director of the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group)
