THE CHINGARI TRUST

Official press statement
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After the catastrophic 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, two women from poor neighbourhoods, Rashida Bee and Champadevi Shukla, joined scores of other gas-affected women to found the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh (the Bhopal Gas-Affected Women’s Stationery Trade Union). They became its leaders and when the union allied itself with other survivors’ groups, Rashida Apa and Champa Didi (as they are affectionately known to their friends) found themselves in the forefront of the Bhopalis’ struggle for justice and a life of dignity.

Over two decades they campaigned for proper support to be provided to the survivors of the gas, who had been abandoned with no significant medical, social or financial help, both by the corporation and by politicians at both state and national level. They fought for the clean-up of toxic wastes lying in the abandoned Union Carbide factory site in Bhopal and for more than 20,000 poor people to be saved from water poisoning caused by chemicals leaking from the site. They have relentlessly pursued Union Carbide and its new Dow Chemical to hold them accountable for their actions and bring them to justice.

Given their remarkable role in the Bhopal survivors’ struggle, the two women were in 2004 jointly awarded the Goldman Environment Prize, which has been described as "the Nobel Prize for the Environment". Although both women are their families’ sole breadwinners, they decided not to accept the $125,000 prize money for themselves, but to use the entire amount to set up a charitable trust dedicated to alleviating the suffering in Bhopal.

The all-woman Chingari Trust represents the spirit of resilience and persistence of the Bhopal survivors and notably the women who for years have refused to be daunted or defeated. Ham Bhopal ke naari hain, ham phool nahin, chingaari hain. ‘We are women of Bhopal, we are flames not flowers.’ This rallying-call of the Bhopali women survivors inspired the Trust’s name and symbol.

The Chingari Trust seeks to provide proper medical care for children being born in Bhopal with malformations and brain damage, and to provide income-earning opportunities for families that have been impoverished by the disaster and the subsequent water contamination. Many families have lost their main earners to death or illness and are left struggling for survival. By funding and encouraging the creation of new jobs and offering a positive and nurturing support structure, the Trust intends to set an example to government and others.

The Trust will recognise and support struggles led by women in various parts of the country, especially in remote rural India by each year making a “Chingari Award for Women Against Corporate Crimes”, with a trophy and a fellowship of fifty thousand Indian rupees.