CREATING JOBS FOR THOSE DESTITUTED BY THE GAS LEAK AND WATER POISONING

Twenty two years after the gas disaster in Bhopal, survivors' families have yet to be socially or economically rehabilitated. Thousands of families have lost their main breadwinners to death or illness. Surviving members live far below the poverty line in crowded slums, their ability to work limited by ill-health caused by exposure to Union Carbide's gases and from having to drink water poisoned by the factory which Carbide's owner Dow refuses to clean.

The Chingari Trust seeks to help women whose families have lost their breadwinners to find new ways to earn a living for themselves and their families. We will support, encourage and nurtue their self-help efforts in a programme which we hope will servce as an example to government of what economic rehabilitaton should be.

In broad terms the Trust will support will support income-generating activites that:

– are viable and lead to improvement in the economic conditions of the family

– are eco-friendly and not cast in conventional gender-roles

– replace corporate products and services as far as possible with community-produced products and services

- take into consideration the frail health of most affected women who need this support

- are group-based with women organised into self help groups to benefit from economies of scale and access government programmes

- are run by peer groups rather than as individual entrepreneurial ventures

Some ideas for possible activities include:

taking up a trade like
     - clay modelling
     - food processing
making and marketing
     - Bhopal mementos
     - handmade & recycled paper
     - sanitary pads
     - leaf cups and plates
     - cosmetic jewellery
     - bamboo and cane products
urban farming
      – growing and selling organic vegetables
retraining to be
     - electricians
     - automobile mechanics
     - plumbers
     - caterers