GreenPeace India Discovers The Power of Bollywood
By Kamla Bhatt • May 7th, 2008
Category: Bollywood, Ideas, India, Video
GreenPeace India has discovered the power of Bollywood. To be precise, the organization has discovered the persuasive powers of legendary actors: Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra from the film Sholay. Watch this cheekily titled video to find out how GreenPeace India is harnessing Bollywood dialogs to spread its message to save endangered turtles in Orissa, India. The Tatas are involved in the building of Dhamra deep-sea port in Orissa, which possesses immediate threat to the endangered sea turtles in that area.
For a while now GreenPeace India, has been conducting an online campaign against Tata Sons and Ratan Tata over the building of this port and it looks like thousands of people have signed the online petition. Now, GreenPeace India is sending this video clip as part of their viral campaign to protect the endangered sea turtles of Orissa. So, every time you see this video clip and share it with your friends, GreenPeace sends an email to Mr. Ratan Tata. I only hope all these emails are not landing in Mr. Tata’s spam folder!
I think this is a brilliant use of Bollywood by GreenPeace and I like their tagline OK, Tata, Bye, Bye. I believe (if my memory serves me right) that is how the Tatas got their surname in the late 19th or 20th century…when their boats used to leave Bombay port people would shout Ok, Tata, bye, bye.
Technorati Tags: greenpeace india,olive ridley turtles,orissa,dhamra port,ratan tata,tata,bollywood + greenpeace,sholay
Tagged as: dhamra, environmental activism, greenpeace india, orissa, ratan tata, ridley turtles in orissa, tata
thanks for linking!
Hi Kamla,
Thanks for blogging about the campaign to stop Tata’s port in Dhamra from destroying endangered Olive Ridleys. We need your help again like a ship on fire! Can you please email me? I’ll let you know whats happening, what we’re planning to do and how you can help.
Thanks,
nlincoln(at)greenpeace(dot)org
If the provided email address doesn’t work, please contact me at,
nlincoln(at)in(dot)greenpeace(dot)org.
Greenpeace, the professed global environment campaign organization, in an instance of unmatched brazenness, falsified the report prepared by North Orissa University on Biodiversity Assessment of Dhamra Estuary. As a result, a group of forty MPs wrote to the Ministry Of Environment and Forests to call on the bluff of Greenpeace. The Orissa Govt. therefore initiated action against Greenpeace proposing a ban on all its activities in the state.
However, after the 102nd Annual General Meeting of Tata Steel in Mumbai, Greenpeace unabashedly has started their tricks once again. This time it has managed to rope in Retd Admiral Ramdas and his wife Mrs. Lalita Ramdas on the issue of Dhamra port but as far as scientific reasoning goes, the issues raised are totally unfounded. We can just hope that the visit of the Ramdas’ to the site will help to stop meaningless agitations and clear the situation once and for all.
Tata Steel has always maintained a strong focus on environment sustainability and environment management in all its operations. We have seen that in the issues regarding the construction of a deep-sea port at Dhamra in Orissa, the Company has been forthcoming in sharing the concerns of activists and ever willing to implement practical means of mitigating any adverse impact of port construction on the marine eco-system in that area. The Company has held at least eight to nine sessions of meetings with Greenpeace and other environmental organizations in the matter of Dhamra Port. Tata Steel has made it abundantly clear that it is willing to have further discussions in order to alleviate any unnecessary doubts that the dissenters may yet nurture against the project.
Here is an outline of events as they happened till date.
The JV agreement with L&T to build a port at Dhamra was signed by Tata Steel in 2004. At the very onset, discussions were initiated with WWF- India, BNHS, Mr Kartik Shankar, Mr Bittu Sehagal and others.
The company was duly concerned with the objections raised by different environmental organizations and agreed not to begin construction work till a detailed study was complete. Responding wholeheartedly to the demands of activists, Tata Steel agreed for a proposal for a further study of the impact of the port on turtles and on the marine and island eco-system.
In 2005, BNHS and WWF-India, with an unprecedented suddenness, reversed their stand and refused to conduct the assessment study as they had promised. However, the organisations did not provide any reasons for their turncoat attitude.
In March 06, in an address to ED, Greenpeace India, the Chairman of TATA Sons made it clear that commitments were meant to be honoured at both ends. The Company had fulfilled their promise by withholding construction work for the proposed study, which never actually took off. The MD of Tata Steel also met Greenpeace officials in their Bangalore office.
In January 2008 a meeting was subsequently conducted between Greenpeace and Tata Steel and a list of concerns was presented by Greenpeace with regard to Dhamra Port. DPCL on 8th March 2008, gave a detailed and comprehensive explanation to all the points raised by Greenpeace. Subsequent objections were allayed on 3rd May 2008.
Further on 23rd October 2008, MD, Tata Steel along with senior executives of Tata Steel, L&T and DPCL met Greenpeace, BNHS, WPSI, Wild Society of Orissa, Sanctuary Asia and other environmental organizations to discuss the concerns and the way forward on the subject with regard to Dhamra Port.
A team of Company Executives and environment experts visited Bhitarakanika National Park, Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary and the Dhamra Port site on February 2009, supervising the ongoing dredging operations.
On fourth meeting on 20th Feb 2009 in Kolkata, Tata Steel, L&T and DPCL agreed to conduct the additional biological impact assessment in close collaboration with NGOs’ of environmental organizations team led by a mutually agreed upon Scientists team. However the NGOs’ in a further instance of unreasonableness, insisted upon complete cessation of on-going dredging operation of Dhamra Port even before the commencement of study. However DPCL, Tata Steel and L&T team showed it preparedness to adjust the schedule of works including dredging to facilitate the study after due recommendation by the Scientists team.
The 102nd AGM of Tata Steel had been attended by a number of Greenpeace activists who happen to be shareholders of the Company as well. The AGM highlighted Tata Steel’s interests in further conference with Greenpeace in the matter of the port in addition to an invitation to activists to visit the port site yet again.
From the sequence of events, it is absolutely clear that the only thing that Greenpeace wants is to prolong the situation of deadlock in the matter of Dhamra Port. Perhaps, due to a lack of other valid issues on their agenda, Greenpeace is carrying on with a stance of stiffness, lest they have to give in to valid scientific reasoning. The only deduction that may be drawn from Greenpeace’s lack of willingness in discussion is that they have lost their own conviction long before and fear that they will have to admit it as such in an open forum. It is indeed a very sorry state of affairs in which progress is kept at stake and the environment is being used as a pawn by people who profess themselves to be friends of the environment.
Some shareholders of Tata Steel brought up the concerns raised by Greenpeace about the impact of the Dhamra Port on the nesting habitat of Olive Ridley Turtles at Tata Steel’s 102nd AGM in Mumbai on the 27th August’09 and requested the Chairman of Tata Steel, Mr Ratan Tata, to discuss the Dhamra Port issue with them.
Mr Tata responded immediately to their concerns and said that my invitation is “ to you Admiral Ramdas” and anybody else who would be interested and Mr Muthuraman would make the arrangements for you all to take the time to satisfy yourselves in terms of what we are doing.
Know more: http://www.eco-dhamra.com/environment/olive-ridely-turtle/response-to-greenpeace-activity-on-websites.asp