Time to introspect, not celebrate

"For a nation with an enviable record of eight Olympic gold medals, the very fact that it had to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics points to the gross mismanagement of Hockey."

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Time to introspect, not celebrate: Sadly, there is still no end in sight with the two factions - Indian Hockey Federation and Hockey India, fighting to gain control. The International Hockey Federation's efforts to settle the issue have also failed.

The qualitative improvement effected by the new Australian coach, Michael Nobbs, with the full backing of the Sports Ministry, shows that a recovery path can be charted out provided the faction-ridden administration stays focussed on consolidating what little has been gained out of the Olympic qualifier. Such an opportunity may not arise again.

The Dow side of corporate sponsorship

"U.N. guidelines are the yardstick to assess the human rights record of corporations."

Dow Chemical got it wrong if it thought when it acquired the worldwide assets of Union Carbide that it wouldn't have to deal with the legacy of the 1984 Bhopal disaster that killed thousands of people. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : The Dow side of corporate sponsorship

The liability of Dow with regard to the disaster in 1984 itself is not easy to establish, but activists and lawyers in India assert that Dow cannot escape responsibility for the ongoing contamination of ground water in Bhopal, and its health impacts.

The conversation about Bhopal has rightly focused on corporate responsibility, but it is important to remember the role of the Indian government as well. This case shows corporate failure to respect rights (Union Carbide), state failure to protect rights (Indian government), and the absence of an adequate remedy for victims.

Wider questions still remain — what sort of screening should be in place when selecting sponsors? Should only companies with a squeaky clean reputation be chosen? And if so, how is such reputation defined? The U.N. Guiding Principles on business and human rights — which provide the authoritative due diligence steps all companies need to take — offer a promising yardstick.

The Olympics represent the noblest of human efforts to strive towards higher standards. Organisers should aspire towards the highest standards when they undertake due diligence to select partners, in celebration of this ultimate test of human endeavour.