Another Long Post

I did not intend to write on the cola controversy, primarily because the public memory is, unfortunately, so short.
But the US warning to India, that this cola ban will impact US investment in India, really got the blood boiling.
Read about the threat here:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1891049.cms
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4789615.stm

It took a lot of research to come out with this, and you are welcome to point out if I am wrong anywhere. My memory was not so short after the last controversy and I have religiously monitored reports of what Coke is doing with its neighborhood and the water in particular.

Therefore, Mr. President and the general population of the US:
Coca Cola and Pepsi have the following modus operandi:

1. The Govt. of India notifies certain areas, which cannot support agriculture or other traditional vocations for local people, as "Backward" areas. Companies investing in manufacturing and other job creating ventures in these zones are given tax sops and other benefits.
2. Companies like Coke create factories in these backward area zones(remember the tax sops and the easy access to REALLY cheap labour). Then, they draw whatever little water is available in the area, practically drying up the ground water and bringing the farmers to unmitigated doom.
3. Farmers are given no assisstance, but Coca Cola Company gets to use the water whether there is any for the locals or not.
Rain or no rain, there is water for Coke:www.indiatogether.org/2005/may/env-plachmada.htm

4. After using the water, the toxic waste is released by the company IN THE SAME NEIGHBORHOOD, thereby poisoning the scarce ground water.

5. Afterwards, when the same ground water is used by the cola company, it is obviously polluted and then the company blames the groundwater for the pollution in the drinks and asks the
governments to clean up their groundwater act first.

Local communities do not like to dry up. They also do not like to be the local garbage can.

Read the following articles for more:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=7508

www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2004/Brochure.pdf

www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10641

www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_c/coca-cola_india/20051122_equity.htm

And now, re. the threat:
A. Your companies have not come to India for charity. Each one of those companies have done extensive soil testing of their own, and have gone where they liked best - some have gone to the Phillipenes, some to Indonesia/Malaysia, the majority to China, and some to India. Make no mistake. No one is doing India any favor. Not one of those companies.

B. Your FIIs have been swinging the Indian Stock Exchange for at least a year now.. a manipulation that is so evident even to novices. In the process, they have obviously been making a lot of money. The same, however, cannot be said of the individual small investor in India.

Be my guest, do take back all the "investment" that you have so "generously" given to India, and get the hell out of this country.

We would like to get rid of the toxic waste companies that treat India like the global supplier of cheap labour and the global toxic waste dump.

Guess what? India survived when you in your shining armour were not around.. and India can survive again.. without the McDonald's of the world.. and be more healthy... Thank you!