Abdul Rafiq, 38 H.No 58, J.P Nagar, Opposite Union Carbide, Bhopal Gas exposed	Gabbar Singh, 28 Jhuggi No. 199, Annu Nagar, Chola Road, Bhopal Gas and contaminated water exposed	Iqbal Khan Khokhar, 54 Tanki No. 13, Ghosht waali gali, Nawab Colony, Berasia Road, Bhopal Contaminated water exposed
Irshaad Khan, 19 H.N0- 763, Housing Board, Gas Rahat Colony, Karod, Near Berasia Road, Bhopal Parents exposed to gas	Jabbar Khan, 45 H.No 93, Gali No. 3, Near Masjid, Cabin No. 3, Gupta Nagar, Bidisha Road, Bhopal Gas and contaminated water exposed	Sanjay Verma, 24 B 2/202, Sheetal Nagar, Berasia Road, Bhopal Exposed to gas at age 6 months
Rachna Dhingra (fasting in Tihar Jail for first nine days), 30 S-3, Tulsi Towers, Patel Nagar, Bhopal Not exposed Profile	Satinath Sarangi, 53 MIG-1/1, Quazi Wazdul Hussain Colony, Lalghati, Bhopal Not exposed	Meera More (Fasting in Tihar Jail for first nine days), 27 d/o Ambaram Jhuggi, Gondipura near New Jail, Bhopal Gas exposed Profile

BHOPAL HUNGER STRIKERS, JULY 2nd, 2008 - ?

, Shanti Bai, 70 Contaminated water exposed	, Suresh Palkar, 20 Family acutely gas exposed	, Tulsa Bai Bhagore, 70 Gas and contaminated water exposed
Ishrat Bee, 40 Gas and contaminated water exposed	Laxmi Parihar, 75 Gas exposed	Raju Khan, 23 Family exposed to gas when 6 months old
Anwari Bee, 45 Contaminated water exposed	Hakim Singh Thakur, 58 Gas and contaminated water exposed	Imran Ansari, 20 Parents badly gas exposed

PROFILES

JUNE 10th, 2008 - JULY 2nd, 2008

Jabbar Bhai (Age: 45)

Jabbar Khan a.k.a Jabbar Bhai owns a small tea shop in Bhopal. This is the second time he has walked to Delhi. If a foreigner had walked all the way here, the Government would have welcomed him with open arms, he says. Jabbar is a gas victim, as is his wife. As is the case with many gas-affected couples, Jabbar and his wife Nafisa's three children suffer from the hand-me-down effects of the poison gas. Jabbar is anxious about the future of his three children. He feels the new generation will have little strength to work. Jabbar's entire family is in the struggle. Jabbar has had one heart attack. But that has not deterred him from walking to Delhi with his wife and 11-year old daughter, Yasmin, or from going on an indefinite hunger strike.

Abdul Rafiq (Age: 38)

Rafiq had just managed to get his mother to sleep when MIC leaked from the Union Carbide factory. A few years later, young Rafiq was left to battle the gas effects all alone, when his mother succumbed to them after a protracted struggle. Since then life has been tough. He complains of irritation in his eyes, weakness, dizziness, anxiety, itching and constant body ache. He strongly feels that only a united struggle can help the survivors: “I am on hunger strike for my deceased mother and the whole new generation that now has to live with the gas effects and Carbide's poisons,” he declares.

Iqbal Khan (Age: 54)

Iqbal was 30 when MIC leak happened. Although he and his family fled to Beragadh, his one-year-old son was severely exposed to the gas and remained hospitalized for over a month. Both Iqbal and his wife suffer from blurred vision. Residents of Nawab colony, they are now victims of contaminated drinking water as well: they suffer from stomach ache, weakness and headache. Encouraged by Rashida Bi and his other friends active in the Bhopal struggle, Iqbal decided to join the walk to Delhi in 2008. He has a small clothes shop, and a family of six to support back home. Nonetheless, dismayed by the Prime Minister's apathy, Iqbal is now on an indefinite hunger fast.

Irshad Khan (Age: 20)  

Irshad's parents were both victims of the gas leak; both faced a variety of medical problems, and his mother lost use of her right arm. He himself periodically suffers from headaches followed by vomiting and fever. But it was only when he was 13 years old that his friend and neighbour introduced him to ‘Sathyu Sir' and the Bhopal movement. Irshad then started juggling relief work and education, going to the basti -s for medical survey work in the morning and to school noon onwards. He soon came for his first dharna at Jantar Mantar six years ago; this is his second sojourn here. “Even if not for me, atleast the other gas victims will get medical facilities,” says Irshad, who joined the hunger strike in the hope that it may prove more effective getting their demands fulfilled than the already 2-month old dharna. “I will do whatever I can,” he declares – “ Ummeed pe duniya tiki hai. ” [‘The world is living on hope']

Gabbar Singh (Age: 28)  

In 1984, three year old Gabbar lived in Shahjahanabad in Bhopal with his parents and 4 siblings. On that fateful night, his parents awoke to smoke in their house. They tried to protect themselves under wetted blankets, but in vain. The whole family was exposed, and was to suffer the effects of the toxic gas over the next 24 years (his elder brother died in 1999). In 1990, Gabbar's family moved to Annu Nagar, thus becoming ‘ paani peedit ' (water-affected persons) as well. For six years (1990-96), they received as interim relief the princely sum of Rs. 200 per month per family member. But even that wasn't without adventure: some officials defrauded him and his brothers of some of the instalments.

In 2008, his 14-year-old Rakhi ‘sister' Sarita, who knew Rachna and the Bhopal struggle, urged him to join the padyatra . He came, and to put it simply, feels good working as part of the struggle. Gabbar is a whiz with all things electrical, mechanical. The Bhopal dharna tent – expandable to accommodate upto 200 easily – was erected, wired up by him. Gabbar is also the official photographer for the campaign. Many of the pictures in the website are his work.

His involvement in this campaign has been a learning experience, he says. . . about who gets what, how ‘companies' are ‘ruining our country'. Having been in a hunger strike 4 years ago in Bhopal , Gabbar didn't hesitate to join the indefinite hunger strike.

Rachna Dhingra (Age: 30)

Originally from Delhi , Rachna was just six years old when the world's worst industrial disaster struck Bhopal in 1984. She was 18 when she moved to the US with her mother and later joined a student group in the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , that took up the issue of the Bhopal gas disaster. Rachna graduated with a business degree in 2000 and came back to stay in Bhopal in January 2003. Now she is associated with the Bhopal Group of Information and Action. She quit her job with an IT company while working on a contract with Dow Chemical, the parent company of Union Carbide Corporation. From working for Dow, she has put in more energy and time in working against it over the last 5 years. Referred to as Rachna Didi by her substantial fan club among the young fighters of Bhopal , Rachna is known as a person that you don't mess around with. Be it a troublesome computer or a rowdy policeman, Rachna usually has a way to deal with it. Part of the February 2006 padayatra and hunger strike, where Dr. Manmohan Singh cheated the Bhopalis for the first time, Rachna joined the fast in Bhopal in 2007 and has now again begun her fast from jail, along with Meera. [Excerpts from The Tribune. May 6, 2006]

Satinath Sarangi (54) cannot be classified under the "young activist" category but this metallurgical engineer-turned-activist who arrived in Bhopal the day after the disaster when he was 32 stayed on to become a key figure in the Bhopal struggle along with survivor activists like Champa Devi Shukla, Rashida Bee and Sanjay Verma, who was just one year old on that fateful night of December 1984. And this is what Satyu, Satinath from Puri district in Orissa, has to say: When I compare myself with my friends who were there with me in engineering, I find myself much happier.

Satyu set up the Sambhavna Trust Clinic, about 12 years ago, as a free clinic to treat Union Carbide's victims. More than just another clinic, Sambavna – which means “possibility”—is a living demonstration that compassionate care, community leadership, democratic functioning, a scientific blend of the old (yoga/ayurveda) and the new (allopathy) are all well within the realm of possibility. He has been gone nearly 4 months from Bhopal , but the clinic is running, just fine.

Being and working with children is another of Sathyu's passion. If you see the children that are now pretty much permanent fixtures in the Bhopal camp in Jantar Mantar, you will know the attraction. Capable of planning a direct action from scratch, these kids are made to win Sathyu's heart. Author of a popular story book with 8 short stories about a child called Anarcho, Sathyu's wish is that every child would build on the strengths of childhood – innocent questioning, healthy irreverence, fearlessness, lack of cynicism and a black-and-white distinction of the good and the bad. As direct actions, hunger strikes and ways of the satyagraha go, Sathyu is a veteran with several indefinite fasts and one waterless fast behind him.

It is the spirit of the people I have been working with that has made me go on. Looking back, I would not like my life to shape up in any other way. The Sambhavna Trust Clinic, where I work, is funded by individuals. We do not take money from foundations like Ford or Rockfeller, which give huge amounts. To earn a living, I have worked as a feature writer and also as a contract labourer in a paper board mill". [Excerpt from The Tribune. May 6, 2006 ]

Meera More (26)

Meera is a 26 year old survivor. She was 3 when the disaster took place. Her family used to live in a hutment at Qazi Camp on the northern side of the Union Carbide factory. Her parents took her and her siblings and ran for safety at the time of the disaster. Meera's entire family was exposed and has been suffering ever since. She lost her father a few years after prolonged illness. Her mother and sisters are always unwell. One of her sisters, who is 28 years old, is yet to start her menstruations; even Meera suffers from severe abdominal pain occasionally.

Meera is one of the most hard working persons around. She cooks, cleans, helps others cook even though its not her turn, and even fixes the electricity connections for us. She is ever ready to help others in pain or distress. Even though she has a lot of pain and anger within her for the years of injustice she still believes that she should not show it while explaining the demands to the ministers concerned. At the same time Meera wants to burn effigies of Manmohan Singh and Warren Anderson at every traffic junction in Delhi.

JULY 2nd, 2008 - ?

Shanti Bai, 70 Years

Shanti Bai and her family lived near Chola mandir at the time of the disaster. She worked as a domestic help at the time, and wasn't at home when the gas leak happened (they were visiting their village), but her elder daughter-in-law and two sons were badly affected. In fact, her daughter-in-law could only conceive twenty years after the disaster. The family now lives in Shiv nagar - a water-contaminated area. Shanti Bai and her ten grandchildren are all victims of water contamination. Stomach ache, recurring fever, dizziness and skin rashes are problems all of them are suffering. The teeth of her youngest granddaughter turned black due to contaminated water. Shanti was a regular in the Aloo factory meetings, and decided to join the March to Delhi and now hunger strike as she is convinced that the struggle needs participation by one and all. She likes keeping herself engaged and can be seen cleaning, helping in cooking or arranging things at the dharna site.

Suresh Pal, 20 years

Suresh works as a vegetable vendor in Bhopal . His family lived in Nishatpura when the gas leaked, and his parents, grandparents and two sisters were badly exposed. He recalls his sisters having acute breathlessness and weakness. This is the first time Suresh has joined the movement. At first it was more out of curiosity, but following the experience of the Padyatra and the three-month long haul in Delhi , he has found a great determination for the struggle. He was one of the 22 survivors who were arrested after the demonstration at the Prime Minister offices on 9 th June. Suresh was stripped and abused by policemen in Parliament Police Station and later abused several times in Tihar Jail as well. Undeterred, and inspired by the nine Bhopalis who fasted so far, Suresh has resolved to continue an indefinite fast until the Prime Minister meets the demands.

Tulsa Bai Bhagore, 70 Years

Tulsa Bai and her family came to Bhopal two years before the disaster. At the time of gas leak they lived on the footpaths in Sindhi Colony, from where they fled to their village in Khandwa and came back to Bhopal only a year later. While they survived the ill effects of gas exposure, they couldn't escape the toxic waste left behind by Union Carbide. Little did they know while settling down in Blue Moon colony in the late nineteen eighties that they would have to face the horrors of contaminated drinking water. Tulsa 's fourteen-year-old grandson Akash is much shorter than his peers; her daughter-in-law suffers excessive bleeding at the time of her periods, and her younger son developed Tuberculosis. Her other grandchildren also complain of constant backache, breathlessness and weakness. Tulsa thinks this is due to the contaminated water and is enraged at the second-generation effects in the children. She was one of the fifty Bhopalis who walked from Bhopal to Delhi and her decision to sit on the indefinite fast is only another step in her journey for justice.

Ishrat Bee, 40 Years

Ishrat Bee lived in Qazi Camp with her husband and four children at the time of the gas leak. Her youngest son, who was only twelve months old, was severely exposed to gas. Today he is 23 years old and only 4 feet in height and suffers constant headaches, breathlessness and coughing. He was never accepted as a gas victim by the Court, despite the problems he has had ever since.  Both she and her husband have also been suffering blurred vision, chest pain, joint pain and dizziness. They later shifted to Atal Ayub Nagar, ignorant of the water contamination. She was also one of the 22 who were arrested and imprisoned in Tihar after a peaceful protest at Prime Minister's Office. She started her indefinite fast today, and is determined to continue until the Prime Minister breaks his silence.

Laxmi Bai Parihar, 75 Years

Laxmi Bai lived in J.P Nagar (opposite Union Carbide) at the time of the disaster. Her husband worked as a labourer in the close by Godown. She continues to be haunted by the events of that dreadful night of 2-3 rd December. Her husband, who was badly exposed to gas, died a few years later after a long hospitalization. The family went through a tough time making ends meet. Laxmi's two sons and daughter had to take on work to earn the daily bread and butter. Laxmi feels disgust at the way Government has treated the survivors. At 75, she feels strong enough resolve to go on this indefinite fast, for demands which she feels are Bhopal 's right.

Raju Khan, 23 Years

Raju was six months old when the disaster took place. Most of his memories of the disaster are the incidents narrated by his family. His family lived in Congress Nagar at the time of the disaster. While most members of his family were exposed to the gas, he was saved because his family kept him wrapped in a blanket. His involvement with the movement started as a consequence of his close acquaintance with Sathyu, who lived in his neighbourhood at one time. Raju has been part of many Bhopal protest actions, and ensured that this time he also participated in the 800 km March to Delhi . He works as a truck conductor and for the last four months hasn't had a source of income. Even still, he feels he should be more involved in the movement and so, in order to force the Prime Minister to break his astounding silence, decided to go on indefinite fast.

Anwari Bee, 45 Years

Anwari Bee lived in Agra at the time of the disaster and came to Bhopal only in 1989. Completely unaware of the water contamination, she settled in Atal Ayub Nagar. Soon breathlessness, itching, skin rashes, stomach ache and many other problems forced her and her family into constant visits to hospitals. She learnt later this was due to the toxic waste that Union Carbide dumped in the nearby solar evaporation ponds. Out of her nine children, her second son became a victim of 1990's communal riots. Her involvement with the movement started with visits to Aloo factory meetings. She was much inspired by Muslim women like Rashida Bee and Hajira Bee taking the lead: this fuelled her desire to be more actively involved. She was one of the 22 who were imprisoned in Tihar for more than nine days. When asked about her decision to go on hunger strike, she says, "If you breastfeed poison to your child you don't plead for life anymore, you demand to fight those who injected poison into you in the first place. I hope the Prime Minister understands soon that we have suffered immensely at the hands of the criminal company."

Hakim Singh, 58 years

Hakim Singh and his family lived in Kainchi Chola when the gas leaked happened. He worked as a labourer in the Easter Oxygen Plant next to Union Carbide. He was at home when the gas leak happened and because he himself worked in a factory he was aware of the possibility of a gas leak and the preventive measures. He immediately instructed his family to cover their faces with a wet cloth. Still, the family could not escape the gas completely. Hakim and his wife's eyes were badly affected. The family now lives in Prem nagar and suffers the effects of water contamination. This is the first time Hakim Singh has walked to Delhi but his determination to be on indefinite fast until the demands are met is absolutely unmatched.

Imran Ansari, 20 Years

Imran's parents lived in Chhawni at the time of the disaster. Both parents were badly exposed and remained hospitalized for a long time. He was born four years after the gas leak. His mother Akbari Bee is a member of the Stationary Karamchari trade union. His younger sister has a nervous system disorder (resulting in frequent convulsions.)  Imran himself has had chronic backache since childhood. Imran has actively participated in most of the protests in Delhi , and was arrested on 9 th June with 22 others Imran was beaten with belts in the Parliament Police Station till his eye was swollen badly, but, this only strengthened his resolve. He is determined to struggle until the demands are met and was quick to volunteer to go on an indefinite fast.