Mehdiganj
2003-2004
Report by Shira Wolf
Thanda-Hearted Matlab: Coca Cola in India
Shira Wolf
University of Wisconsin College Year in India
Varanasi 2003-2004
Advisor: Dr. Ranjana Sheel
Summary: This is a fairly detailed report from Shira Wolf, a student from University of Wisconsin spent an year (2003-2004) in Mehdiganj. She observes the transformation of the place in the modernization era. After giving a brief background on globalization and how it has changed the dynamics of the society, she talks beiefly about the history of Coca-Cola in India and in particular the plant in Mehdiganj. She documents how the community in Mehdiganj had started resisting the actions of the local Bharat Coca-Cola plant there and the movement grew into one that rejects the plant.
The paper records the experiences of the villagers, the problems they are facing and some of the tactics used by the company to pacify people. For example, when people started protesting the excessive withdrawal of ground water, the company offered building of hand pumps instead of wells. Some people accepted it, while some people saw it a kind of manipulation. In 2002, some villagers started noticing that their lands were being rendered waste by the polluted water and started protesting it. Factory had been dumping their polluted water into the fields and orchards until July 2003 destroying over twenty acres of paddy wheat and chick peas.
In September 2003, an evaluation in the village and of the movement and found that while activists wanted the company to close, a large portion of villagers did not. It was found that these villagers only wanted the pollution to stop and for the company to provide maximum employment to villagers. As time went by, villagers slowly became more involved and educated in the issue. Now most of the villagers either want the plant shut down or completely support those who are trying to get the plant shut down. Shira also documents how the organization Lok Samiti has been at the forefront of this movement and leading it.