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By Root 1059 0

bore his name welcomed the principal executives of Carbide’s Indian subsidiary company along with a hundred of the highest officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Planning Commission. These dignitaries had gathered to celebrate the quasi-historic agreement signed that afternoon at the Ministry of Agriculture in front of a pack of journalists and photographers. The contract would arm Indian peasants against aphids and other insects destroying their crops. To this end, it provided for the immediate importation of 1,200 tons of American Sevin. In return, Carbide undertook to build a factory to make this same pesticide in India within five years. Eduardo Muñoz had negotiated this agreement with a high-ranking official named Sardar Singh, who indicated he was impatient to see the first deliveries arrive. He was, as his turban and bearded cheeks indicated, a Sikh, originally from the Punjab. The peasants of his community had been the first victims of the marauding insects.

As chance would have it, the Carbide envoy was able to satisfy the hopes of his Indian partner sooner than anticipated. Discovering that a cargo of 1,200 tons of Sevin destined for farmers in the locust-infested Nile Valley, was held up in the port of Alexandria by overzealous customs officers, the Carbide envoy managed to have the ship diverted to Bombay. Two weeks later, the precious Sevin was received there like a gift from heaven.

The euphoria subsided somewhat when it was discovered that the Sevin from the Egyptian ship was actually a concentrate that could not be used until it had undergone appropriate preparation. In their own jargon, specialists called this process “formulation.” It consisted of mixing the concentrate with sand or gypsum powder. Like the sugar added to the active substance in a medicine to facilitate its consumption, the sand acts as a carrier for Sevin making it possible to either spread or spray the insecticide as needed. There was no shortage of small industrial units in India that could carry out this transformation process. But Muñoz had a better idea. Carbide itself would make its Sevin usable, by building its own formulation factory. No matter that the Industrial Development and Regulation Act reserved the construction of this kind of plant for very small firms and only those of Indian nationality, he knew he could comply tacitly with the law by finding someone to act as a front man.

Like anywhere else in the world, there is no shortage in India of intermediaries, agents, compradores prepared to act as go-betweens for any kind of business. One morning in June 1967, a jolly little man turned up in Eduardo Muñoz’s office.

“My name is Santosh Dindayal,” he announced, “and I am a devotee of the cult of Krishna.” Taken aback by this mode of introduction, the Argentinian offered his visitor a cigar. “I own numerous businesses,” the Indian went on. “I have a forestry development company, a scooter concession, a cinema, a gas station. I’ve heard about your plan to build a pesticide factory.” At this point in his account, the man assumed a slightly mysterious air. “Well, you see, it so happens that I have entrées all over Bhopal.”

“Bhopal?” repeated Muñoz, to whom the place meant nothing.

“Yes. It’s the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh,” the Indian continued. “The state government is eager to develop its industry. It could well be useful for your project.”

Drawing vigorously on his cigar, the little man explained that the people running Madhya Pradesh had set aside an area for industrial development on vacant land north of the capital.

“What I’m proposing is that I apply in my name for a license to construct a plant that can transform the Sevin your friends have imported into a product that can be used on crops. The cost of such an undertaking shouldn’t be more than fifty thousand dollars. We can sign a partnership contract together. You do the work on the factory and then you can give me a proportion of the proceeds.”

The Argentinian was so pleased he nearly swallowed his cigar. The proposal was an excellent