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Journalism of Courage
SHE8217;S the woman who forced Coke and Pepsi to share the same platform. Sunita Narain, director of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment CSE bumps into Coca-Cola and PepsiCo CEOs in television studios but they walk past, avoiding eye contact. This is not the first time she8217;s made life tough for them. Six months ago, her expose on pesticides in bottled water had made similar news.
But this time, the two cola giants have been hit directly. Within four days of the CSE report of pesticide content in Coke and Pepsi, the Parliament removed it from its canteen, there are reports of dipping sales, state government are collecting samples for testing and even the Ministry of Defence did some loud thinking
on banning the colas.
Away from all this, Narain sits in her office close to midnight, 8216;8216;strategising8217;8217; with her colleagues on their next step after being served a legal notice from the two corporates.
She8217;s won praise from the public but has also been accused of sensationalising and attacking MNCs. 8216;8216;What about the ground water which we are drinking?8217;8217; says an angry e-mail. Her motives, funding and the state-of-the-art laboratory that did these tests for pesticides are all being questioned.
Narain is undeterred by the criticism and calls her expose a part of a larger campaign on the quality of drinking water. 8216;8216;The reaction on the first expose on bottled water took me by surprise. People were writing in from the remotest corners of the country.8217;8217;
The response prompted CSE to take on the soft drinks companies. 8216;8216;But for that we needed to get the issue close to the public, so that they start talking and thinking about it,8217;8217; she says.
Investigation is not all that CSE does. The organisation, that has grown from a one-room office to one that employs 250 people, works on water harvesting, air pollution and brings out a fortnightly magazine Down to Earth. Among the CSE8217;s other success stories is getting CNG for TELCO. The company even slapped a Rs 100 crore suit against it for calling its diesel vehicles 8216;8216;engines of the devil.8217;8217;
When CSE was set up in 1980, its founder Anil Agarwal wanted to write a citizen8217;s report on the state of India8217;s environment and launch a magazine on environment. Narain joined to work on the report and stayed on. During her long career at CSE, she was seen as heir apparent to Agarwal. When he died a year and a half ago after a prolonged battle with cancer, Narain took charge.
She had earlier done short stints with Viksat, an NGO run by Kartikeya Sarabhai and an NGO in Mumbai. In Delhi she joined Kalpvriksh and became part of the growing tribe of student activists in the 80s.
When she took over CSE, many were anxious to see if she could live up to Anil8217;s legacy. She appears to be doing fine. Anil, an engineer trained at IIT Kanpur, built a reputation around his scientific brilliance. Narain8217;s acquiring one on her incisive understanding of the politics of science.
The comparisons do not annoy her. 8216;8216;The most satisfying email I have ever got was one addressed as Anil-Sunita. This is a wonderful testimony to the Institute8217;s work and it is as if he never left it,8217;8217; she says.
