Less than a week ago, Dow Corning's Ranjangaon facility was given a manufacturing excellence award for their world class manufacturing standards by Frost & Sullivan. It is now clear that their facilities in the third world are so world class that even the map of the town where they are located are replicas of their American unit. Khusboo Narayan et al's story is a classic expose of a malaise that is frighteningly prevalent in India. Good job Khusboo/Padmaparna. Lax regulators -- probably under the influence of inducements paid by project proponents -- routinely ignore critical errors in project documents. Let us not forget that Dow is no stranger to bribes and short-cuts. Dow Chemical, a 50 percent owner of Dow Corning, paid more than $200,000 in bribes to Indian agriculture ministry officials to register 4 pesticides, including one -- dursban -- that is prohibited for use in US homes owing to its deleterious effects on children's brains. It is unfortunate that the MPCB official glibly palms off responsibility saying "Mistakes do happen." Was Bhopal a mistake? The way I see it, the only mistake here is of Maharashtrians reposing their faith in the semi-literate babus at MPCB, who probably will not be able to see science even if it hit them on their faces.