EX-UN OFFICIAL CHALLENGED FOR DEFENDING COCA-COLA

As the summer of 2009 approaches, the village of Kala Dera in north India is bracing itself for yet another season of acute water shortages - thanks largely to Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola should never have located its bottling plant in a drought prone area which had already been declared as overexploited by the government. It was malfeasance on the part of Coca-Cola to locate its plant in such a water-deficit area, and it was a grave mistake on the part of the Indian government to allow the plant to be located in Kala Dera.

Last month, key activists from Kerala who have succeeded in shutting down one of Coca-Cola’s largest plants in India wrote an open letter to Mr. Shashi Tharoor deploring his role as an advisor to the recently formed Coca-Cola India Foundation. What followed was a response from Mr. Tharoor which confirmed that he is not aware of the facts surrounding Coca-Cola’s operations in India. Mr. Tharoor - former UN Under Secretary General - has recently confirmed (at a Coca-Cola sponsored lecture, no less) his ambitions to become an elected member of Parliament of India. Mr. Tharoor’s letter has evoked strong responses, including one from us.

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