Evidence is piling up showing the aerial spraying of Endosulfan in Kasaragod district by the Plantation Corporation of Kerala not only caused deleterious health effects but also impoverished the local population.
The State-owned Corporation is yet to offer any relief, though it has agreed to follow government directive in respect of sharing some of the remediation costs with government.
Recent meeting of Persistent Organic Pollutant Review Committee (POPRC), a subsidiary body of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was held at Geneva on 15th of October, 2010 in which the member nations especially European Union lobby strongly voiced for a global ban on the production and use of endosulfan, an organochlorine compound widely used in agriculture as an ins
Caricatures, many a time, act as satires on various raging issues that engulf the world. However, at times, they act as a medium of introspection as well.
The awareness programme that is being organised by the Kerala Cartoon Academy has set out on a unique mission.
K. Muraleedharan has urged the Union Ministry of Agriculture to intervene and impose a complete ban on Endosulfan in the plantations run by the Kerala State Plantation Corporation. Inaugurating the Malabar Region Anti-Endosulfan Convention here recently, he sought a proper study by the National Institute of Occupational Health in this regard.
A survey done by Kerala government in October shows 2,210 people from 11 gram panchayats in Kasaragod are affected by endosulfan. But the muted figure did not go down well with activists fighting for endosulfan victims as the survey was done in three-four days and covered only a part of the district. Down To Earth reports on the endosulfan sufferers in Kerala still not recognised.
A 45-year-old man, undergoing prolonged treatment for mysterious diseases suspected to have been caused by the aerial spraying of Endosulfan in the cashew estates of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala in the district died at a hospital in Mangalore.
Persons in 11 panchayats of Kasaragod district who have been identified as Endosulfan victims will get enhanced pension and biometric cards for free treatment this month.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will launch the rehabilitation scheme by distributing biometric cards to the affected in Kasaragod on Friday.
Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on Monday asked the State government to adopt the families of Endosulfan victims who are leading a prolonged life of misery and trauma, saying that providing mere medical facilities to the affected was not sufficient.
