The State government has sanctioned Rs.60.87 lakh for providing educational assistance to endosulfan-affected families.

Minister for Panchayats and Social Welfare M.K. Muneer will inaugurate the disbursement of the assistance at Uppala in Kasaragod district on November 22. The Kerala Social Welfare Mission, which is providing the assistance, had received 2,292 applications for aid. The Minister will hand over the assistance to 12 children on Thursday. Assistance will be sent to others the same day by electronic money order, an official release said on Tuesday.

A joint expert committee on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the manufacture and use of pesticide endosulfan may be permitted for two years so as to exhaust the available stock.

The use and manufacture of endosulfan pesticide (banned by court since May last year) may be permitted for two years to exhaust all stocks of the raw material, the Joint Expert Committee informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

In its report submitted before a Bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B. Lokur, the committee said: “India is a signatory to the Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions and is committed to discontinuing use of endosulfan over the next five years. All countries which have banned endosulfan have a phase-out plan for its use in agriculture over two to six years. Such a plan has ensured that all stocks available in the country are utilised and exhausted completely within a desirable time frame.”

The Endosulfan Peeditha Janakeeya Munnani on Thursday took out a march to the District Collector’s office seeking the implementation of the relief and rehabilitation package for victims.

Govt conducted unscientific, improper survey of Endo victims, alleges leader

Dakshina Kannada District Congress has decided to stretch a helping hand to more than 5,521 Endosulfan victims from 92 villages of Sullia, Puttur, Belthangady and Bantwal taluks in the district. Addressing a press conference in Mangalore on Thursday, Social Action Group for Empowerment (SAGE) Convenor and AICC Member P V Mohan said that Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad has responded positively for the first hand report sent by district Congress about Endo victims through AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes and assured of taking immediate actions.

Endosulfan Peeditha Janakeeya Munnani march today

District Collector P.S. Mohammed Sagir has said here that there is no ground to be apprehensive about the compensation due to the families of endosufan victims. The district administration had been informed about the apprehension of the families that they might be deprived of the compensation suggested by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). There was no need to worry about the government’s intentions, he said in a press release issued here on Wednesday.

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the Central and state governments to act against “endosulfan poisoning” in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts as the pesticide was wreaking havoc on many families there.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna, hearing a suo motu petition, observed that the endosulfan chemical had ruined “generations.” The court pointed out that a mother wanted her endosulfan-affected child to die as she thought there would not be anyone to look after it, in case of her death first. Such instances depicted the gravity of the situation.

Describing that the health problems caused to people in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts from the use of endosulfan are “next only to the Bhopal gas tragedy”, the State government on Wednesday submitted to the Karnataka High Court that it was time to make the polluter to pay compensation in such cases.

Submission in this regard was made before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition, initiated suo motu by the court, on the issue of sufferings of the people affected by the use of endosulfan in two districts. The PIL petition was initiated following a letter written by K.L. Manjunath, a judge of the High Court.

A Bench of the Lok Adalat has observed that the use of banned pesticides has led to cervical and breast cancer among female agriculture labourers in six districts which fall under the Gulbarga revenue division.

The Bench comprising Justice D V Shylendra Kumar of the High Court and A N Yellappa Reddy, a member of the Lok Adalat, in its sitting in Bangalore on Saturday, directed the departments of health and agriculture to conduct a survey among labourers and suggest remedial measures.