Left Front in Kerala calls Hartal to ban Killer Pesticide Endosulfan

Left Democratic Front (LDF) Kerala has called for a state-wide Hartal on Friday to protest the Congress Led central government’s stand not to clamp a ban on pesticide endosulphan, which is the reason for many deaths in the state.

LDF convenor Comrade Vaikom Viswan announced the front decision to call the shutdown to protest the Indian government’s stand on endosulphan at the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which began in Geneva Monday. India has decided it would not support a call for a ban on the pesticide during the April 25-29 convention.

‘The conference ends Friday and hence we decided to express our protest against the centre’s stand not to ask for a ban at the ongoing conference. It appears the centre is more concerned about the ‘health’ of multinational companies and not the real health of people of this country,’ said Viswan. ‘We request the people to cooperate with the shutdown. All essential services would be allowed to function and so would two-wheelers,’ he added. Comrade V.S. Achuthanandan staged a seven-hour fast to demand a nation-wide ban on endosulphan on Monday.

About 500 deaths since 1995 in 11 villages have been officially acknowledged as related to the spraying of endosulfan, whose use on the estates of Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) in Kasargode district began in the early 1970s and continued till 2001. Unofficial estimates put the deaths since the late 1970s to around 4,000.

Arrest of Suresh Kalmadi

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The arrest of Suresh Kalmadi, Congress MP, for corruption associated with the Commonwealth Games, is a welcome step, though it is much delayed. Apart from the instances of corruption indulged in by the organizing committee of the Commonwealth Games, there is the large scale misuse of funds for the games by other agencies and authorities in the Delhi Government and the Central Government. Some of these have been enquired into by the Shunglu Committee.

The CBI should forthwith take steps to lodge cases and prosecute those who were responsible for the expropriation of public funds.

Ban Endosulfan: Comrade V S Achuthanandan leads fast

Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan went on a seven-hour fast at the Martyrs' Column here on Monday demanding a ban on Endosulfan and seeking Central assistance for the victims of the pesticide.
 

About 500 people from different walks of life joined the fast, held as part of a State-wide observation of Anti-Endosulfan Day by the government. Later, they took a pledge to fight the menace of the pesticide. Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran administered the pledge.

In districts

Ministers led protests at district headquarters, including Kasaragod, where about 5,000 people were affected by aerial spraying of the pesticide in cashew plantations of the State-owned Plantation Corporation of India. The fast coincided with a Conference of Parties to Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants that began in Geneva on Monday.

The conference will consider a global ban on the pesticide which has reportedly caused more than 150 diseases, mostly affecting the nervous, immune, and reproductive systems.

Launching the fast, the Chief Minister said the dangers of using Endosulfan were getting more acute with more cases being reported from different parts of the State and outside. In Karnataka, 96 villages were affected, he noted.

Manmohan misled

Referring to the Central government's stand that a national ban was possible only if health problems were reported from other States also, he said it was regrettable that the Centre chose to wait for more deaths. Endosulfan was a poison that should not be used anymore. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been misled by those supporting the pesticide lobby.

When an all-party delegation from the State met the Prime Minister recently, he chose to side with his Ministers who stood for the pesticide industry. Mr. Achuthanandan said the issue should be resolved above politics, as it concerned all.

The Chief Minister took lime juice from poet Sugathakumari at 5 p.m. to end the fast. Speaking on the occasion, he said India's stand against a global ban on the pesticide was deplorable. Mr. Divakaran presided over the agitation. Minister for Public Works and Law M. Vijayakumar welcomed the gathering. State Education Minister M.A. Baby, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union Minister of State, O. Rajagopal, film actor Suresh Gopi, Members of Parliament and Legislative Assembly, and several writers and artists were among those who joined the protest.

 

According to reports from districts, organisations such as the Democratic Youth Federation of India, the Karshaka Sanghom, the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association, service organisations, film personalities, and their organisations either associated with the government-sponsored fast or organised their own protests. These included marches, signature campaign, public meetings and burning of effigies.

Members of the CPI(M)'s student and youth wings, Students Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), staged a protest throughout the state demanding a ban on Endosulfan. They also burnt an effigy of Dr. Singh. 

( Courtesy : The Hindu)