Fact-finding team flags lapses on parts of both central and state governments behind Yavatmal deaths

NEW DELHI: An independent fact-finding team of farmer rights groups and farm experts has pointed out several loopholes in the ground-level monitoring mechanism of sale and use of pesticides in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra which saw a number of deaths in the past few weeks due to pesticide poisoning. It also blamed both state and central governments for overlooking the issue of systemic failure on different fronts.
The 19-page report noted that many of the pesticides involved in the current spate of poisoning had been reviewed by a central government committee in the past, but unfortunately it recommended for its continuation.
“We have sent the report to the Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and the Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, demanding specific actions from both the centre and the state”, said Kavitha Kuruganti of the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA).
Kavitha, who was part of the team that visited affected blocks of Yavatmal district on October 9-10, told TOI on Thursday that the report would also be shared with the special investigating team (SIT) of the Maharshtra government and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Flagging names of pesticides and their combination which could lead to deaths of many farmers\farm labourers in Yavatmal district since July, the report demanded ban of many pesticides which are currently being used in India despite their ban in many countries for their toxic effects. “There are no scientific or moral grounds on which this cannot, or will not be done”, said the team.
The report noted that combinations or mixture of pesticides had been used in all cases of pesticide poisoning deaths in Yavatmal. The team said, “In some cases, we found that the farmers were given this advice by pesticide dealers. But in some other cases, it was the farmers themselves who were coming up with mixture of two or three different chemicals”.
Referring to several instances of similar cases in the past, the team said, “It is clear that no department has ever taken congnisance of the matter of pesticide poisoning in any way despite years of experience of acute poisoning both through ingestion and inhalation in the Yavatmal district”.
Expressing its concerns over roles of a central review committee, headed by Anupam Verma, which was set up to look into the continuation of 66 pesticides in India which have been banned or (severely) restricted elsewhere in the world, the team said it was seen that the government did not even update itself on the number of pesticides that were getting banned in other countries.
It flagged that many of the pesticides involved in the current spate of pesticide poisonings have been reviewed by the Anupam Verma Committee, but unfortunately, it recommended for the continuation of pesticides and asked for another review to be taken up only next year.
“This brings us to an important point about the accountability that needs to be fixed on both government of India as well as the Committee with regard to India continuing with many deadly pesticides that have been banned or restricted elsewhere”, said the report.
It also pointed at absence of surveillance or data system to monitor the occurrence of the phenomenon of pesticide poisoning anywhere in the country and demanded creation of such system so that the problem can be captured in all its dimension at least from now on.
Besides Kavitha, the other members of the team include farm rights activists and experts including Rahul Bole, Swati Sagare, Shankar Amilkanthavar, Karthikeyan Hemalatha and Sahebrao Namdevrao Parode.