An Appeal to Union Minister for Agriculture

 Dalit-Online 

Weekly e news paper 

Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.. Vol.16.....Issue.73.................27/09/2020 

An Appeal to Honourable  Union Minister for Agriculture  GOI

To 

Shri  Narendra Singh Tomar ji,

Union Minister for Agriculture,  GOI 

New Delhi.

Honourable Sir,

Every year, thousands of farmworkers and farmers fall prey to deadly pesticides like acephate, monocrotophos, quinalphos, carbendazim, etc. These pesticides have been implicated in multiple cases with agri-workers being admitted with symptoms of poisoning after being exposed to these toxic pesticides. Many lose their lives too.  

In fact, these pesticides are linked to numerous other deaths, with intentional ingestion to end life. But it is not just occupational poisoning and intentional poisoning that these pesticides are responsible for. There are also accidental deaths like the case of 23 children being poisoned due to pesticide-contaminated mid-day meal in Chhapra in Bihar. 

Aligning the government’s move to ban these pesticides has not been easy. The chronic effects of these pesticides on health are not in the public imagination despite the well-documented risks that different pesticides cause ranging from reproductive health disorders, cancer, chronic ailments like diabetes, and impacts on birth, growth, and development of children.  What is more – in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, the necessary importance for a robust immune system cannot be over-stated, and our immune system is being compromised by pesticides and similar toxins. 

We stand with the government’s decision to ban these pesticides. Yet it seems to be stalling on the precipice. Despite proven methods that farming without them can prove to be profitable and successful. Lakhs of farmers are already practicing these methods. NPM and Organic/Natural Farming are approaches to pest management that do not fall back on synthetic pesticides. Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Sikkim have created roadmaps to adopt non-chemical approaches to pest management, or to stop sales of very harmful pesticides. The government has begun investing in these approaches and the proposed ban is consistent with this decisive shift towards agroecology.

India is in a position to lead the world on such an organic/natural farming revolution, thereby providing greater profitability to farmers, safer food to consumers, natural resource regeneration, and addressing climate change. We urge you to go ahead with this proposed ban on 27 pesticides as well as to ban all other deadly pesticides and to phase out agrochemicals incrementally. 

Your’s Sincerely,

Nagaraja Mysuru Raghupathi

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