Legal victory
Long struggle against
endosulfan poisoning
wins relief in India
In India, the government of Kerala State has announced relief and
remediation to a community whose health has been badly damaged by
endosulfan spraying. The Chief Minister of the State has promised to
bring companies responsible for the homicide to justice. Jayakumar
Chelaton and R Sridhar of Thanal, the group supporting those affected,
report on developments.
The endosulfan spray issue goes back
three decades to 1976 when the first
experimental aerial spraying was carried
out on cashew plantations owned by the
Plantation Corporation of Kerala, a gov-
ernment company. This continued for 25
years until it was stopped in 2001 after
tremendous public and media pressure
and intervention of the courts.
The impact of spraying is evident in
the maimed, mentally and physically dis-
abled children, and in the health of men
and women in the 12 villages in the area,
with a population of about 400,000 peo-
ple. These villages, situated between the
cashew plantations, bore the brunt of this
rain of poisons. They were systematically
sprayed three times every year purported-
ly to protect cashews from the tea mos-
quito.
In a remarkable development the newly
elected government of the State of Kerala
has granted immediate compensation of
Rupees 50,000 (US$1075) to families of
those fatally poisoned by aerial spraying of
endosulfan on cashewnut plantations in
Kasaragod1.
Addressing a meeting on 11 August, the
octogenarian Chief Minister, Sri VS
Achyuthanandan, said he is keeping his
promise to those who have died, and to all
those who have been affected by the cata-
strophe. The families were promised com-
pensation within two weeks from the first
instalment of the comprehensive relief and
remediation programme of Rupees 5 mil-
lion (US$107,580).
Programme of compensation
The district panchayath (local government)
have so far identified 135 deaths in consulta-
tion with the presidents of the affected vil-
lage self governments (grama panchayaths),
the health and agricultural departments, the
panchayaths, and local activists.
The programme will be implemented
by the health department, which will carry
out a survey to identify additional deaths
and health affects. After the survey, the gov-
ernment will formulate strategies for short
and long term support, including social,
Pesticides News 73
health and environmental remediation. The
Chief Minister acknowledged that past
agriculture ministers had witnessed this
homicide but failed to act and that this
approach would not be tolerated while he is
head of State. At the same meeting, the
State Agriculture Minister, Sri Mullakkara
Rathnakaran, apologised to the people of
Kasaragod for comments he had made in
June this year that no deaths were reported
due to endosulfan. His statement created
such a furore that he set up an enquiry and
found that his officials had misguided him.
After the meeting, the Chief Minister
visited the endosulfan-affected village of
Vaninagar near Perla, where he gave an
emotional speech promising to do all with-
in his powers to bring justice to the suffer-
ing people of Kasaragod. He derided the
government officials and the endosulfan
companies that profited when so many peo-
ple were being affected, and promised that
the government would discuss with legal
experts possibilities of bringing the endo-
sulfan manufacturers to justice.
Court action
In 2002 the High Court of Kerala temporar-
ily banned the use and sale of endosulfan in
the State. The Indian government respond-
ed with studies from two committees that
refused to acknowledge the medical evi-
dence linking endosulfan to health prob-
lems in the villages. The people affected
rejected these reports. The medical fraterni-
ty, whose findings were dismissed by the
committees and senior agriculture officials,
felt violated. The National Institute of
Occupational Health (NIOH), a premier
institute of the Indian Council for Medical
Research, found there was no doubt about
the links between endosulfan and health
problems, especially in the sexual growth
of children. The Indian government,
advised by the department of agriculture,
still refuses to acknowledge the link.
Turning point in struggle for
justice
In 2004, the then opposition leader of the
September 2006
The Chief Minister speaks to reporters after visit-
ing victims Photo: C. Jayakumar/Thanal
Kerala legislative assembly, Sri V S
Achyuthanandan visited the villages and
the affected people, and was deeply moved.
He deployed his staff to collect available
materials and concluded that endosulfan
was indeed responsible. He remained in
contact with activists and sought regular
updates. In 2006, when he was elected on a
massive mandate as Chief Minister of the
State of nearly 30 million people, the gov-
ernment decided the victims of endosulfan
were a priority for support.
Meanwhile organisations led by the
Endosulfan Spray Protest Action
Committee, Thanal, District
Environmental committee, Kerala Shastra
Sahitya Parishad (the People’s Science
Movement), Punchiri Arts and Sports Club
and others in their individual capacities
came together to lead the struggle for this
victory. While there is pain, the financial
compensation is an emotional victory for
children, their mothers and all the affected
communities.
In August 2006, the district panchayath
under the leadership of then panchayath
President Smt. Padmavathi, developed the
Comprehensive Relief and Remediation
Plan with technical support from Thanal
and assisted by doctors. The present pan-
chayath President Sri Balakrishnan is now
providing the leadership to implement this.
A special purpose cell has started function-
ing in the panchayath and a massive drive to
generate resources is being planned.
1. Quijano RF, Endosulfan poisoning in Kasaragod,
Kerala, India: Report of a fact finding mission, PAN
Asia Pacific, 2002; www.panap.net/uploads/media/
endosulfan_report_Kerala.pdf
Jayakumar Chelaton is Director of Thanal,
jayakumar.c@gmail.com, R Sridhar is Policy
and Research Coordinator of Thanal,
www.thanal.org
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