Supreme Court issues notice to Centre on blatant use of pesticides

The Supreme Court issued notice to the Central government in connection with the blatant and unregulated use of pesticides in India, and sought a reply within six weeks.

The court took cognizance of the matter on a petition filed by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, demanding a policy to ban all pesticides proscribed by other countries and regulate the use

of chemical pesticides in farming. The petition also wants a ban on advertising and unfair promotion of pesticides.

Bhushan’s petition seeks the appointment of an expert committee comprising domain experts to examine the issue of making a roadmap for phasing out all chemical pesticides in a time-bound

manner, preferably within 5 years. He wanted the committee to also recommend farmer assistance from both the Central and state governments till such time that it will take for their farms to

convert to chemical pesticide-free organic farms.

According to Bhushan, India still uses some 93 kinds of pesticides that have been banned abroad.

“Almost no part of the farming belts of India have been left unscathed by the disastrous effects of pesticides on human health, but certain regions have been hit harder than others. The

state of Punjab was made to take the lead in adopting the ‘Green Revolution’ techniques that combined the use of chemical fertilisers, chemical pesticides, irrigation and hybrid seeds, and

became one of the largest producers of wheat and rice in the country and the largest contributor of wheat and rice in the country to the central pool,” the petition said, adding, “But as a

large number scientific papers, studies, fact finding reports and newspaper reports appear to show, the last four decades of high agricultural productivity have left the farmers,

farmworkers, and residents of the farming areas in a state of great distress, with their environment getting poisoned, their water getting contaminated and their health failing. This crisis

has been symbolised by the ‘Cancer Train’ of Punjab, on which a number of newspaper articles have been written.”