Letter From Women Of Kasargod
Prepared By Anitha.S
11 October, 2013
Countercurrents.org
From
The Women of Kasargod
Kerala
Dear Sisters,
We hope you remember us, the women from Kasargod, one of the Northern most districts of Kerala. We had written to you a few months back ( Feb 18th – March 25th ,2013) when many of us fasted raising issues concerning the health of generations to come as the Plantation Corporation of Kerala sprayed the deadly Endosulfan from the air onto our unsuspecting bodies, air, water and soil. We are sure that those of us who have seen the pictures of our children maimed and deformed for life would never ever forget or forgive the companies who did it and the Government and decision makers including scientists who support and help the perpetrators of the crime.
Yesterday 100 of us travelled all the way to the State Capital of Thiruvananthapuram with the demand to do away with the highly unjust report of Justice (Retd) Ramachandran Nair Committee which was appointed to enquire and report on the need to have a Special Tribunal and also get compensation from the Companies held responsible for the use of Endosulfan. The report which was made in 3 days starting from July 19th. They have quoted reasons like heavy rains, and the adequate information supplied by District Collector and Endosulfan State Level Nodal Offices for the rapid assessment. The Manager and General Manager of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala were also prompt in giving the required information. The other members of the Committee T.Asif Ali and Law Secretary C.P.Rama Raja Prema Prasad accompanied Justice Ramachandran Nair to do this report on a war footing.
The highly prejudiced report is based on half- truths and partial information like the period of aerial spraying, nature of compensation, the nature of the affected people throwing to the wind facts and figures established by reputed organizations and scientific bodies that have proven the intensity and magnitude of the disaster on the people and generations to come. The Committee also has made damaging and inhuman comments on the victims of the disaster often suggesting that marriage between persons belonging to the same family should be discouraged to prevent birth of mentally challenged children and so on!
The Committee also suggests that the Cashew Plantations should be replaced by Rubber which will not only be lucrative but will also provide employment! The Committee recommends that there has to be a review of the list of affected people made by the Special Medical team ,insulting the ones affected as those who have fallen from coconut trees and become chronic patients through addiction to liquor. There has been manipulations in the number of people who have got financial aid through the report of the National Human Rights Commission. The suggestion that the validity of the Tribunal should be just 3 years shocking for us, who have been subjected to the poison for 50 years and for the rest of our lives.
The Committee strongly recommends that the Plantation Corporation of Kerala and Endosulfan Company cannot ever be branded as the culprits as they have obtained permission to carry on with spraying and manufacturing the deadly chemical.
So here we are again with the strong demand that the Justice Ramachandran Nair report be burnt to ashes as it is inhuman and anti-people based on lies and distorted facts.
Please write on behalf of us to the Government of Kerala demanding
1.The establishment of a Tribunal that settles all our claims based on the list of affected people that includes all the deserving
2.Make available the services of an Expert Medical Team in the area including a Neurologist in all the affected villages.
3.Make the Plantation Corporation of Kerala answerable and accountable for the crime of having subjected our lives to the deadly poison.
As we narrate this story we hear that the special meeting held in the Chief Minister’s chamber has decided to set up the Tribunal to settle the claims of the endosulfan- affected persons in the Kasargod district.
We are not carried away or reassured by this- we go back with our fingers crossed to our homes where children are still born deformed, where a young woman waits with anxiety and not expectant pleasure for the birth of her first born, where women cannot leave households where a physically challenged son or daughter needs special care all the time.. this is where we come from and where we are returning to. We hope and pray we will not have to keep on explaining the obvious .. and showered by insult upon injury .
From us, the women of Kasargod
Anitha.S after attending the dharna in front of Secretariat ( inaugurated by V.S.Achuthanandan ( Opposition Leader )) on 10.10.2013 and talking to the group from Kasargod and reading the handouts and paper reports.
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