India Together: The slow poisoning of Punjab – 01 February 2004

01 February 2004 –

When India’s Green Revolution started, Punjab had a pioneering role. Here was
India’s northern state with its hardy farmers toiling to transform their fields into gold.
They worked hard, experimented with new seeds and invested in fertilizers and pesticides.
Punjab prospered and developed into the rice and wheat bowl of India. But now, in districts
like Bhatinda, there is a new story playing out in the fields. The water table has
collapsed, water bodies are poisoned with chemicals, the land has been degraded with
excessive use of pesticides, and yields are falling.

Initially, Bhatinda was not the best of places to farm. After independence,
it was just a part of the extended desert strip of Rajasthan. But with government help,
farmers worked very hard ploughing the rocky land, dumping new top soil and then infusing it
with fertilizers. The otherwise barren land sprang into life and it was soon a green carpet.
Many years ago, a large number of farmers in Bhatinda district decided to move out from
growing rice and wheat and shift to cotton as it was a cash crop with rich dividends.

All was fine till the cotton crop was introduced. The first few years were
good and
brought in good returns. But when the American bollworm attack came, the crop got destroyed. Panic stricken, the farmers guided by pesticide dealers, started pumping in huge amounts of pesticide.
Initally, the pests died, but later on, year after year, the pest started
developing immunity to pesticide sprays and continued to attack the cotton crop and destroy
it. The pests developed immunity fast as pesticide was often adulterated. The body mechanism
of the pest fought against the excessive spraying.

The Punjab Agriculture University at Ludhiana recommends only seven sprays on cotton in six months, but farmers in Bhatinda went in for as many as 32 sprays. Says Sardar Jarnail Singh, former sarpanch of Mandikhurd village in Bhatinda: “There are cases where land has been left uncultivated as that is the only way to minimize the losses. Pesticide worth Rs. 8000 were normally used in one acre.”

In Harkishanpura, the village sarpanch passed a resolution announcing that the whole village
was up for sale. There was not a single house that was free of debt.

Says Lal Singh, a cotton farmer in Bhatinda: “Before 1990, we had no
problems. We used to earn well and so eat well and lived well. But after the pests came, we
saw hell. We had to spray throughout the year and sometimes as many as 35 times. As the
pesticide was very expensive, we had to take loans.”

But as crops were failing year after year, their debts increased. In the
hinterland of Punjab, honour is a sacred word. The people here are a proud lot, and they
attach great importance to their dignity. As moneylenders came knocking on their doors, they
could not hide their shame and hundreds of them committed suicide. “Have you heard of Punjabi
farmers committing suicide [previously],” asks Umendra Dutt, Director of Kheti Virasat, a
non-governmental organization in Punjab that is now propagating organic farming and
sustainable development.

Harkishanpura, a village with a population of around 900 from 125 families
spread over 1,170 acres, tells it all. A year ago, the village sarpanch passed a resolution
announcing that the village was up for sale. This hit the headlines and created quite a
sensation as it came from one of the most prosperous states of India. But it brought home the
fact that there was not a single house in the village that was free of debt. The average debt
of each family is between four and six lakh rupees. Over 300 acres have already been sold so
as to pay up debts. Nearly eighty farmers in the village have debts totaling to around Rs.
3.5 crore. Many have sold their lands to pay debts.

In many ways, it is the collapse of a dream. Fortells Sukhminder Singh, a cotton farmer and
member of the village panchayat at Harkishanpura: “We will all end up as agricultural
labourers. Our children have already moved out to nearby areas like Rampura city as casual
labourers earning around Rs. 70 a day.”

Health concerns

In villages where pesticide use is high, health concerns are widespread. Dutt
says that incidences of cancer are frequent but there has been no study to link it to
pesticide.
Dr Rajender Kumar, chairman of Kheti Virasat and a biologist from Punjabi
University based at Patiala points out that the problems really started in the nineties, at
the same time that soil fertility started declining, and farmers started pumping in
fertilizer to overcome this. . And with excessive use of pesticides, he says, there was a
rise in infertility clinics, diabetes, heart attacks, mental retardation and abortions. He
agrees there is no study to confirm that pesticides are responsible in Punjab but notes that
research worldwide has shown that pesticides do produce these effects.

Farmers are equally sure pesticides are affecting them. Says Gurtej Singh, a farmer at
Nandgarh Kotra village: “The spray burns our eyes, leads to skin rashes and itching. We do
not let a sprayer sleep for many hours after spraying fearing that he might slip into
unconsciousness. After spraying we feel intoxicated as if we have consumed liquor.
Magher Singh, a farmer from Banginihalsingh village in Bhatinda
district found himself in hospital one day. He has sprayed in the fields for over five hours.
He returned home and fell down after he was overcome with giddiness. He was rushed in an
unconscious state to the hospital.

The water in Harkishanpura has been certified as unfit for drinking by the
government, but everyone continues to drink it as there is no alternative. The water was
found to have high concentrates of chloride. Dutt says that excessive pesticide use has
destroyed the topsoil in many areas of Punjab and it has even crept into the water table
endangering health of the villagers.

Dr. Gulab Singh Sihag, who runs a hospital in Sirsa, Haryana, sees numerous
cases of pesticide poisoning coming into his emergency wards every week. Say he: “Pesticides
are used while sowing, growing, harvesting and preserving the produce from the fields. So we
end up consuming pesticide residues that weakens our immune system and opens up our body to
various diseases.”

The danger of pesticides creeping into the food chain has still not dawned.
Many families use empty pesticide containers, gunnybags, and buckets used to
store the chemicals to also store their food and drinking water.

The danger of pesticides creeping into the food chain has still not dawned in
Punjab. Many families use the attractive plastic containers of pesticide to store foodstuff
once the spray is over. Says Deep Kamal, a student from Haryana: “Gunnybags containing
pesticides is often used to store wheat flour once the pesticide powder is over.” Adds Jaggar
Singh, a cotton farmer from Mahinagar village in Bhatinda: “Buckets that were used to mix
pesticides are also used to store drinking water.”

Slowly, Kheti Virasat is trying to sell them a dream of a healthy life again if they resort to switching from cotton back to foodgrain and vegetables and take up organic farming. Says Lal Singh: “Pesticides have destroyed our soil, water, crops and our environment that was so wonderful. We have to get rid of pesticides by opting for natural and indigenous methods.”

Chemical farming has brought with it disorders of endocrine glands, cancer, asthma, skin diseases, digestive track complications and infertility. Studies have shown pesticide in breast milk samples from Punjab. Inderjit Singh, a farmer from Saholi village near Nabha in Punjab says he used to use a lot of pesticide on his five acre farm that had paddy, chilli, bitter gourd and even mushrooms. Convinced it is dangerous to everyone’s health, he has completely shifted to organic farming. He has come to terms with the fact that his yield is going to fall initially. However, with his land regenerating with organic manure, his profits will climb. So will his health.

Even some pesticide dealers see all this as a problem, despite their immediate gains.
Kulbhushan Bharti, a pesticide dealer in Bhatinda town, has this to say. “Our earnings have
dramatically increased. But excessive use of pesticide may damage the soil in Punjab’. That
would hurt his long-term business, but he’s not sure if the government is paying attention.
‘The government is not thinking of it when it gives subsidies for pesticide”, he says.

India gloated over the success of the Green revolution that introduced
pesticides and agro-chemicals. But it failed to see what this did to the rich biodiversity of
the land.

Amidst all this, Punjab, the land of five rivers, has turned into the Be-aab, as water tables
have dipped everywhere. Eighty four development blocks in the state have been declared as
dark zones by the agriculture department of Punjab; sixteen blocks
have been labeled as grey zones leaving only 38 as white zones. Even the water in the white
zones is often unfit for human consumption. In some cases, it is even unfit
for irrigation. The water has residues of nitrate, selenium and chloride. Dutt warns that
all the
water of Punjab is either depleting or getting poisoned by pesticides and other chemicals.

“Every Punjabi has to save Punjab without waiting for government intervention. In their
prayers, each Punjabi exclaims: Sarbbat da bhala, which means ‘may goodness come to
all’. But what we are doing in Punjab is Sarbbat da vinash, which is destruction for
all. All of us who live in Punjab have good reason to worry.”