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Suicide and Pesticide- Crisis in the Punjab

Suicide and Pesticide: Crisis in the Punjab

Punjab, a state in Northwestern India with a population of almost 30 million, has, over the last 45 years, gone through an agricultural transformation. Although investors and large corporations who profit from India’s agricultural modernisation largely accredit India’s newfound self-sufficiency with the upsurge in agricultural output resulting from its “Green Revolution”, Indian farmers and their families have been left with a legacy of environmental degradation, water shortages, and unsustainable predatory loans that have resulted in parallel epidemics of suicide and cancer.

Since the mid-1960s, state agricultural policy, with the help of international industry and NGO involvement, has made the modernisation of Punjab’s farming methods a top priority. Much praise has been awarded to those involved in the transformation- Punjab went from a self-sustaining and relatively ancient farming area, to becoming India’s breadbasket and is credited with helping to halt the famine that India was suffering, in various degrees, for the 20 years preceding. However,  the complex problems associated with the implementation of this policy have been ignored to such an extent, that water tables have sunk drastically, becoming salinized and polluted, whilst the region’s soil has been gravely depleted. Punjabis have been hit by the dual blows of pesticide pollution and the financial strains of mismanaged and often highly currupt lending systems, both which have led to a many-fold increase in terminal diseases and suicide rates.

Various stakeholders have profited enormously at the expense of the region- companies, such as Monsanto, have cashed in on the sale of GMO seeds and their associated pesticides and fertilisers whilst the makers of heavy machinery, such as John Deere, have had whole new markets open up in short order.

Industry groups, often in partnership with government and NGOs have done little to ensure that the modernisation they pushed came along with regulation, training, waste management, and a sound financial sector free of the endemic corruption that is the unfortunate mainstay of India’s political and social systems. In fact, reckless sales of their products have led to massive overuse of and unsafe handling of toxic chemicals and unsustainable debt loads on unsuspecting, often illiterate families.

For more information, please visit:
http://livingheritage.org/green-revolution.htm and http://www.khetivirasatmission.org/

Farm labourers spray pesticides, such as Round-Up without any protective clothing whatsoever. Their arms, legs and feet are often wet from contact with the liquid chemicals. When asked if he realized the danger of chemical poisoning or long-term health effects, Harpreet (pictured) said he hasn’t noticed any yet and is therefore not too worried.

Umendra Dutt and Kavitha Kuruganti work for the Kheti Virasat Mission, a locally run NGO which teaches farmers to practice ecologically-sound farming and helps in cases of debt disputes, suicides, and cancer treatment.

Lakhbir, 21, almost died 7 years ago when he inhaled fumes whilst spraying cotton fields with monocrotophos and fenvalerate- highly toxic pesticides regularly sprayed by hand in the Punjab without the use of any protective gear whatsoever.

Despite Lakhbir’s grave injuries due to pesticide poisoning, he has received no compensation from industry or government. His medical bills threaten to bankrupt his family.

Although Lakhbir’s accident occurred 7 years prior to this photo being taken, he still suffers from his injuries: After being bed-ridden for 6 years, he is just learning to walk again.

Brothers Harjeet and Jaspreet both started growing grey hairs 4 years earlier, when they were just 9 and 14 years of age. Greying hair at a young age is often a sign of exposure to toxic agriculture chemicals. Theirs is the first generation in the area to start greying prematurely.

Labourers dig deep for water under the supervision of a land-owning farmer near Jajjal, a small city that specialises in the sale of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides, and GM seeds. Average water table levels have sunken drastically while water salinity has been increasing in the semi-arid state of Punjab since the introduction of modern farming practices in the 1970s.

Boghi, 75, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Proper treatment is beyond the financial capabilities of his family.

The woman pictured above has been suffering from breast cancer for almost two years. Treatment in faraway Bikaner is putting a huge financial strain on her husband and their family. The government offers no financial aid and health insurance is non-existent.

‘Lethal’ Brand pesticide in Jajjal, a small city in the district of Bathinda that specialises in the sale of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides and GM seeds.

A farmer loads fertiliser onto a camel cart. Due to the financial implications of chemical farming practices, Punjabi farmers have become increasingly dependant on borrowed funds, usually from wealthier farmers or loan sharks. Often, just one bad growing season can completely wipe out an entire farming family. To pay back loans, they are often forced to sell the land that has been in their family for generations, a psychologically crushing prospect. Debt in India is also pan-generational: If parents accrue debt and are unable to pay it back in their lifetimes, their children assume the burden of their debt.

Farm labourers mix highly concentrated pesticides with water for their spraying packs without protective gloves or masks.

6-year-old Munish has been sick since birth. Doctors were unable to diagnose his illness but a tumour was removed from his back. After the operation, his head swelled and he lost the use of his legs. He also suffers from an unidentified, full-body skin disorder. His treatment still continues, putting a tremendous financial strain on the family. The family has to borrow money from neighbouring farmers, blacklisting them in their community. Tumour and deformity rates are on the rise in Punjab.

The Singh family lost their 18 year-old son, Gurdas, to suicide in 2007. He swallowed pesticides- a relatively common form of suicide in the area. The Singhs had accrued a debt of 70,000 rupees (€900), and being the eldest son, he was most responsible for paying it back. Now, with a large debt still looming over their shoulders, having sold of all their buffalo for debt-repayment, the Singhs will have little hope of affording a dowry for their daughter’s eventual marriage or their children’s educations.

Manjeet Singh holds a portait of her son Gurdas, who commited suicide in 2007 at the age of 18 by drinking pesticide. The family’s debt of 70,000 RPS (€900) put so much strain on the Singh’s eldest son, it drove him to end his young life.

Santosh, 35, was diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago. Cancer rates have skyrocketed in the region.

Ranjeet lost her husband, Jagjit, to suicide in 2003. Jagjit drank pesticide after being forced to leave his land due to an untenable debt burden made worse by a very low-yield year. He was unable to pay the instalments on the tractor he had purchased a year before. The lenders forfeited his tractor which he needed in order to work his land. Now, Ranjeet makes clay stoves by hand which she sells for 15 RPS (€0.20) a piece to feed herself and her children. Unless her situation improves, she will be forced to pull her children, Harpreet, 14, and Harbinder, 13, out of school.

Jarnail thumbs through newspaper and magazine clippings about cancer and poisonings in Punjab. He recently lost two family members to cancer- until the mid 1980s, cancer rates were very low throughout Punjab and increased dramatically in his village when BT Cotton was first planted. According to him, the spraying of chemicals in the region is done so without protective gear and with little knowledge of the chemicals’ toxicity.

Farm labourers mix dry fertiliser without the use of protective gloves or breathing masks.

Passengers in Bathinda wait for the night train to Bikanir cancer hospital. The train is known as the ‘Cancer-Train’ because most of its passengers are seeking treatment or picking up medication for family members.

A local man holds up an x-ray of his father’s cancerous lungs

With the help of the Kheti Virasat Mission, a regional NGO, farmers meet regularly to discuss organic farming methods.

49 year-old Jaswant has been suffering from ovarian cancer for 18 months. Every three weeks she takes the 12-hour journey to Bikaner, on the Cancer Train, for treatment. She is feeling better, but has had to borrow extensively from friends and neighbours.

Gurpreet, who works for Kheti Virasat Mission, holds a discussion-round with local farmers who are switching to organic farming methods.

Vichattar (center), lost his two brothers to unnatural causes. The first died whilst spraying pesticides at the age of 25, and the other jumped in front of a moving train. In debt and as the sole money earner, he is harassed on a regular basis by money lenders and pesticide dealers to pay back his loans.

A young man looks onto a coal-burning power plant near Bathinda supplies the neighbouring National Fertilizers Ltd. factory with electricity.