Rs.99.63 crore from the agency constitutes 85 per cent of approved projects

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has decided to sanction nearly Rs.100 crore to implement a special package for upgrading infrastructure in 11 endosulfan-hit panchayats in the district.

The Plantation Corporation of Kerala Limited (PCKL) chairman, Varghese George, has called upon the government to take necessary steps to pay compensation worth Rs 120 crore to the victims of Endosulfan in Kasargod as directed by the National Human Rights Commission.

Addressing a meet-the-press programme at Pathanamthitta Press Club on Wednesday, Dr. George said PCKL was not in a position to bear with such a hefty financial burden as it would badly affect the prospects of the corporation as well as its 4000-strong workforce and hence the government should pay the same to the affected people.

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed three weeks’ time to the Union Government to file its reply regarding the ban of endosulfan. The bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia ordered the government to file its reply within three weeks at the court proceedings which lasted only two minutes.

The Union Government today informed the Kerala High Court that no farmers suicides were reported from Kerala during 2009-11.

According to reports furnished by the state government, there has been a declining trend in suicides in farming.

In the report indicating number of suicides by farmers due to agrarian reasons, no cases were reported from Kerala in the three years from 2009-11, Ms Sadhana Khanna, Under Secretary, Agriculture Department, said in a counter affidavit on a petition seeking to take steps to curb suicides among poor farmers in Kerala.

The fourth phase of medical camps to enrol endosulfan victims will be held in select localities in the district from December 17 to 21.

Thirty-eight doctors from 11 departments of five medical colleges will examine patients. As many as 70 experts drawn under the National Rural Health Mission will be present, District Collector K.N. Satheesh told presspersons here on Thursday.

The family of two-and-a-half-year-old endosulfan victim Prajitha is yet to get the compensation of Rs.2 lakh promised by the previous LDF government even eight months after her death.

“The compensation could not be disbursed to the bereaved family as the government order to this effect had not reached here,” Collector K.N. Satheesh told The Hindu on Wednesday.

Meriel Watts may be unknown to the people of the endosulfan-hit villages of Kasaragod, but the campaign the New Zealander had run on their behalf for getting the highly toxic pesticide banned globally is familiar to anti-pesticide activists worldwide.

Ms. Watts and the organisation she is part of—Pesticides Action Network (PAN) International—played a big role in getting endosulfan added to the Stockholm Convention's list of banned substances in April last.

A session of the ongoing independent hearing by the Permanent People's Tribunal, organised by the Pesticide Action Network, an international non-governmental organisation, here on Sunday was dedicated to testimonies related to endosulfan.

Activists, health workers, and doctors who have worked in Kasaragod spoke about how the aerial spraying of the pesticide on cashew plantations in 11 panchayats in the district had huge and widespread health implications for people living in and around the farms.

Decks have been cleared for mobilising resources from the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the development of 367 kms of roads under the second phase of the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) and upgrading of 1000 kms of road under the State Road Improvement Project (SRIP) to international standards.

The humble jackfruit is the key to achieving local food security and stemming environmental degradation in India, especially the southern states, says K R Jayan, a 46-year-old conservationist, who has been leading a movement in Kerala to revive what is one of the most vital components of the rural economy in the state.