Endosulfan victims continue battle for rights

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Nearly two decades after pesticide endosulfan caused congenital defects in new borns in Kasargod district, mothers of the children are still waging a relentless battle for adequate compensation and justice.
Initially when they gave birth to the children, the women thought it was the curse of the Serpent God. But when more and more kids were born with abnormally swollen heads, shrunken brains and crippled limbs, they realised it was not the God's will, but environmental pollution caused by endosulfan.
Since then, mothers of the victims in the district, where thousands have been affected due to aerial spraying of the chemical in plantations of Kerala Cashew Corporation two decades ago, have been fighting for rights of their children.

Expert studies have said that endosulfan, which is not easily degradable, contaminated the soil and water in many villages there and found its way into the food chain, affecting lower and higher forms of life, including humans.
The latest in their struggles is the indefinite sit-in dharna before the Secretariat which began here on January 26.
Over 80 endosulfan affected children and their mothers have begun the stir, seeking immediate disbursal of the compensation and implementation of a rehabilitation package.

Though a meeting was held between Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and state Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan in this regard last week, it failed to arrive at a consensus.

As they get ready for another round of talks with the government here today, these women say they are in a do or die situation and cannot go back to their villages without making the government accept their demands.
Nalini, hailing from one of the 11 worst endosulfan-hit
village panchayats in Kasaragod, is taking part in the stir with her paralysed 22-year-old daughter.
She said she could not go for any job as her daughter is alone at home. "How can I send her to any special school?I have to carry her in my arms wherever I go and suffer people's gazes and questions when I take her outside," she told