KOCHI: Attacking the Union Government for the 'antipeople' stand adopted by it on the endosulfan issue, environmentalist Vandana Shiva has said that India was singularly blocking the proposed global ban on the pesticide.
Vandana Shiva told reporters here on Saturday that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was not ready to ban endosulfan.
"Sharad Pawar should not be the Agriculture Minister of India. It is because of the fact that Pawar is corrupt that he had to back out from becoming a member in the committee to frame the draft of the 'Lokpal Bill.'
Sharad Pawar lied in Parliament that most of the states had asked him not to impose ban on endosulfan. He was hiding the fact that Kerala had already banned endosulfan," she said. She emphasised that endosulfan will be banned and it is just a matter of time.
On the Jindal Steel sponsoring Rs 25 lakh to 'India Against Corruption' (IAC), under the aegis of which Anna Hazare staged hunger strike recently, she said that "a clean cause should have clean means" as well. However, Vandana Shiva said that she had full faith in the integrity of Anna Hazare.
According to her, "the Government has become antinational as it stands against food sovereignty." She reminded that "the introduction of BT seeds will endanger food security. Food is not about trade but about health and nutrition. India is the capital of children suffering from malnutrition."
Praising the efforts of the Kerala government in its fight against the deadly pesticide, Vandana Shiva said that the Kerala Government headed by V S Achuthanandan had been doing everything possible to fight against endosulfan.
Farmers' suicide is the outcome of the use of pesticides. "Around 19,000 farmers had committed suicide owing to the rise in agricultural costs and fall in the price of produces. But none of the farmers practising organic farming has committed suicide," she said.