SOIL Report 2011 - ACCESS Development Services

8 State of India’s Livelihoods Report 20111.7. Deteriorating health:A new challenge forlivelihoodsHealth is a key determinant of the qualityof labour available for generating livelihoods.With an increased population andpressure on resources, the quality of life hasdeteriorated, in urban as well as rural areas.Prevailing nutritional standards, increasedindustrial emissions, use of chemicals, etc.,are also damaging the health of the people.Poor health conditions have a doubleeffect on the livelihoods of people as theynot only reduce the number of workingdays and quality of the labour, but alsoreduce the income and increase the expenditureon health care. As it can be seen fromthe government budget, the state allocationof resources for health has been reduced toless than one per cent of the GDP during the11th Five Year Plan. This is pushing peopleto procure services from the private healthsector which is often more expensive.In recent years there have been quitea few efforts to develop health-insuranceproducts which can help the poor mitigatethis risk. But such efforts have not yet beenable to address issues of delivery of healthservices and erratic medical treatment.The health of a worker and his familyis affected by the working environmentand hazardous elements she/he is exposedto. The debate on the ban of endosulfan, apesticide widely used by farmers in India andbanned elsewhere, has received internationalattention. This shows how vulnerable thesepoor workers and their families are, due tothe use of endosulfan which is otherwiseknown as a good helper to the farmers infighting against insects (The Hindu 2011)(see Box 1.3).1.8. Penetration of organizedbusiness into new spaceThe organized private sector is closelyengaged with the poor in several ways. First,as a purchaser and processor of outputsfrom rural producers for their value chainsto market; second, when they encompassBox 1.3: Endosulfan—farmers’ friend to fight against insects, but leaves a major mark onthe trans-generation killerEndosulfan, the dangers of which first cameto light in Kerala’s cashew plantations in the1980s, is a pesticide which is widely used byIndian farmers though it is banned elsewhere.Studies conducted in Kerala clearly showed itsimpact leading to a prevalence of congenitalmalformations, low IQ, learning disability,early menarche in girls and delayed pubertyin boys, apart from the severe ecologicalhazards.The public debate around it has nowreached the Stockhom Convention. Twostates, Kerala and Karnataka, banned itsuse. Since 2008, it has got internationalattention. Stockholm Convention held inGeneva and various other internationalbodies came together to ban endosulfan.At the sixth meeting of Persistent OrganicPollutants Review Committee (POPRC)to the Stockholm Convention, in October2010, Geneva; India, the largest producerof endosulfan, opposed global ban on themanufacture, use, import and export ofendosulfan against the stand of the majority ofthe member countries. But, the Conference ofParties (COP) of Stockholm Convention heldin April 2011, adopted a risk managementevaluation and recommended a ban toendosulfan despite the strong oppositionfrom the Indian government.The Indian government’s argumentagainst the ban is that the ill effects have onlybeen reported in one state and are not true.Also, unless it has been replaced with anotherpesticide, it will affect the farm production. Infact, similar health issues have been reportedin Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,but have not yet been studied from theperspective of the use of endosulfan.The case of endosulfan demonstrates thevulnerability of farmers as most of them arenot aware about the usage pattern of mostof the pesticides and also its impact on thesoil, ecology and their own health to a transgenerationallevel.Source: The Hindu (2011).