The Supreme Court would decide on Friday whether to impose an interim ban on the production and sale of controversial pesticide Endosulfan in the country, pending an elaborate hearing and its decision over a plea for it. A bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia on Wednesday directed the petitioner, CPIM's youth wing Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and other parties to the plea to file their respective replies...

What is Endosulfan? Endosulfan is a pesticide which was introduced in the 1950s and soon became a leading chemical to fight a broad spectrum of insects. The out-of-patent pesticide is marketed under several names across the world. The most common of these names is Thiodane. It is used in paddy, cotton, vegetables, fruits, cashew, tea, coffee and a wide range of other crops. Because of its effectiveness against termites, it is...

Blame the poor enforcement of the Integrated Pest Management policy for the toxins in your salad Here is a scary story about pesticides from an enterprising farmer. Subramaniam Kannaiyan — from Thalavady village in Erode, Tamil Nadu — blogs about his experiences with pesticides with respect to a single vegetable, cabbage. Small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land are cultivating cabbages on about 3,000 acres here. According to...

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and all the States on a petition for a nationwide ban on endosulfan, given the pesticide's harmful effect on the people. A Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar issued the notice on the petition filed by the Democratic Youth Federation of India, after hearing senior counsel Krishnan Venugopal. It asked Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam to...

A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a directive to the Centre to impose all-India ban on Endosulfan. The petitioner, Democratic Youth Federation of India, in its petition said it was constrained to approach the Supreme Court in compelling circumstances wherein the valuable life of a large section of people was directly affected because of the use of Endosulfan, a pesticide which was already banned in 81...