-The Hindu Operation Blossom Spring first taken up at Periye Authorities started the process of detoxifying endosulfan stocked in three warehouses of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala here on Sunday. Operation Blossom Spring was first taken up at the warehouse at Periye, transferring 914.55 litres of the pesticide in six corroded barrels to high-density polyethylene barrels. A team of personnel from Hindustan Insecticide Ltd. and the Kerala State Pollution Control Board and medical experts...

Commission accepts staggered relief payment proposed by State government The Kerala government has partially complied with the orders of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on payment of compensation to families of those killed due to the effects of pesticide endosulfan, and those who were physically affected. It has also submitted a report to the Commission. The State government has said that regarding payment of Rs. 5 lakh to the bedridden/victims unable to...

For not paying compensation to the kin of the victims The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked Chief Secretary K. Jayakumar to appear personally before it on June 11, if the State government fails to take action on the compensation recommended for endosulfan victims in Kasaragod district. The Chief Secretary should file an action-taken report on the commission's recommendations before June 4, failing which he will have to appear before it....

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to submit a disposal plan for the raw material used to manufacture endosulfan, Hexachlorocyclopentadiene (HCCP), an organochlorine compound. It is used in several pesticides. The Supreme Court had given an interim order  to ban the use, manufacture, sale and export of endosulfan on May 13 last year. Exports were allowed in September and December last year. The April 23 order came after the Pesticides...

Judicial activism was the key in many Supreme Court observations and judgments during 2011. 2011 CVC THOMAS: A three-judge bench led by CJI SH Kapadia declared “non est” — or nonexistent — the majority recommendation of a high-powered committee for P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner. The court ruled that the Prime Minister and the Home Minister’s recommendation amounted to “official arbitrariness”, coming in spite of the dissent of the third...