Organised by Environmental Health Action Group of Kheti Virasat Mission, the dialogue focused on the most pertinent issues related to crisis with faulty overuse of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals.

The inaugural session of the first day of the dialogue saw various environmental action groups, civil organisations and medical professional groups taking up the matter and putting across their viewpoints in an unequivocal manner.

Dr Satish Jain, MD, Oswal Cancer Hospital, presented his view on deteriorating health standards during the inaugural session with Prof Sucha Singh Gill, renowned economist from Punjabi University, Patiala in chair.

Dr Devinder Sharma, Food and Agriculture Policy Analyst, New Delhi, in the inaugural address said that Punjab was in the grip of a terrible environmental crisis resulting from the intensive farming methods being practiced for the past four decades. Studies by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural research (CGIAR) have established that Punjab is faced with second generation environmental crisis. “The cultivable land is sick, the environment has been heavily contaminated by the use and abuse of chemical pesticides and the underground water table is plummeting at a dangerous pace,” asserted Sharma.

He said that excessive use of chemical fertilizers had rendered the soils infertile. Organic matter in Punjab’s soil is almost close to zero per cent. “Excessive withdrawal of nutrients from the soil has also brought in deficiencies of micro-nutrients over the past few decades. And yet, despite the adverse impact caused by farming methods adopted during the green revolution period, agricultural scientists did not advocate a mid-term correction by bringing in sustainable farming practices” said Sharma.

Despite the thrust on increasing crop productivity by application of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and high-yielding varieties, the income of Punjab farmers on an average stands at a mere Rs 3,200 per month. “If after 40 years of green revolution, the monthly income of a farming family is only Rs 3,200, isn’t it a reason for agricultural scientists and policy makers to hang our heads in shame?” he asked.

At the national level, the average monthly income of farmers stands at Rs 2,115. “This is less than what a maid servant earns in our homes, and she works only an hour each day.”

Dr S.G. Kabra, an environmental epidemiologist from Jaipur, explained at length the correlation between effects of pesticides on the reproductive health. “Pesticides are progressively causing damage to fertility in men and increasing the incidence of cancer in women,” he said.

Dr Satish Jain, chief cancer surgeon and director of Oswal Cancer Hospital while reflecting on the emerging pattern of cancers in Punjab, strongly advocated public awareness and early detection of cancers as most effective solution for which he exhorted the NGOs like the KVM and the Punjab government to arrange for cancer-detection vans for early diagnosis and timely treatment of cancers.

Dr G.P.I Singh of DMC and Hospital highlighted the importance of role of community and awareness to generate appropriate political and administrative will so that the government policies regarding the use of chemicals in agriculture were framed keeping in mind the human health.