ABSTRACT
This paper examines the Endosulphan pesticide disaster in Kasargod, Kerala, India. The paper argues that the pesticide disaster was the culmination of an agrarian modernization project implemented in the region by the state-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK). An exploration of the political ecology of the disaster shows the recolonization of residents and nature by PCK through neocolonial forms of centralized and exclusionary spatial and resource control mechanisms. In this context, the paper questions the glorification of the “Kerala model” of development from the standpoints of environmental justice and resource rights, relying on the lived experiences of the people of Kasargod.
Acknowledgements
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all the participants in this study who have been kind enough to trust me with their stories. Thanks also are due to C. Jayakumar, M.A. Rahman, Syam Prasad, Dr K.N. Harilal and Dr J. Devika for their support and motivation during the field work. I thank Dr Robert Benford for his support and mentorship. Thank you, Aadi.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Silpa Satheesh is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of South Florida, USA. Her research interests are environmental movements, resource conflicts, labor movements, and political ecology.
Notes
4 Endosulphan is an organochlorine insecticide that was banned in India by an interim order from the Supreme Court of India in 2011. The pesticide is a listed Persistent Organic Pollutant with acute toxicity that has been identified with a range of chronic effects, including cancer and impacts on hormonal systems. For more information, see http://thanal.co.in/uploads/resource/document/Endosulphan-fact-sheets-60826963.pdf (accessed May 2, 2017).
16 Interview with ex-panchayat member, Swarga, December 21, 2012.
17 CSE Citation2001; conversational interviews with local residents and anti-Endosulphan campaign activists, Kasaragod, January 24, 2013.
19 Interview with Akbar, ex-PCK employee, Enmakaje, December 28, 2012.
20 Interview with Shree Padre, Swarga, February 6, 2013.
24 Interview with Moideen, Karadka, March 19, 2013.
35 Interview with Muhammed, Muliyar, February 2, 2013.
40 Interview with Shree Padre, Swarga, February 6, 2013. A local farmer, journalist, and activist, Shree Padre was one of the first people to link Endosulphan and health anomalies in the region.
See Padre Citation1981. A local doctor, Y.S Mohan Kumar, started noticing health anomalies among his patients living next to Kodenkiri stream (Enmakaje village) during this same period.
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