People's Democracy

AIAWU Condemns Bihar Mid-Day Meal Deaths

The All India Agricultural Workers Union issued the following statement on July 17:

 THE All India Agricultural Workers Union expresses its grief and concern at the death of 23 school children after eating mid-day meals in Masrakh in Saran district of Bihar yesterday. Apparently it was a result of eating food laced with pesticides.

The central government is primarily responsible for the functioning of its all India schemes and must take the primary responsibility for this horrible happening as such cases have been reported earlier from different states with little concern being shown by the central government for shoddy implementation. Obviously its only concern is to advertise these schemes for political mileage irrespective of the harm their careless implementation and misuse can do to the poorest sections who avail them.

What is worse is that dangerous pesticides and acids are allowed to be sold freely from shops with no concern for how they are used. Already our union has successfully fought against the widespread use of Endosulfan in Kerala but it is still used in Punjab with scant respect for the lives of peasants and agricultural labourers. The recent court judgment regarding sale of acids only to those who identify themselves can also be extended to the pesticides trade as in many cases illicit liquor is manufactured with a pesticide base.  

We welcome the inquiry into this incident and demand that the guilty be punished and people’s committees be formed to prevent further happenings of this sort.