Sunday, August 24, 2008

Senior Citizens and Pesticides

Even my amateur flash photography cannot disguise Jogi Paswan's frailty. He is an agricultural laborer from village Debra, under post office Parsa, in the Samastipur district of Bihar.

I do not understand the point of India's progress if Jogi Bhai has to work in this condition. He has cancer of the GI tract. I met him in Mumbai a few days ago.

Paswan's owner-farmers do not even spare him the arduous task of spraying pesticides. He has to protect mango orchards, which means that he has to apply synthetic pyrethroids and carbamates overhead. He has no impervious protective clothing, and has not been trained in safe and judicious pesticide application.

Listen to my interview with him at the following link:

http://satyabroto.podbean.com/2008/08/24/senior-citizen-pesticide-operator/


I hope to meet Jogi Paswan again soon. Please add your powerful voice in support of Jogi Paswan and others like him.

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