Navajeevana is a registered public charitable Trust (12/4/2018) working for the wellbeing of the Endosulfan affected people of the Kasaragod District, Kerala. Endosulfan issue in Kasaragod.
History of our school
The intention of Catholic religious Order of Norbertines of Mananthavady was to extend the education ministry to the unattended areas of the Kasaragod district in Kerala, in response to the invitation received from Mar George Njaralakkat, the Arch Bishop of Thalassery. They were in search of a place in the district where they can start a college of higher education. They travelled all over Kasaragod in search of land and facilities. While travelling across the district, they realized that most of the villages are affected by Endosulfan. More than 9000 people living near,
downstream and downwind of the estates were affected by debilitating rare diseases like mental retardation, cerebral palsy, cancer and so on. On one of their journeys, they happened to visit a home and saddened by the scene where a little girl was locked up in a room unattended. She was immersed in her own human waste. Her head was bigger than the usual shape of a child of her age. She was unable to speak and walk. To their shock, they found many more children in similar situations in that village limit itself. They were all living in an un-human situation. They waited for the return of the elders and from them he realized that those children are Endosulfan victims. The parents added that they have to lock their children inside their house and to go out for finding their daily bread. They added that they have no other go.
They went back to their base and requested permission for a new mission instead of the one intended by them earlier. With due permission for this mission from Rev. Fr. Vincent Mattammel O. Praem, the Prelate of the Canonry of Mananthavady Norbertines and his council, they came back to Kasaragod and made a pilot study among the Endosulfan-affected children especially in the Eanmakaje Panchayath, which hosts the largest number of Endosulfan affected children. They made frequent house visits and contacts with activists working for the cause against Endosulfan. They reached at a conclusion that though there are many movements and anti-Endosulfan activists in this area protesting to compensate the victims and a ban on the pesticide by organizing protest demonstrations, strikes, and other means to lodge their demands, there are very less or no means for the children to have a shelter with care. There are government-run day care centers in the locality but they could not give the children a homely atmosphere. Besides, they were not concerned with the children who were living in the outskirts of the city limits.
Thus began Navajeevana at Perla, a border town in the Eanmakaje Panchayath, Kasaragod District of Kerala.
downstream and downwind of the estates were affected by debilitating rare diseases like mental retardation, cerebral palsy, cancer and so on. On one of their journeys, they happened to visit a home and saddened by the scene where a little girl was locked up in a room unattended. She was immersed in her own human waste. Her head was bigger than the usual shape of a child of her age. She was unable to speak and walk. To their shock, they found many more children in similar situations in that village limit itself. They were all living in an un-human situation. They waited for the return of the elders and from them he realized that those children are Endosulfan victims. The parents added that they have to lock their children inside their house and to go out for finding their daily bread. They added that they have no other go. They went back to their base and requested permission for a new mission instead of the one intended by them earlier. With due permission for this mission from Rev. Fr. Vincent Mattammel O. Praem, the Prelate of the Canonry of Mananthavady Norbertines and his council, they came back to Kasaragod and made a pilot study among the Endosulfan-affected children especially in the Eanmakaje Panchayath, which hosts the largest number of Endosulfan affected children. They made frequent house visits and contacts with activists working for the cause against Endosulfan. They reached at a conclusion that though there are many movements and anti-Endosulfan activists in this area protesting to compensate the victims and a ban on the pesticide by organizing protest demonstrations, strikes, and other means to lodge their demands, there are very less or no means for the children to have a shelter with care. There are government-run day care centers in the locality but they could not give the children a homely atmosphere. Besides, they were not concerned with the children who were living in the outskirts of the city limits. Thus began Navajeevana at Perla, a border town in the Eanmakaje Panchayath, Kasaragod District of Kerala.
Endosulfan issue in Kasaragod
Kasaragod is the northern District of the Kerala State of India. It is famous for its cashew plantations. The Plantation Corporation of Kerala, a state run corporation, cultivates vast areas. To protect this crop since the mid 1970s, the pesticide Endosulfan has been widely used and aerially sprayed on cashew nut plantation covering several villages in the district. The controversy for using the ‘Endosulfan’ started emerging since the 1990s. People residing in the villages near or within the plantation have felt that they are affected by different kinds of illnesses. Villagers also observed that unique kinds of illness have started emerging among human and animals which was never seen before. News spread that the aerial spraying of Endosulfan on cashew plantations is main cause of abnormal cases of many alignments for example; cancer, skin disease, congenital deformities, sterility, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and other illnesses. As time passed, local activist groups realised that the illness was being caused by Endosulfan - a very old off-patent pesticide of the organochlorine class. Environmentalists as well as the various groups formed Anti-Endosulfan Committee to form a pressure group to ban Endosulfan. According to an estimate by Anti-Endosulfan Committee about 8,000-9,000 persons in Kasaragod district are affected due to the spraying of Endosulfan in the cashew plantations. About 500 persons have lost their lives over the past decade owing to various diseases triggered by the large-scale use of pesticides in the district. The main routes of entry of the ill effects of this pesticide into the human body are; 1. From mother’s body to foetus via placenta 2. From mother’s milk to baby 3. From locally grown plant and animal foods 4. From water 5. From air through breathing and through skin Because of these routes, children born here in this region are affected in one way or the other, even today.
Contact Us
+91 9188323952(Office) +91 8281975844(Fr. Jose) P.B No. 1 ,Perla P.O Kasaragod Dt. ,Kerala 67155