Cancer X

Cancer-hit family resorts to organic farming
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda/Muktsar, September 30
A family of village Bhalaiana in Muktsar district, which has lost three members due to cancer, has bid good bye to pesticides and resorted to organic farming. Though the members have not converted the whole agricultural land organic, but for self-consumption they would not spray any pesticide.

Manjeet Kaur (60) has witnessed the death of her husband, son and grandson because of cancer. When asked, she murmered, “Use of pesticides and presence of fluoride in water have made our life miserable.”
Her husband Gurmel Singh died at the age of 65, her son Ranjeet Singh at 32 and her grandson at a tender age. She said, “The disease is so wide spread that we have now stopped drinking underground water and also the canal water. For the agricultural substances, we have started using organic manure and all pulses, wheat and vegetables have been cultivated this way.”
Paramjeet Kaur, widow of Ranjeet Singh, with her wet eyes and choked throat said, “Cancer swallowed our family.”
Jagtar Singh and Kuldeep Singh, cousins of Ranjeet, have also started organic farming for their self-use and a bit for sale. They produce manure themselves using cow dung, cow urine, tobacco, jaggery and other things. They have done this on three acres of land each. They said not many residents of the village have relished the idea of switching over to organic farming, as the cost of production is high.
Their family is not the only one in the village facing the brunt of cancer. It may be mentioned that to tackle the problem of contaminated underground water, the state government has installed reverse osmosis (RO) plant in the village, which caters a number of families but there is no check over the excessive use of pesticides.