RTI application related to issue raised by Satyamev jayate
27 Jun, 2012In reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Rohit Prajapati, a Vadodara-based environmental activist, the Gujrat Agriculture department has informed that it has no record of pesticide usage on farms in Gujarat. The state government also informed that it has not conducted any study on the impact of pesticides on crops.
The question of the safety of crop produced was raised in one of the episodes aired on TV as a part of the ‘Satymev Jayate’ series with Aamir Khan as the anchor. The need for the utilisation of better techniques raising the crops has been felt at many places but lack of awareness amongst the farmers is one reason for their not switching to the organic farming. There have been calls for a policy to boost organic farming.
While the RTI application was filed in Gujrat, the situation is no better in any of the other states. One RTI application has shown the path for others to file similar applications in their respective states.