Kasaragod: Nearly eight years after a contentious special medical camp identified 1,905 suspected endosulfan victims in Kasaragod, the Kerala government has sanctioned ₹48.85 crore to provide financial assistance to the remaining 977 persons from that list.

The Social Justice Department order dated February 24, issued by Special Secretary Dr Adeela Abdullah, authorises the Kasaragod District Collector to disburse ₹5 lakh each to 977 beneficiaries under the Kerala Social Security Mission's Comprehensive Package for Victims of Endosulfan.

The order follows Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's announcement in the Assembly on July 10, 2024, that the government had taken steps to extend financial assistance to those left out of the original list of 1,905 identified in the 2017 camp. Of the 1,031 persons excluded, 54 have since been granted ₹5 lakh each, leaving 977 beneficiaries under the present sanction, said an official at the Kasaragod Collectorate.

The order marks the formal closure of a prolonged and often bitter struggle for families who have sought recognition and support since 2017.

The long road from 2017
Endosulfan was aerially sprayed by the Plantation Corporation of Kerala in cashew plantations in Kasaragod between 1978 and 2001. Eleven panchayats- Ajanur, Belloor, Badiadka, Enmakaje, Kallar, Karadka, Kayyur-Cheemeni, Kumbadaje, Muliyar, Panathady and Pullur-Periya- were later declared disaster-affected.

Medical camps conducted in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2017 identified 6,727 victims. Currently, 6,600 remain on the official list, said the government order. Though special medical camps were supposed to be held every year to identify those affected by aerial spraying of the pesticide, the government stopped the exercise in 2017.

After the first round of medical and field-level verification, 1,905 persons were provisionally identified as likely endosulfan victims. But the Cell for Rehabilitation of Endosulfan Survivors- the government's committee reviewing and implementing the programmes and projects for the survivors- cleared only 287 names, said social activist Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan. Only those identified as endosulfan victims would get access to free medical care, financial assistance and a pension.

After raising the matter in the Cell, the government agreed to recognise 76 more persons as victims, taking the total number of beneficiaries to 363 persons.

This triggered massive protests from the families and activists of the district. The government denied the existence of a list with 1,905 names. But protests raged on, and the government decided to recognise all the children below 18 years of age from the list as endosulfan victims. There were 511 children. This left 1,031 persons in limbo. The government said they were excluded because they did not live in the 11 panchayats where endosulfan was aerially sprayed.

After the government ignored several token protests, the activists and affected families began an indefinite relay strike before the mini civil station in Kanhangad on January 30, 2024. With the protest not abating, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on July 10, 2024, announced in the Assembly that the government had taken steps to provide financial assistance to the remaining 1,031 persons.

Despite the Chief Minister's announcement, Kasaragod Collector Inbasekar K wrote three letters to the government on May 5, June 26 and December 17, 2025, stating that the remaining 1,031 persons could not be included in the beneficiary list. The December letter was written despite the Cabinet in October authorised the District Collector Inbasekar to disburse financial assistance to 1,031 "eligible" persons.

Now, it appears the government has overruled the objection and the department has issued an order authorising the Collector to disburse the amount to the remaining beneficiaries. "If we had not got the original list in 2017, we could not have intervened, and none of them would have got compensation," said Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan, convenor of the Endosulfan Peethitha Janakeeya Munanni.

To be sure, the ₹5 lakh compensation for each endosulfan victim was mandated by the Supreme Court on January 10, 2017, on a petition filed by the CPM's youth wing, DYFI. However, the funds were not released, prompting the Confederation of Endosulfan Victims Rights Collectives (CERV Collectives) to wage a prolonged legal battle, during which the Supreme Court repeatedly pulled up the state government for the delay. The compensation was eventually disbursed to 6,727 persons, with the process being completed in October 2022 after the then District Collector Bhandari Swagat Ranveerchand initiated steps to implement the order.

No more camps
In October 2022, social activist Daya Bai undertook an indefinite hunger strike before the Secretariat, demanding, among other things, fresh medical camps to identify endosulfan victims. Ministers Veena George and R Bindu had assured in writing that special camps would be conducted within five months, that is, by March 2023. Those camps were never held, though the government got 20,000 applications from people with physical and mental disabilities.

Activists point out that the second Pinarayi Vijayan government was lackadaisical in convening the Endosulfan Cell meeting. It has met only three times in the past five years and not even once in the past two-and-a-half years.