Uttarakhand Government Bans 27 Pesticides

Recently, the government of Uttarakhand announced to bring a law titled Organic Agriculture Act, 2019 to criminalize usage of agro-chemicals in certain selected areas. It proposes to impose INR 1 lakh fine and imprisonment for up to one year to those who violates the provisions of the act by using chemical fertilizers, insecticides, in blocks notified by state government as organic blocks. 

Sustaining livelihood of farmers and protecting food security of nation, depends on the productivity of farms. Use of high cost inputs and fluctuating market prices has made farming enterprise unprofitable. Many farmers now want to leave farming and are opting for non-farm income generating activities. Agrochemicals like pesticides and fertilizers, play a very important role in improving yields, but non-judicious use of these chemicals not just increases input costs in farming but also degrades soil health, damage biodiversity and cause health hazards to living organisms.

To stop the adverse impacts of certain agro-chemicals on human health and environment, the government of Uttarakhand has released a notification for banning certain harmful pesticides.

List of 27 pesticides banned by Uttarakhand government are

Asphate, Ultrazine, Benfaracarb, Butachlor, Captan, Carbendenzim, Carbofuran, Chlorpyrifos, 2.4-D, Deltamethrin, Dicofol, Dimethot, Dinocap, Diuron, Malathione, Mancozeb, Mithomil, Monocrotophos, Oxyfluorine, Pendimethalin, Qinalphos, Sulfosulphurone, Theodicarb, Thiophanate methyl, Thiram, Geneb and Gyram.