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By Aparna Pallavi Shantilal Kothari is fasting to have the ban on the cultivation and sale of lakhodi dal lifted. He maintains that lakhodi is an ideal crop for poor rural communities as it promises high yields, very low input costs and excellent nutritive value
Dr Shantilal Kothari, nutritional scientist and head of the Nagpur-based Academy of Nutrition Improvement, has a simple question: Why, when the Maharashtra state cabinet took a decision to lift the ban on lakhodi dal, a local pulse variety widely consumed in many parts of India, three years ago (June 2004) is the government not issuing the requisite GR to implement the decision? Dr Kothari’s fast in protest against this absurd situation entered its 49th day on April 20, 2008, but, except for the usual assurances, the state government still has to respond. This, despite the fact that Dr Kothari, a nationally well-known food and nutrition expert, is over 70 years old and recently underwent major heart surgery. To support Dr Kothari’s campaign for the ban to be lifted, Shriprakash Pohare, editor of the Marathi daily Deshonnati, and the organisation Amhi Amchya Arogya Sathi in Gadchiroli organised a peaceful civil disobedience event in Nagpur, on April 1. Lakhodi dal was sold openly to the public at the event, as also in Amravati and Akola in Vidarbha on that day. Lakhodi dal (Lathyrus sativus), also known as ‘khesari’, ‘tikhadi’ and ‘tiwda’ in various parts of north India, is widely grown and consumed all over Maharashtra by the rural poor, notwithstanding a December 1961 ban on its production and sale. Referring to the medical premise on which the ban is based, Dr Kothari, who has done extensive research on the subject, as also other issues like the health impact of iodised salt and the nutritive possibilities of mahua, says: “Medical texts say that a person may contract lathyrism, a form of paralysis of the legs, if he consumes 400 grams of the dal daily, for three months continuously.” This, he says, is a very slim premise on which to base a blanket ban, as, under normal circumstances, consumption of such huge quantities of dal is impossible. “There has been no conclusive evidence regarding a direct link between lakhodi consumption and lathyrism, or even the existence of the said illness, though research in this area has been going on since 1920.” Dr Kothari points out that two studies by the Sengupta Committee in 1992 and by the Mrinalini Pathak study group in 1993 failed to confirm the existence of statistically significant numbers of lathyrism cases among tribal populations that consume the dal regularly; nor did the studies succeed in establishing a clear-cut connection between the disease and lakhodi consumption even in the rare cases found. Dr Kothari alleges that the dal was banned in accordance with a pre-fabricated international agenda rather than as a result of in-depth and authentic research. The evidence lies, he says, in the ban’s chronology. The central government imposed the ban on February 2, 1961, whereas the report on the health impact of lakhodi was submitted to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for review only on October 2 of the same year. The Maharashtra government’s ban came into effect on November 21, 1961, much before ICMR was able to comment on the report. According to Dr Kothari, the ban on lakhodi dal has badly affected the economy and lives of both rural and urban poor. This dal, he says, is uniquely suited to the requirements of the poor, as it is very easy to cultivate, requiring no inputs or labour, is cheap (Rs 12-15 per kg compared to tur, the most popular pulse in Maharashtra, which currently costs around Rs 38 per kg) and also, according to the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, contains the highest amount of protein and other nutrients. By imposing the ban, Dr Kothari explains, the government is depriving the poor of affordable and nutritious food. Besides, the ban does not serve any real purpose as the dal continues to be cultivated, sold and consumed widely in rural areas, especially in the tribal districts of Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia and Bhandara. Eateries in urban areas too use lakhodi dal widely as a cheap substitute for tur and channa dals; tur dal besan (powder) and besan products sold in the market are routinely mixed with lakhodi dal (it looks and tastes a lot like tur dal). “The only effect of the ban has been that traders are able to intimidate farmers into selling it cheap, and then make a killing by using it as an adulteration agent.” Another negative impact of the ban, says Dr Kothari, is that it continues to keep India dependent on expensive imported pulses. “By banning this dal, which is produced and consumed openly all over Asia, and in large quantities in countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Ethiopia, Pakistan and even France, the authorities are only reinforcing the World Bank’s agenda of keeping India dependent on the developed world for food imports.” Kothari maintains that if the ban were lifted, many farmers would be motivated to grow lakhodi dal, which offers high yields at very low cost, and India would become self-sufficient in pulse production. Meanwhile, the various government agencies engage in shifting blame and responsibility. The state government pleads that its resolution is awaiting approval by the central government. Replying to a question in the state assembly on the issue, on March 19, Food and Drugs Administration Minister Baba Siddique said that despite urgent reminders, the NIN had not come up with a report on the health impact of the pulse in question. FDA commissioner Dhanraj Khamatkar echoes this view. (Aparna Pallavi is an independent journalist based in Nagpur) InfoChange News & Features, April 2008
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