Cancer Belt Of Punjab: Malwa
The Malwa region has gained immense popularity recently as we can find many references to the Malwa region in songs and movies which have gained great popularity in the past few years.
The Malwa region of Punjab refers to the region south of the River Sutlej, it is the largest region of Punjab and is known for its cotton farming and its unique dialect.
The Malwa region is also known as the ‘Cancer Belt’ of Punjab due to the alarmingly high rates of cancer cases in the region as compared to the rest of the state and most parts of the country. This region has recorded a high of 107.4 cancer-afflicted for every 1 lakh. The most afflicted districts of the region are Mukstar, Mansa, Bathinda, and Ferozepur. Muktsar district in Malwa has fared the worst with 136.3 patients for every lakh while Tarn Taran district in the Majha region has the least number of cancer patients — 41 per 100,000 people.
These statistics show that the rate of incidence of cancer in the region is extremely high and a matter of grave concern.
Punjab is known for its extensive agriculture. The total geographical area of Punjab is 5.036 million hectares and the cultivable area is 4.20 million hectares which is 83.4% of the total geographical area. It was one of the few states in which the Green Revolution was implemented in the 1960s. It is known as the Granary of India and the breadbasket of India because of the extensive wheat cultivation in the state. Punjab is also famous for its rice, mustard, and sugarcane production among many other crops. Such extensive agriculture requires the use of many products like fertilizers and pesticides which are suspected to be the cause of Punjab’s ‘Cancer Belt’. Chemical substances like pesticides and fertilizers when extensively used often leach into our food supply and enter our bodies causing a variety of health problems.
The consistent use of pesticides and other chemicals in agriculture has caused toxic materials to mix with the region’s water table and that water is further used for agricultural activities as well as drinking this has resulted in the chemicals entering the bodies of the local residents, causing severe ailments. Studies have shown that the unusually high incidence of cancer, especially in the cotton-growing districts of southwestern Punjab, is related to the use of pesticides by cotton farmers. A study conducted by Delhi non-profit Centre for Science and Environment in 2004 had found high residue of pesticides in the blood of some farmers from Bathinda and Ropar districts. Chemical toxicity is high in this region due to the leaching of pesticides and fertilizers into the food and water supply, high levels of arsenic and uranium have been found in the same. This clearly shows that indiscriminate pesticide usage combined with an absence of regulations has had adverse effects.
In recent years efforts have been made by the government to mitigate this problem schemes like the Mukh Mantri Punjab Cancer Raahat Kosh Scheme which aims at providing financial assistance to Punjab resident cancer patients have been initiated, and this has been paired with an increase in awareness due to increased awareness drives by the government and various NGO’s.
