Home Minister P. Chidambaram today clarified that his comments regarding the impact of rising prices on the middle class, have been delibrately distorted by a newspaper report. In a statement issued today, the Minister said that he had not mocked anyone in the press conference held in Bangalore yesterday. He said, he had explained that the rise in food prices was due to the need to pay more to the farmers. The statement said that in an answer to a question on the burden of rising prices on the common man, the Home Minister had referred to the need for giving higher Minimum Support Prices, MSPs, to the farmers and the benefits of programmes like MGNREGA and PMGSY which directly assist(सहायता करना) the poorest section of the society

The Punjab Government has banned the manufacture, import and use of pesticides which are very injurious to health.

Responding to National Huma Rights Commission's directions, the state government has also withdrawn registration of some such pesticides in addition to restricting use of some dangerous pesticides.

The state government has also made arrangements for educating farmers on judicious use of pesticides and their healthcare. Our correspondent reports that these actions have been taken by state government in response to commission's suo motu cognizance of a media report.

The report said that the disease of cancer among farmers in the Malwa region of Punjab is caused by the excessive use of pesticides.