Provided under the PL 480 (food for peace) programme of the USA, the wheat that was sent to India was not only of an inferior quality but also was it mixed with the deadly parthenium seed.
Kolkata: The year was 1954, India had gained freedom barely a few years back but its people were yet to taste independence in the literal sense even after 200 years of British rule. A few years back, thanks to B R Ambedkar, India also got its Constitution which promised equality of all forms but still, the people of the country were battling with a major issue – scarcity of food.
The country was still far from becoming capable to grow enough to feed its own people and to mitigate this problem, the then Congress government under the leadership of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to get wheat from the United States of America, a decision that backfired and paved way for the spread of one of the deadliest seeds in the world – parthenium.
Provided under the PL 480 (food for peace) programme of the USA, the wheat that was sent to India was not only of an inferior quality but also was it mixed with the deadly parthenium seed.
What is parthenium?
Parthenium hysterophorous is a shrub mainly found in North America and contact with the plant is known to cause dermatitis and respiratory malfunction, like asthma, in humans and dermatitis in cattle and domestic animals. The seeds of the plant, parthenium, contain parthenin, which is dangerously toxic.
Other names of parthenium are gajar ghas or carrot grass, whitetop weed, wild feverfew and others.
The Congress Grass
When the people of the country found the parthenium seeds mixed with the foodgrains, they started manually segregating them and dumped them wherever they could. When the plants grew and the health hazards became known to the people, the shrub was named the Congress Grass – a gift to the nation by the Grand Old Party.
Steps taken to weed out parthenium
Although the government initially denied the existence of parthenium and the fact that it came along the wheat sent by the United States of America, eventually, it bent and started taking measures to destroy the poisonous and invasive plant. From burning them to introducing plant-eating insects and spraying eucalyptus oil to growing mushrooms near the plants, everything was tried but even till date, complete eradication of the plant has not been possible. In some pockets across the country, the poisonous plants are still found dotting the roadsides.
When repeated attempts to destroy the plant failed, steps were taken to find out how could the seeds or its extracts be put to good use. From using it to treat skin problems and diarrhoea to fighting malaria and using it in other medicines, everything was tried but till date, no proper use of the plant could be found.
A working professional, Sayani is a passionate story-teller and mostly writes feature articles on history, food and lifestyle. A passionate traveler, Sayani often pens mesmerising travelogues.