No record of farmers’ deaths, so no question of compensation: Centre

Protesting farmers, who say they have lost close to 700 of their brethren during the movement, ‘condemned’ the govt’s response

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar speaks in the Lok Sabha, during the Winter Session of Parliament.: PTI Photo

J.P. Yadav   |   TT  |  New Delhi   |  02.12.21: The “question does not arise”, the Narendra Modi government has told Parliament in response to a query on whether it plans to pay compensation for the farmers who died during the agitation against the three now-repealed laws.

In a written reply to three questions on compensation, data on farmers’ deaths and cases registered against the peasants during the protest, Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday: “The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has no record in the matter and so question does not arise.”

The protesting farmers, who say they have lost close to 700 of their brethren during the movement, “condemned” the Centre’s response and accused the Modi dispensation of again “insulting” them.

Compensation for the next of kin of the deceased farmers is one of the conditions the Samyukta Kisan Morcha has laid down to withdraw the protest.

The three questions had been asked on Tuesday by a group of Lok Sabha MPs, including Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh of BJP ally JDU.

The first question: “The number of cases registered against farmers in connection with the agitation.”

The second: “The data on the number of farmers who died during the agitations held in and around the National Capital.”

The third: “Whether the government proposes to provide financial assistance to the kin of the farmers who died during the said agitations. If so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefore.”

Tomar’s reply came a day after the government repealed the laws on the first day of the winter session of Parliament by making no room for discussion or debate, just as it had done while introducing them.

The Morcha, an umbrella organisation of farmers leading the movement has said close to 700 peasants have lost their lives during the protest at the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders of Delhi. The deaths were mostly due to harsh weather, disease caused by unhygienic conditions and suicide.

The questions by the MPs were “unstarred”, which means no supplementary questions are allowed inside the House on the matter.

Other than JDU president Lalan Singh, the other MPs who had raided the questions were all from the Opposition camp — T.N. Prathapan, Anto Antony, Dean Kuriakose and Abdul Khaleque of the Congress, N.K. Premchandran of the RSP, A.M. Arif of the CPM and Saugata Roy of Trinamul.

Reacting to the government’s response, the Morcha iterated its demand for compensation and rehabilitation of the kin of the deceased farmers.

“The Government of India continues to insult the huge sacrifices being made by protesting farmers by saying that it has no record of deaths of any protesting farmers,” the Morcha said in a statement.

“The SKM condemns the response.… The SKM reiterates its demand for compensation and rehabilitation of the kin of more than 689 martyrs in the ongoing agitation,” it added.

The farmers have refused to call off their agitation, demanding a legal guarantee on minimum support price for all farm produce, withdrawal of the cases filed against the protesters and compensation for the dead farmers’ families.