No data on farmers who died, so no compensation: Govt
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 Nov, 2021 12:12 PM
New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) The government on Tuesday said it has no data pertaining to either cases against or the number of farmers who died during the year-long agitation demanding repeal of the three contentious farm laws and hence there was no question of providing financial assistance to anyone.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said this in reply to questions on 'Agitation of Farm Laws' raised by a bunch of MPs in the Lok Sabha.
Among other questions, the MPs had sought to know the number of cases registered against farmers in connection with the agitation; the data on the number of farmers who died during the agitation held in and around the National Capital; and whether the government proposes to provide financial assistance to the kin of farmers who died during the said agitation.
The Ministry's curt reply was that it has no record on the matter and hence the question of providing financial assistance does not arise.
In earlier part of this unstarred question, the reply had detailed how the government had held 11 rounds of discussions with the farm leaders to dissolve the situation and also listed a number of steps that it has taken to the question about "whether the Government proposes to protect farmers' interests and implement support price for agricultural produce."
Apart from the main demand of repeal of the three contentious laws - that have now been officially repealed by the Parliament - more than a year-long agitation has demanded withdrawal of cases against the farmers during the time of the agitation and paying compensation to and rehabilitation of the families of the martyred farmers, who lost their lives during the same time.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha that has spearheaded the agitation has claimed that about 700 farmers have lost their lives during the agitation since last year.
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The petitioner contended that her daughter is a permanent resident of the US, while her son holds an American passport. Jauhar argued that children have been taken to an "undisclosed destination", as they are neither in Chennai nor at Tamil Nadu's Virudhnagar, and that his client suspects they have been taken to Maharashtra.
After failing to get any information about Gurdeep's whereabouts since he left Delhi a week ago, his uncle Shamsher Singh, who is also at Singhu, lodged the missing complaint at Kundli police station which falls under Sonepat district of Haryana and is very near the farmers' protest site.
