No Farmer Died Due To Police Action During Agitation: Govt Tells Parliament

“The subject of compensation etc. to the families of the deceased farmers in the farmers movement is with the concerned state government,” Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

New Delhi: Asserting “no farmer died as a result of police action” during the year-long agitation against the three farm laws, the Centre on Friday said the “subject of compensation” to the families of the deceased is with the concerned state governments.

“The subject of compensation etc. to the families of the deceased farmers in the farmers movement is with the concerned state government,” Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

“No farmer died as a result of police action during the farmers' agitation,” he told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply responding to a joint question by Congress leader Dhiraj Prasad Sahu and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, PTI reported.

The statement came as the Opposition parties have been raising in Parliament the issue of farmers’ deaths during the protests.

The leaders of various Opposition parties had earlier asked whether the ruling dispensation is planning to provide or made any provision towards livelihood monetary compensation to the farmers’ families.

The Union Agriculture Minister also replied to queries on whether the Centre proposes to bring a law to give legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price (MSP) for every crop as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission.

Tomar said the government is considering the formal formation of a committee aimed at promoting zero budgeting-based agriculture, to change crop pattern as per the country’s changing needs and to make MSP more effective and transparent.

He added that the ruling dispensation implemented earlier in 2018-19 the National Commission on Farmers’ recommendation to fix MSP at least 50 percent profit on weighted average cost of production.

Earlier on Thursday, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) called off the protests after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government accepted their key pending demands, including on the MSP and withdrawal of all agitation-related cases against the farmers.

This decision by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella of famers’ unions, came after the farmers appeared satisfied with the point-wise written assurance by the ruling dispensation on their demands.

The farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, were protesting at the borders of the national capital since November 26 last year demanding repeal of the three farm laws.

Earlier on November 29, the Parliament passed a bill to repeal the three contentious laws.