This Punjab Group Has Documented All Farmer Deaths During Farm Law Protest, Says Willing To Help Govt With Data For Aid

As Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said government has no data on farmers' deaths during farm law protest, a Punjab group says they have all the numbers and are willing to help the govt.

New Delhi: On the morning of March 7, 2021, 48-year old Rajbir Singh's body was found hanging at the Tikri border of Delhi. Rajbir, from Hisar, was among the thousands of people protesting against the three farm laws passed by the Narendra Modi government in September 2020.

He was also one among the 39 people who allegedly committed suicide, according to data maintained by a blog, 'Human Cost Of Farmers Protest'.

In reply to a query in Parliament about compensation to farmers who lost their lives during the year-long protest, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said earlier this week: "(The) Ministry of Agriculture has no record in the matter...".

Hence, he said, the question of aid did not arise.

"Tomar's statement about farmers' deaths ridicules the lives of people like Rajbir who sacrificed their lives for the cause of farmers," Harinder, a PhD scholar from Amritsar University, told ABP Live. 

Harinder Happy is part of a group that has been documenting the number of lives lost during the farmers' protest under the online blog, "Human Cost Of Farmers Protest". The group also comprises Sajneet Mangat, a student from Canada, Amar Mander, who manages his agricultural land, and Anuroop Sandhu who is a research scholar and a teacher. This blog was constituted "with the sole purpose of recording the deaths of all the farmers or supporters of Famers’ Protest 2020-2021 happening currently at the borders of Delhi", it says. 

Parliament passed a bill on Monday to repeal the three farm laws that were aimed at deregulating agriculture markets. The laws were repealed without a debate in either House. While the government decided to partially agree to the demands of the protesters after a year-long agitation at the Delhi borders and elsewhere, it did not give any statement on the demand by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to extend compensation to the farmers who lost their lives during the agitation. Rather, the Agriculture Minister said that there has been no data about deaths.

Reacting to Tomar's statement in Parliament that the government does not have data on farmer deaths during the protests, the Kisan Ekta Morcha said they are ready to provide all the numbers.  

'Total deaths as noted on 29/11/2021 = 703'

Happy said they have been updating the blog every day for the past year. The number of people who died, according to the blog, stands at 703. 

He explained the process that the group followed to document the lives lost at the farmers' protests. "It was very difficult for us to retrieve the data about deaths. We primarily depended on news articles in both print and online versions. Every day, we skim through more than 15 newspapers to look for reports about the farmers' deaths," Happy said. 

"We are also in touch with various village sarpanchs and also khaap sarpanchs who give us information about deaths of farmers from their respective villagers. We also work closely with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha who provide us with data. But many times, there are mistakes in the name or the photo of the deceased," he added. 

"We rectify these mistakes and then put the information on the blog. Apart from that, we also receive news clippings on social media without the publisher's name. So we have to track back that news to find the source," Happy said.

He said the group also met the families of these farmers to verify the details.  

"Actually, this work should have been done by the government." Happy said, adding that their only motive is to document the human cost of the farmer protest. 

Happy said they are willing to help the government to compile data on the number of farmers who lost their lives during the agitation. 

'Government Only Releases The Data That Suits Them' 

Happy said the government only releases the data that suits them. "The agencies have the record about Khalistan elements in the protest, but they do not have data about the deaths. The government only releases the data that suits them," he said.

Harinder was referring to the categorisation of protesters as 'Khalistani Supporters'. During a Supreme Court hearing, Attorney General KK Venugopal said, “We have been informed there is a Khalistani infiltration in the protests." 

In a January 29 report, news agency ANI said: "The farmers were unaware of the fact that they were playing into the hands of stooges controlled by the Pakistan spy agency ISI and the ones associated with the so-called Khalistan movement." The report did not attribute the statement to anyone. 

"If the government says that there is no data, then how was the family of Sushil Kajal (who died in the police lathi-charge in Karnal) promised government jobs as compensation? Even Navnreet's case (the farmer who was killed during the 26 January tractor rally) is registered in the Delhi High Court. The Lakhimpur case is also sub judice. So, at least there is data available on these 9-10 cases. What will the government say about that?" Navreet said. 

Happy said the group actively started documenting the farmer deaths after December 2020, but they had been thinking about doing this since the first suicide by a farmer outside former chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal patron Prakash Singh Badal's house on September 19, 2020.

Talking about the motivation, he mentioned the "forgotten deceased" from the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919. "This blog is to remind everyone of the human cost of the protest so that it does not vanish from our memory. This is to remind everyone of the farmers' sacrifices," Happy said. 

Happy and the others who constituted the blog did not know each other prior to the farmer protest. "We all are from various places, someone is from Patiala, Canada, Delhi, Amritsar. We all have only met twice, so our entire communication has been online. Big movements are run like this only," he said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also claimed of having the data on the farmers who lost their lives. “The Punjab government was not responsible for farm laws that led to the protests. It still gave ₹5 lakh each to families of 403 deceased farmers. It also gave jobs to 152. We also have a list of 100 names from other states and a third list which is public information of names that can easily be verified. But the government says that such a list does not exist,” he said.