Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed in the parliament that the government has no record of the farmers who had died during the year-long farmers’ protests and hence there was no question of providing compensation to their families.
In a reply to a question asking if the Centre intends to provide financial assistance to the families of those who died during the protests Tomar said, “Ministry of Agriculture has no record in the matter and hence the question does not arise.”
The reply from the government came amid the time when the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of several farmer unions, have been claiming that approximately 700 farmers have lost their lives during year long protests.
Tomar also informed the house that the Government has invited farmers for talks and asked them to suggest names of their representatives to set up a committee for discussions to make the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system more effective and transparent as well as to suggest ways to promote zero budgeting based-agriculture.
