Farmers’ compensation, UAPA ‘misuse’ dominate Zero Hour mentions in Lok Sabha

Issues related to compensation for families of those who lost their lives in the year-long protests by farmers against the three Central farm laws, a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers, arrest of activists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as well as a call for bringing in a uniform civil code dominated Zero Hour mentions in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the first day that such mentions could be made in the current session.

Congress leader Manish Tewari said the government should provide ₹5 crore compensation to the families of the farmers who died during the agitation and also accept the other demands of the tillers, including a legal guarantee of MSP for certain crops.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour, the MP from Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib stated that it was because of the ‘historic farmers’ movement that the three ‘black farm laws’ have been taken back. ‘I would like to demand that a list of those farmers [who died in the agitation] be prepared and their families given ₹ 5 crore compensation each. The farmers’ demand of [legal guarantee for] MSP as well as other demands should be met. The government should do justice to them,’ he observed.

Another Congress MP from Fatehgarh Sahib, Amar Singh, also demanded that a law be made providing legal guarantee for MSP.

Rashtriya Loktantrik Party’s Hanuman Beniwal demanded that the cases filed against farmers during the agitation be taken back.

All these demands have been consistently made by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha over the last few months even after the government repealed the three laws related to agriculture and contract farming.

Detention of students

BSP’s Kunwar Danish Ali raised the issue of some students of universities such as Jamia Millia Islamia in detention under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and demanded that they be released. Earlier, he had sought to raise the issue of MSP guarantee but the Chair asked him to stick to the issue he had given notice for. ‘Especially, students of Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Aligarh Muslim University, who did much to raise awareness and shed light on important issues, have been put in jail misusing the UAPA. These students should be released from jail immediately,’ he urged.

BJP’s Nishikant Dubey, raising the issue of uniform civil code, referred to the Allahabad High Court asking the Centre last month to consider setting up a panel for implementing the mandate of Article 44 of the Constitution, which speaks about a uniform civil code for the citizens throughout the territory of India. ‘Even after 75 years of Independence, we have not been able to bring in a uniform civil code. I urge the government to soon bring a law to implement a uniform civil code,’ he added.