2022 Punjab polls: SAD promises govt job & education benefits to kin of farm stir victims

Ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls, Sukhbir Badal promised that the SAD-BSP coalition will provide relief to the kin of farmers who lost their lives during the stir against the three agrarian laws if it comes to power. In a video message, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal mentioned that farmers have been protesting for the last 7 months to press for the withdrawal of the farm legislation passed by the Parliament. Revealing that about 550 farmers have passed away in the course of this agitation, he asserted that one person in their families will be given a government job besides education and health benefits. 

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal remarked, "If the SAD-BSP government comes to power in Punjab, we will take a decision to provide a government job to one member of a family which has lost their dear ones in the farmer's stir in the first Cabinet meeting itself. The children in such a family will be entitled to free education till post-graduation. The state government will bear the entire expense of the life insurance cover to be provided to such families. Because this is the struggle of the people of Punjab and the country."

"The Modi government is showing stubbornness. With God's will, the farmers will win in the end. I want to make this commitment in the capacity of the president of the party," he added. 

The impasse over the farm laws

The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 aims at freeing the farmers from the constraints of the state Agriculture Produce Market Committees whereby they would be able to sell their produce anywhere. Meanwhile, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 protects and empowers farmers to engage with processors, wholesalers, large retailers, exporters for farm services. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 specifies that the supply of foodstuffs including cereals, pulses, potatoes, edible oilseeds, and oils shall be regulated only under exceptional circumstances.

At present, the talks between the Union government and the farmers' unions have come to a standstill. This is owing to the fact that farm associations refused to agree to the Centre's proposal for suspending the implementation of the aforesaid legislation for one and a half years. The divide between the two sides further exacerbated on January 26 after the farmers' tractor rally turned violent resulting in 510 Delhi police personnel getting injured and extensive damage to public property. While the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of the farm laws, a committee appointed by the apex court submitted its report pertaining to the legislation in a sealed cover on March 19.