40-yr-old protesting farmer dies by suicide at Singhu border: Cops

THE FARMER, A RESIDENT OF PUNJAB, CONSUMED A POISONOUS SUBSTANCE, POLICE OFFICIALS SAID

Press Trust of India

CHANDIGARH: A 40-year-old Punjab farmer, who was taking part in the protest at the Singhu border against the Central farm laws, allegedly died by suicide after consuming a poisonous substance on Saturday evening, police officials familiar with the matter said.

The farmer, Amarinder Singh, was a resident of Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district. The man was rushed to a local hospital in Sonipat where he died, said Sonipat’s Kundli police station’s inspector Ravi Kumar. At least 50 protesting farmers have died so far.

Farmers from various parts of the country, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at different border points of Delhi for over a month now demanding repeal of the three contentious laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.

The three laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

The government has repeatedly asserted that the MSP and Mandi systems will stay and has accused the opposition of misleading the farmers.