State governments are under fire for offering meager financial aid to families of soldiers martyred in the recent attack on army camp in Uri.

To begin with, the West Bengal government offered a meager amount of Rs. 2 lakh as compensation. No one from the ruling establishment turned up to attend the funeral. Mamata Banerjee, who heads the government, would have spent much more than that amount to attend Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony in the Vatican City. Is the well-being of a martyr’s family not as important?

The government in Bihar offered a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh. Rejecting the offer, a martyr’s wife said, “Was my husband a drunkard who lost his life falling in a drain? I don’t need Nitish Kumar’s financial assistance.” Why can’t Nitish Kumar, who allocated a whopping 500 crore for the construction of a museum in Patna, offer respectable compensation to the martyr’s family?

The Assam government offered the same amount as compensation for those who died in police action during the eviction of illegal (suspected to be Bangladeshi) encroachers at Kaziranga National Park.

So you have a situation where the families of those who die for the country and the families of possible illegal immigrants and encroachers receive the same compensation.

Thankfully, at-least the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand offered a compensation of Rs. 20 lakh, Rs. 15 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh respectively.