An onion-grower named Sanjay Sathe from Maharashtra’s Nashik District who had to sell his produce for little over Rs. 1 per kg has sent his earnings to the Prime Minister to mark his protest over government’s apathy towards farmers’ woes.
Sathe reportedly said, “I produced 750kg of onion in this season but was offered a rate of only Rs. 1 per kg at Niphad wholesale market past week.
Sathe further said, “Finally I could negotiate a deal for Rs. 1.40 per kg and received Rs. 1,064 for 750 kg.”
“It was really painful to see such miserable returns on four months of hard work. Hence I have donated my earnings of Rs. 1,064 to Disaster Relief Fund of the PMO as a protest. Even I had to pay an additional sum of Rs. 54 for sending it by money order,” Sathe added.
Sathe sent the money order on November 29 from the Niphad office of India Post. It was addressed to “Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India”.
Sathe was among those ‘progressive farmers’ who were selected by the Union Agriculture Ministry for an interaction with then US President Barack Obama during his visit to India in 2010.
