Farmer earns Rs 1064 after selling 750kg onions, donates amount to PM relief fund as ‘protest’
Sanjay Sathe had to pay an additional Rs 54 to send the amount by money order (Representational Image)
An onion farmer from Maharashtra, who had to sell his produce for little over Rs 1 per kg, has donated his earnings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a form of protest.
Sanjay Sathe, a resident of Niphad tehsil in Nashik district, ended up making a pittance despite growing 750 kg of onions this season.
“I produced 750 kg of onion in this season but was offered a rate of Rs 1 per kg at Niphad wholesale market last week. Finally, I could negotiate a deal for Rs 1.40 per kg and received Rs 1,064 for 750 kg,” he was quoted as saying.
Sathe, incidentally, was among the handful of ‘progressive farmers’ selected by the Union agriculture ministry for an interaction with the then US president Barack Obama when he visited India in 2010.
“It was painful to see such paltry returns on four months of toil. Hence I have donated Rs 1,064 to the Disaster Relief Fund of the PMO as a protest. I had to pay an additional Rs 54 for sending it by money order,” he said.
“I do not represent any political party. But I am angry because of the government’s apathy towards our woes,” he added.
The money order was sent on November 29 from the Niphad office of India Post. It was addressed to “Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India”.
Nashik district in north Maharashtra accounts for 50 percent of onion production in India.
