'Do or die' over loan waiver next as farmers intensify stir in 2 BJP states

Thousands of Maharashtra farmers to flock to Nashik on Thursday, plan to take protests nationwide

Three years ago Manik Ubale (name changed) convinced his family to use 1.5 acres of his land for onion farming in addition to the existing two acres as prices in the wholesale market had hit the roof atRs 60-80 a kg. A year later, Ubale hanged himself. There were many others like Ubale who borrowed thousands of rupees from banks, financial institutions or local money lenders on hopes of over 12 times profit against their Rs 4.50 - 5 a kg cost of production. Onion prices in the benchmark Lasalgaon mandi here never shot up again and remained constant at