Debt and Death in Rural India: The Punjab Story

Debt and Death in Rural India is a study of farmer suicides in rural Punjab from the mid-1980s up to 2008. Based on comprehensive original research work, it examines various factors ranging from central to state policies and critically analyses political, economic and social trends that led to the dismal condition of the farmers between 1988 and 2008.

This study presents a unique trajectory on the issue of farmer suicides and contextualises the problem within a historical and geographical framework. It includes interviews of family members of a number of farmers who committed suicide in the subdivision of Sangrur district of Punjab, India, which constitutes the area of the study.

This outstanding work analyses the interplay of economic and political forces and recommends concrete policy measures to enable Punjab to break out of the vicious farmer-suicide cycle.