Summary of the Book
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 have led to the dismal condition of farmers in Punjab.
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 Lehra and Moonak of Sangrur district of Punjab, India.
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.
