Punjab sketchbook: The lonely, determined battle of rural women as farm debt pushes men to the edge

Shortly after I arrived in Patiala in the last week of May, I received news of a young farmer who had died by suicide. He was the neighbour of Mandeep Kaur, an organiser for the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), whom I was going to meet. Barely a week later, I learnt of another suicide, this time an agricultural labourer.

Data from the National Crime Records Bureau says that 157 farmers in Punjab died by suicide in 2023. Punjab ranked fifth among states that year for farmer suicides. However, farm unions estimate the number to be higher and have started collecting their own data.

In my travels through Punjab during the summer of the 2024 general election, my queries about the number of suicides in the state were met with an almost instant explanation: “tension”. But underlying that tension, experts say, is an agrarian crisis that has disrupted lives and livelihoods in Punjab.

I was afforded an insight into the tumult as I visited Patiala, Sangrur, Mansa and Khadoor Sahib and spoke to residents about their challenges, hopes and dreams.

For rural women, the crisis is not a distant abstraction. As Punjab’s economic and agricultural distress drives some male breadwinners to die by suicide, their wives are...

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