This book is a focussed, in-depth investigation into the suicide epidemic that has hit farmers of India in the early twenty first century. The epidemic is not confined to just one district, one state or one particular crop. There could be some debate about the quantum of the epidemic and its nature. But there can be little doubt that the situation is bad. On the basis of comprehensive information collected from one district it investigates the social construction of suicide. Taking a holistic picture of distress, it argues that focussing on indebtedness and other economistic causes amounts to missing the trees for the wood. The need of the hour is for the nation to do more than that and if required, even provide direct subsidies to the actual cultivator. Health and education are the other sectors where greater responsibility needs to be taken by the government.
