An Investigative Report on Circumstances Leading to Death Among Indian Cotton Farmers

Andhra Pradesh, a southern state of India, has been in the news because of cotton farmers’ deaths & suicides. The occurrence of 12 deaths among the farmers in 2001-2002, clustering around September-October, prompted this investigation into the circumstances leading to the fatalities. Some of the broadly held hypotheses regarding the deaths are also analyzed for their validity. Socioeconomic & political factors emerge as very strong determinants in the deaths.