Since August 2015, nearly 100 farmers have committed suicide in Sangrur, Bathinda and Mansa, say farmer unions.
In Sangrur's Chhajli village, business is dull for the local kite shop.
Kite flying on Basant Panchami is a centuries-old custom in rural Punjab. "But this year, festivities are low key due to failing crops," said shop owner Raju.
The state is seeing a surge in farmer suicides since August. Districts in the cotton belt of Malwa region are worst-hit. Farmer unions claim close to 100 farmers have committed suicide in Sangrur, Bathinda and Mansa.
Sant Singh of Bhartiya Kisan Union, a farmer's organisation, said the cotton crop was destroyed due to pests. And the basmati crop didn't pay well. From Rs 4,000 to 5,000 a quintal last year, it came down to Rs 800 to 1,450 per quintal.
"Middlemen colluded with the government to loot farmers," he said. And the compensation from the government was meagre.
Bikar Singh, 25, committed suicide in November 2015. He was the sole guarantor for Rs 12 lakh loan the family owes to a bank. Back-to-back crop failure took a toll on him.
"We had leased 10-12 acres of land. But the crop was not good enough," his father Ram Singh told NDTV. "Due to this, we were not able to repay the loans and the interest mounted."
Seventy-year-old Bant Kaur's house is known as a widows' home in the village. Over the last decade, four men of the family, all farmers, have committed suicide.
The Badal government claims it pays Rs 3 lakh as compensation to the families of farmers who commit suicide. But the family says they didn't receive any help.
"If we got something, we would have been in a position to pay off debts. My two grandsons and three sons committed suicide," she said.
The family is left with a tiny 1.5 acre plot. Kaur's grand-daughter-in-law Gurpreet, 38, looks after the farm.
"We hardly get anything out of this," she said. "Most of the produce will go in repaying debts. We will be lucky if we get some for ourselves," she said.
A recent study by Panjabi University, Patiala, has put the outstanding debt on farmers of the state at Rs 69,355 crore. But the Punjab government claims most suicides are due to family disputes and personal reasons.
Officials say Rs 600 crore was distributed as compensation among cotton farmers last year.