Editor Details

Harinder Singh Happy is a researcher from Beenjhbayla, working at the intersection of agrarian studies, rural sociology, and public health in India. He is currently a PhD scholar at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His research focuses on socio-economic transformations in rural Punjab, particularly agrarian distress, peasant suicides, caste relations, and the lived experiences of marginalised communities, using an interdisciplinary and fieldwork-based approach.

His doctoral work examines suicides in peasant households, linking them to processes of neoliberal restructuring, indebtedness, and social change. Moving beyond purely economic explanations, he highlights the role of dignity, humiliation, and social identity. During his Master’s at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, he studied Dalits’ access to agricultural land in Punjab’s Malwa region, revealing persistent inequalities in land ownership.

Harender has presented his work at national and international conferences and published in academic outlets, including Routledge volumes and Q1 journal articles. He also contributes regularly to public discourse through platforms such as The Indian Express, The Wire, Punjabi Tribune, Deccan Herald, The New Indian Express, The Quint, and Scroll, writing on farm policy, labour, food security, public health, and environmental change.

He has worked with institutions such as the Centre de Sciences Humaines, the French Institute of Pondicherry, and the Punjab State Farmers’ and Farm Workers’ Commission, contributing to research on caste, agricultural policy, and sustainable farming. Earlier, he was associated with the Voluntary Health Association of Punjab, focusing on community health and awareness.

Trained in public health, sociology, rural development, and geography, he brings a multidisciplinary perspective to his work and is fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Bagdi.

Publictions:

• Happy. (2026) “Suicides in Agrarian Society: Exploring Dignity and Humiliation in Rural Punjab” in “Policy and Politics of Development in India: Quest for Rural Dignity” Palgrave Macmillan

• Kamran, M., Happy, H., & Mogha, S. (2025). Exploring ‘pindhood’ in Sidhu Moose Wala’s sound (life) world. Sikh Formations, 1-13.

• Happy, Harinder, and Shivam Mogha. (2025) “Uploading tractor to Twitter: How protesters used media during farmers’ movement.” in “A People’s History of the Farmers’ Movement, 2020–2021”. Routledge India, 2025. 235-250.

Newspaper/ web portal articles

1.   Sociological perspective of agrarian movement/ Kheti Andolan Da Samajik Najria, Punjabi Tribune, 22th Oct 2021

2.     Why farm unions must stay out of electoral politics, Indian Express, 19th Feb 2022  

3.     A flowed report on farm laws, Indian Express, 31st March 2022 

4.     Farm labourers: a long road ahead, Deccan Herald, 8th May 2022 

5.     Komagata Maru tragedy: Saying sorry isn’t enough to address colonial oppression, Indian Express,  23rd May 2022 

6.     Wheat export ban, food security and public health, The New Indian Express, 27th May 2022 

7.     How Sidhu Moose Wala’s celebration of rural life won him legions of fans in Punjab – and far beyond, Scroll, 4th June 2022 

8.     Making sense of BKU’s split, Deccan Herald, 5th June 2022

9.     Sociology of grief and politics of death in Sidhu Moose Wala’s case, Trolley Times, 28th June 2022 

10.   Why Piyush Goyal's Call to Farmers to Increase Rice Cultivation Is Misguided, The Wire, 22nd July 2022 

11.   Despite ‘Solutions’, Anaemia Remains an Unsolved Problem in India, The Science Wire, 28th August 2022 

12.   Deaths by Suicide in India – Not Just a Public Health Issue but an Emergency, The Science Wire, 10th Sept 2022 

13.   Farmers Suicides: What Field Data Shows & What Union Govt Shrouds, The Wire, 14th Oct 2022

14.   Environment Question & Farm Unions/Vatavaran da Sawaal ate Kisan Jathebandhia, Punjabi Tribune, 23rd Oct 2022

15.   Farmers Protest and Trust Deficit, The Quint, 12th December 2022

16.   Vidyarthiya Diya Khudkushia: Fauri Hall di Lorh, Punjabi Tribune, 21st March 2023

17.   Mapping Miseries and Struggle of Farm Labourers: How Punjab is Reacting. WorkersUnity, May 2023

18.   How Sutlej river is bearing the brunt of climate change, Village Square, 26th September 2023

19.   Congress Must Apologise for the 1984 Sikh Pogrom, With Rahul Gandhi Leading the Charge, The Wire, 1st Nov 2023

20.   Be-Chiraag Village Will Be Begumpura as Dalits Light Chiraags on Controversial Land in Punjab, CounterCurrents, 23rd March 2025