This paper addresses the nature and causes of unfolding agrarian crisis and rural distress and is divided into five sections. The first section draws attention to the fact that Indian economy is still predominantly rural, with slow urbanization but growing rural-urban disparities in income and levels of living. Agriculture continues to be the most important source of livelihood in the countryside. It still accounts for a disproportionately high share in the total workforce, but with a fast declining share in the national product. This section discusses the structural changes in employment across the sectors and within rural areas. It also analyses growing marginalisation of holdings and the emergence of small-marginal holdings as numerically dominant group in Indian agriculture. The second section deals with growing resource stress experienced by agriculture. The third section deals with the deceleration of agricultural growth in the post-reform period. The fourth section deals with the political economy of the technological transformation in Indian agriculture. The fifth section analyses the nature of economic reforms with specific reference to Indian agriculture and their impact on farming and farming community. The sixth section brings out the broad contours of agrarian crisis that manifests in the form of a series of suicides. The last section deals with the sustainability of farming in the context of reforms and closes with a few reflections on a possible way out.