Despite many policy measures taken by the central and state governments, the indebtedness of farmers, especially marginal and small cultivators, keeps increasing. Some recent studies on agrarian distress show the significant role of healthcare expenditure in increasing indebtedness. This article presents the result of a study conducted in selected villages of Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab in 2008-09 to estimate the level of credit taken for healthcare purposes by marginal and small farmers. It also analyses the present scenario of public health services in rural Punjab.

Despite many policy measures taken by the central and state governments, the indebtedness of farmers, especially marginal and small cultivators, keeps increasing. Some recent studies on agrarian distress show the significant role of healthcare expenditure in increasing indebtedness.

An experiment was conducted during 2005-06 and 2006-07 in the Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar to study the effect of combined used of farmyard manure and poultry manure with 75, 100 and 125 per cent NPK on productivity, nutrient uptake and profitability of autumn potato.