At first sight, Mandsaur is a farmer’s delight. Vast farmlands stretch to the horizon, the standing crops swaying in the gentle breeze of a March afternoon. Tractor-trolleys laden with produce rattle towards the mandis. Neat brick-and-mortar houses stand on corner plots, a motorcycle often parked in the courtyard. But what these signs of fertility hide is pervasive rural discontent. This belt of Madhya Pradesh’s Malwa region is the proverbial food bowl, but the wrinkles on the farmer’s face cannot hide his deepening frown.