[1][2] Nachhattar was born in a dalit family in Barnala district, Punjab, India.
He went on to work as a clerk at Punjab Agricultural University while continuing his studies.
[3] He became a bank manager in Delhi and started living there.
[3] He wrote the novel Slow Down in 2012 about the recession in the Indian economy,[4] for which he won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017.
In 2020, he announced his intention to return the award[4] in support of the 2020-2021 Indian farmers' protest.