BPSC CONCEPT WALLAH

Catch Initiative Model Answer 16 Nov 2022

Q. Critically examine the role of the Green Revolution in the development of agriculture in India.

Answer: The “Green Revolution” is a strategy for raising agricultural output through the
use of high yielding variety seeds combined with the use of fertilisers and other
chemical inputs that started in the 1960s. It was initiated by Norman Borlaug,
which led to his winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work in
developing High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of wheat. Its introduction in India is
attributed to geneticist Dr. M. S. Swaminathan.

“If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right in our
country.”
– M. S Swaminathan


BACKGROUND

• When India became independent in 1947, 90% of its population lived in
600,000 villages depending mainly on agriculture for their livelihood.

• However, Indian agriculture remained unchanged without any
technological changes in agricultural practices and involved wooden
ploughs, waterwheels, and bullock carts etc.

• Industries saw a negative growth as the agriculture sector failed to meet
the demands.

• The lack of proper technological change and land reforms combined
with droughts brought India to the verge of massive famine in the mid1960s.

• As a result, India had to import food grains, mainly wheat, from the USA
to avert the crisis. This in turn depleted the reserves of the nation.

• So, in order to save the reserves and increase the productivity of cereals,
all the stakeholders and donor agencies decided to induce changes in
agricultural technology and practices.

GREEN REVOLUTION’S CONTRIBUTION TO INDIA’S AGRICULTURAL GROWTH
The introduction of the Green Revolution in India tremendously increased
wheat production and changed India’s status from a food deficient country to
one of the leading agricultural nations. Though the revolution succeeded in
transforming our agricultural sector, it also had its drawbacks.

BenefitsDrawbacks
• Increased productivity: Food
grains saw an exponential rise
after the green revolution. It
resulted in a grain output of
131 million tonnes in the year
1978-79 .
• The biggest rise was seen
in Wheat, whose
production increased by
more than three times
between 1967-68 and
2003-04.
• Impact on environment:.
• The repetitive cropping
pattern and increased crop
intensity reduced the soil
fertility leading to desertification.
• An exponential rise in the
tubewells reduced the water
table.
• Increased use of fertilisers,
pesticides, and herbicides has
caused the soil to become
more toxic, causing
acidification.
• Food security: The Green
revolution made our country
self sufficient in food grains and
provided food security.
• Health problems: The overuse
of chemical fertilisers,
pesticides and herbicides
resulted in an increased
incidence of illnesses such as
cancer, renal failure,
stillbirths, and congenital
disabilities.
• Financial stability: The green
revolution enabled farmers to
switch from subsistence to
commercial farming thus
providing them better sources
of income and stability.
• Subsidy: Subsidy as a concept
emerged during the Green
Revolution and it is currently
hurting the government’s
finances.
• Reduced imports: With the
increase in availability of food
grains, India became self-sufficient and
had sufficient stock in the central pool.
• Unequal income: Due to the
Green Revolution’s emphasis
on inputs, only wealthy
farmers who could afford
those inputs were able to
become wealthy at the
expense of small and marginal
farmers, which widened the
income gap between them.
• Employment: Due to multiple
cropping and increased yield,
there was an increased demand
for labour force in the
agricultural sector.
• Change in consumption
pattern:
It led to an increase
in the consumption of wheat
and rice. As a result,
consumption of coarse cereals
such as jowar, bajra,
millet etc decreased.
• Boost to industries: Since
agricultural products are often
used as raw materials in various
industries, the growth of the
agricultural sector provided a
boost to the industrial sector.
• There was also increased
demand for agricultural
equipment such as
tractors, thrasher and
other inputs like chemical
fertilisers, pesticides,
weedicides etc.
• Benefit to limited areas: The
revolution mostly focused on
increasing the production of
wheat and rice.
• As a result, only those areas
growing wheat and rice such
as Punjab and Hayana
benefited the most. The entire
Eastern region of West
Bengal, Orissa, Assam, etc was
completely unaffected.
• The high yield crops require
more water and fertilisers as
compared to the normal
varieties of crops. This
constrained it to resource rich
states and arid states could
not benefit.
Dispersal of Rice and Wheat
cultivation to non-traditional
areas
: Green Revolution spread
the Rice cultivation to the semiarid
areas of Punjab, Haryana
and Western Uttar Pradesh,
and the wheat cultivation to the
areas of Eastern Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
some parts of Maharashtra,
Gujarat and West Bengal.
• No focus on non-food crops:
The main crops during the
revolution were Wheat, Rice,
Jowar, Bajra and Maize. Non
food grains were excluded
from the ambit of this
revolution.
• As a result, India now needs to
import pulses and oil seeds.

CONCLUSION
According to the World Population Prospects (WPP), India will have the largest
population in the world by 2023. Therefore, India now requires a second green
revolution
in which it can rectify the mistakes of the past revolution and focus
on other aspects such as the environment, poor farmers, non food crops etc
and help improve agriculture’s resilience to climate change and environmental
sustainability.

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