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THE GREEN REVOLUTION-MYTH OR REALITY

Mohit Prasad (210120)


Agricultural development is central to economic development of the country -Tenth Five Year Plan Introduction Under the purview of macroeconomics one of the most important criteria for analyzing the development in a particular country is that of Gross Domestic Product, and GDP consists of all the three sectors for their output, the concern for agricultural sector is very important as service sector and manufacturing sector are dependent upon the raw materials procured from that of the agriculture. Agricultural sector can be considered as the backbone of other two sectors. The share of agricultural and allied sector as per the economic survey of India is as follows:1

So, we would be dealing with the growth that agriculture sector witnessed mainly due to the The Green Revolution and whether actually it can be considered as an Actual Revolution and if not then what steps could be needed for An Actual Revolution .When the primary sector (Agricultural sector) will prosper then only the industrial and tertiary sector can prosper, and then only could lead to increase in GDP and hence overall development of the country. The term Green Revolution mainly means the large increase in the agricultural production which took place in a short space of time as a result of the application of the high yielding varieties of seeds and fertilizers, since it came quickly and brought dramatic result in a short

http://www.gktoday.in/agriculture-share-in-gdp/

period of time, it earned the title of Revolution in Green agriculture and came to be known as Green Revolution.2 The seeds of Green Revolution were, therefore, truly sown in the mid-60s, it had mainly two projects, these were Intensive Agricultural District Programme and after this the High Yielding Varieties Programmes were also added .With regard to Green Revolution there had been boost to the production of the cereals which mainly involved wheat and rice, the Green Revolution did not cover coarse cereals like maize, jowar, barley,etc .The Green Revolution was mainly confined to wheat and rice. Also while rice output increased at a relatively slower rate, there was substantial increase in production with regard to wheat. The Green Revolution had been restricted to food grain production with regard to Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh only, these areas cannot be said to cover the bulk of India. In other words we can say that already developed areas had been helped by the Green Revolution to make their position better. And as still areas of other parts of India had lagged behind due to non implementation of the Green Revolution, it would not be fair to speak that this Green Revolution is actual Green Revolution. Coming of New technology created problem with regard to poor landless laborers as they had been displaced from that land due to the advent of new technology, hence this Green Revolution has helped only the rich and better ones. The main loopholes with regard to Green Revolution and their possible solutions are mentioned below: 1.) The new strategy introduced by the Green Revolution was challenged by monsoons, as the output of cereals was still subject to weather conditions and hence acted as an obstacle in the proper functioning of the Green Revolution. Solution: For overcoming this problem reference could be made to the Agricultural renewal action plan which talked about helping the economic conditions of the farmers and thus had one of the components of irrigation water supply. This step could be of avail to the small farmers who cannot engage huge tube wells due to lack of capital and thus Rainwater harvesting including sprinkler and drip irrigation could help these small farmers with regard to problem of being totally dependent on the monsoons. 2.) The second problem dealt with the New agricultural strategy consisting of IADP and HYVP necessitated heavy investment in seeds, fertilizers pesticides and water, as these

Ghosh Alok, Indian Economy Its Nature and Problems Agricultural Production and Government Policy, Chapter 17, page- 203.

heavy investments were beyond the reach of small farmers and thus this Green Revolution was only a Fake Dream for them. Solution: Credit and insurance: The National commission on farmers considers that credit can of very much availment to small farmers. For implementing this in practically first of all the lending and deposit interest rate in India needs to be reduced through government regulation, as with reduced rate of interest rate they could be able to employ new technology which is very much needed for An Actual Revolution to take place. Also insurance policies in case of calamities could help them as employment of HYVP seeds does involves great risk and this is also one of the reason why small farmers are afraid to adapt to employment of HYVP seeds, insurance would guarantee them that they would not be out of work in case some unforeseen calamity occurs, and for this reason as recommended by The National Commission on Farmers the central and state government could create an Agricultural Risk Fund to provide relief, thus this could be of substantial benefit to small farmers. 3.) Lack of institutional reforms: Due to lack of ownership rights small farmers did not take their step ahead in investing in the land as even if they had invested, their share of profit would have been very less as it had been others land. Solution: In the First Five year plan itself there was emphasis on land reforms so till the middle of 1970s the government hoped to implement land reforms specially tenancy legislation and ceiling on land holdings but this was not attained which resulted in continuance of exploitation of tenants. Also since the Seventh Five year plan there had been no mention of land reforms. Because of this there had been no alternatives left to the marginal farmers in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, and other states and this ultimately led to the rapid expansion of the Naxalite movement3, which is dangerous not only for these small farmers but also to the society as a whole. Hence again there should be emphasis on land reform, as by time institutional or structural change is not there overall development is not possible. So as a solution thorough revision of tenancy laws and land tenure system has to be considered by the State and Central government. Conclusion Merely considering few areas (Punjab, Haryana, Western U.P, etc.) and rich farmers, Green Revolution cannot be said to be as An Revolution. A Revolution is supposed to be considered in totality and not in individual terms. Thus for the actual Green Revolution the above mentioned steps are necessarily to be considered which could involve the small farmers who constitute the majority of agricultural sector but still were left outside the purview of Green Revolution.

Available at http://jyoti-kothari.hubpages.com/hub/Naxal-Movement-terrorist-activities-Naxalites-Maoist.

Bibliography: Books Used: 1. Datt, Sundharam, Indian Economy, 61th fully revised Edition. S. Chand & Co, New Delhi. 2. Uma Kapila ed, Indian Economy since Independence, 18th Edition Academic Foundation, 2006. 3. Ghosh Alok, Indian Economy its Nature and Problems, 4th Revised Edition The New Book stall. Internet Sources: 1.) Jyoti-kothari.hubpages.com, report on Naxal Movement, Naxalism and terrorist activities of Naxalites in India.(Last Visited-29th March,2012, 1.13 P.M) 2.) http://www.gktoday.in/agriculture-share-in-gdp/ Share for GDP with regard to agricultural and allied sector.(29th March, 2012, 1.15 P.M.)

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