Green Revolution and Social Change in India

The fundamental change and phenomenal increase in food grains production in late sixties in India has earned the name of ‘Green Revolution’. The word ‘green’ here refers to green fields of the countryside and ‘revolution ‘indicates a substantial change.

Story of Green Revolution in India

1. The availability of adequate food grains has been a serious problem in the country. Food grains had to be imported from the developed countries to feed the vast population. Shortage of food was mainly caused by low productivity of land over-dependence on monsoon and the outmoded agrarian structure. Under these conditions, achieving self-sufficiency in food grains became the top priority of our national efforts.
2. The new agricultural strategy was based on the thinking that intensive application of science and technology in agriculture would bear fruits in the form of massive increase in food grain production. Under this strategy, adopted in early sixties, agricultural development programmes were revised to the needs of the farmers.
3. The Intensive Agricultural District Programme (IADP), popularly known as the Package Programme, was started in1961on a pilot basis in seven district of the country.The programme was subsequently extended to cover some other districts. It aimed at combining improved technology credit, high yielding seeds and assured irrigation for stepping up agricultural production. This experiment of intensive agriculture yielded significant results. Production of food grains remarkably increased and the programme was extended to cover larger areas. It resulted in giving rise to a new progrmme called the Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP).
4. Encouraged by the unprecedented success of this programme some other schemes were introduced in late sixties. They included the High-Yielding Varieties Programme (HYVP). Small Farmer’s Development Agency (SFDA) and the Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Development Scheme (MFALDS). All these schemes were supplemented by the assured supply of inputs like fertilizers, pesticides institutional credit and increased irrigational facility. Among all these programmes, the HYVP made spectacular impact The progressive increase in areas under high yielding varieties resulted in substantial increase in food grain production. Wheat production more than doubled by 1977-78 and rice production also started increasing. The progress under maize, jawar and bajra was; however, rather slow, but did not remain too far.
5. Green Revolution, which saw the light of the day in the late sixties; has sustained till date. It began with Wheat Revolution. Other crops like pulses, jawar, maize and bajra also did not remain too far. It was widespread and it continued its journey from Punjab to other regions of the country. Now we are not only self-sufficient in food grains but also have started exporting it. Our view in this regard is amply supported by the latest food grains statistics available to us.

Socio-economic Consequences of Green Revolution

Green Revolution has certainly improved the food situation in the country. It has solved the problem of hunger and has given a strong base to the Indian economy for further growth. It has transformed the mindset of farmers.

However; the impact of this programme has not been equally favourable for all sections of agrarian population. Green Revolution has brought destabilizing impact on the socio-economic conduction of small and poor peasants, share-croppers and landless agricultural labourers.

1. The new technology and the other inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, water etc., are beyond the reach of small and marginal farmers. Naturally some regions with large landholdings like Punjab have performed better than others like Bihar and Orissa where marginal and poor farmers are in plenty and institutional credit is not easily available. This has widened the gap between the small and the rich farmers.
2. The affluent farmers are enjoying the fruit of increased profits from land but the real wage rate for agricultural labourers has been declining in most places. Most of the share-croppers are now joining the rank of landless labourers because small holdings are not available for leasing out to these share croppers.
3. Economic inequality in agrarian sector has widened resulting in increased agrarian unrest in rural areas. During the late sixties and the early seventies numerous cases of conflicts were reported particularly from the Green Revolution belts.
4. While on the other side, there are life style changes in prosperous class. Proliferation private costly vehicles, developed morlcets and spirit & consumerism points to words the increasing.
5. The Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India studied the causes and nature of agrarian tensions and admitted the socio-political implications of the new agricultural strategy.The Report concluded that new agricultural strategy has created widening gap between the relatively affluent farmers and the large body of small holders and landless agricultural workers’.
6. P.C. Joshi has argued that conflict and discontent are inherent in the ‘outmoded agrarian structure’. While such an agrarian structure provides the basic cause of tension, the ‘proximate causes’ which have led to the eruption of ‘latent’ discontent into ‘manifest’ tension are located in the new agricultural strategy and the Green Revolution.
7. The poor peasants, share-croppers and landless agricultural labourers have not been able to share profitably in the general prosperity, which came in the wake of the green revolution. In this context T.K. Oommen shows that “the green revolution as such does not led to the welfare of the agrarian poor unless substantial alterations in the prevalent socio-economic and political structure are effected at the grass roots.”
8. Increased agricultural production has been visible mainly in areas like Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. In this fashion, substantial areas in the country have not been benefitted by this agricultural change.
9. Likewise a new class of capitalist farmers has emerged in the green revolution belts.
10. Green revolution has profound impact on polities of the area. After initial years of green revolution and increased production, the upper and middle peasantry realized that to ensure their domination, and to ensure constant state support i.e subsidies, they have to capture power.So institutionlisation of domination was felt neccessary for example formation of lok dal by chaudhary charan singh. Paul brass argues that it has led to ethnic friction between Jat Sikhs and non Jat Sikhs. Which led to separation of Punjab and Haryana.

Therefore, green revolution has led to politicization of formers issues, it intensified interstate conflict of land water. It led to conspicuous consumption, declining sex ration and rise in crimes. The recent drag problem is also attributed to the rising income in patria chi cal societal structure in green revolution belt

• Another important trend suggests that the agricultural production has increased but the social index has not changed in the same proportion. For example, the gender-ratio in those areas where agricultural prosperity has been achieved is still unfavourable.

Conspicuous Consumption : In addition, when income mobility has taken place in these areas, women are with drawn form production process. The process of domestication of women can be witnessed hare. Where reproductive role is emphasized more. Utsa patnik argues that increased income and proliferation of technology (ultrasound machines) has led to targeted reproduction (male child). It has been reason for most cases of domestic violence, abortion and women death.

However, despite these limitations the Green Revolution has undoubtedly paved the way for faster
economic growth and corresponding social change.

New Green Revolution

In India now there is talk of new green revolution or second green revolution. This discourse was initiated by former president A.RJ. Abdul Kalam and advocated that there is need of green revolution .

The second green revolution will emphasis on

• New crops and non-traditional crops which can sell well in the international market and there must be a large scale trode to these commodities in different fields.
• It is also proposed that those states which have exhausted their capacities of ground water like Maharastra, Punjab, Haryana they should try to have more emphasis on change of crop pattern. It was suggested that Punjab should to course grains, pulses.
• This new green revolution also envisages that there is introduction of new technology in Indian agriculture. There should be more emphasis on Irrigation patterns. The new desert area irrigation patterns and there should be in re note rural areas, introduction of non-energy simple tools.

Yet new green revolution has not started in a pull scale but all over India in the rural area, now there is latest technology employed by multinational corporations and they have also introduced new forming techniques like contract forming.

New green revolution requires the money for investment In India the small formers do not have the resources to invest in agriculture and related areas. In the first green revolution the government was ready and it invested in large amount Gurpreet Mahajan says there has to be a massive investment even now in agriculture. The small peasant who constitute 25% of rural population and who have under their control more than 30% of land must be provide which funds for new agriculture infrastructure.

In 2013-14 the growth rate of agriculture was 1.1% if this has to change positively then it requires big ticket reforms. It requires massive investment from government in form concessional rates and sometimes even free provision of infrastructure and input Agrarian crisis in India has aggraurated becomes of new policies in the economic field and area. They have to go for massive changes. Therefore, some radical measures have to be taken for rural transformation night now.

This green revolution in follows old pattern then there will be problems. This would create more in the rural areas. Dipankar Gupta says that the rural areas one no larger rural they have become urban areas. There are all facilities like mobile, small eateries, cyber cafe, beauty parlor and repair shops. Gupta says right now in rural areas more than half people work in non-agricultural activities. The world bank and asian development bank has given their views that rural areas are in a positive to absorb people in non agricultural activities.

In India mode of production in agriculture has change. On the one hand semi-feudalism has been overcome and there are no land lords lift in villages .There people who are and owners and they acting as land loads but they do not have sufficient resources to sustain then. They do not have the control earlier they had So as a system this is so longer existing. Now the market economy operates in rural areas. Rich People employ wage labour.

Thus, this second green revolution must succeed for rural agrarian transformation and modernization of society .

The End of the Blog : Green Revolution and Social Change in India