Q.1 Discuss the impact of Green Revolution on productivity and distribution in India agriculture.

Ans.: The term ‘Green Revolution’ was coined first in 1968 by Dr. William Godd of US Department of Agriculture to refer to the quantum jump in wheat production in that year as well as the promise of similar leap in rice opened up by the semi-dwarf rice varieties.In 1967 – 68, the government of India stress on institutional changes as well as on technological changes. Institutional changes cover only land reforms programme. Technological changes include the use of modern techniques in agriculture such as use of HYV seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, etc. and introduced a new agricultural strategy. Under the new agricultural strategy use of hybrid facilities in a new form (as a package) was stressed to increase agricultural production. This strategy brought about a spectacular increase in the production of wheat and rice in selected areas. The new strategy was named as Green revolution because of this spectacular increase in the production of wheat and rice.

Impact of Green Revolution. The impact of Green Revolution can be studied under two heads – (i) Economic impact, and (ii) Sociological impact.

I. ECONOMIC IMPACT. The Green Revolution has contributed to (i) agricultural production, and (ii) agricultural productivity.

1. Increase in Agricultural Production. The direct and major impact of the green revolution has been a sharp and miraculous increase in agricultural production mainly in foodgrain production. The returns were very fruitful. Within a span of four years agricultural production rose by 36 per cent.

Table. Production of different crops (in lakh tonnes)Years Rice Wheat1955 – 561960 – 611965 – 661970 – 711975 – 761980 – 811985 – 861990 – 911995 – 961996 - 97

286.5346.9305.9422.3487.4536.3638.2743.0770.0813.0

88.7110.0103.0238.3228.5360.1470.5551.0621.0693.0

Output of all foodgrains has increased after the Green Revolution, but the progress is the most in wheat production. It was only 103.0 lack tones in 1965 – 66 and rose to 238.3 i 1970-71, 551 lack tones in 1990-91 and 693 lakh tones in 1996 – 97. It means, the production of wheat has increased more than 6 times i 1996 – 97 from

103 lack tones in 1965 – 66 and 2.9 times from 1970 – 71. The production of rice during the period 1970-71 and 1996 – 97, has increased from 22.3 lakh tones to 813 lakh tones.

2. Increase in Agricultural Productivity. The increase in agricultural production has resulted from the adoption of intensive agricultural practices.(a) Productivity measured as yield per hectare has shown a marked

improvement in the case of foodgrain crops. (b) The productivity increases have showed down since late seventies but rose

during 1980s and 1990s.

II. SOCIOLOGICAL IMPACT OF GREEN REVOLUTION.

1. Personal Inequalities. The green revolution has benefited the big farmers and widened the gap between rich and poor farmers. The new technology was also in favour of big farmers. Persons having more land and other resources have been benefited the most by the green revolution. Small and marginal farmers have been rather neglected because of the following reasons.(a) The available evidences suggest that under the impact of new strategy, the

land increased by 50 to 100 per cent and that of labour by 25 to 30 per cent. A large part of this increase in labour income, of course, increased to landowners themselves due to their own labour application to the production process.

(b) The new technology is expensive in nature. It is expensive in the sense that many inputs (HYV seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, machines, etc.) are to be used in a package or simultaneously. Whereas, on the other hand, a poor farmer cannot take advantage of these inputs because of shortage of funds.

(c) The use of new technology requires an expert knowledge of it and of its proper application. It is not possible to adopt this technology without proper guidance by the extension staff who have been specially trained for this purpose.

(d) The risk element in the new technology is very high from the first to the last operation and requires a careful handling at each stage. If anything gets wrong, at any stage, the hole crop may get destroyed.

2. Regional Imbalances. Another harmful consequences of green revolution has been that it has promoted regional inequalities. The main reasons of this inequality is that the new technology has a package approach and therefore it could be applied only to those areas where adequate water supply through irrigational facilities was assured. Thus, the revolution covered only a few north-western States of Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Western Uttar Pradesh. The other parts of the country were much too narrowly confined.

3. Unbalanced Cropping Pattern. The Green Revolution in the beginning has affected only a few crops. Its spread has been uneven in respect of different crops. Wheat has been benefited the most. Whereas jowar, bajra, maize and rice are the other crops where some progress has been registered. But the other crops like jute, cotton, sugarcane, oilseeds have yet to be launched on HYV path and much research has yet to be accomplished before the new technology begins to bear fruits in respect of them.

4. Impact of Rural Employment. The labour absorption rate in agriculture differs from region to region. In region where labour is in abundance, the growth of output was too slow to generate adequate employment opportunities. In high growth regions, the labour is in short supply and wage rates are high. The sudden rise in demand in these areas has induced mechanization and labour saving practices.