Q6(a). What do you understand by Green Revolution? What factors contributed to it? Discuss its impact.

“The Green Revolution turned India from a begging bowl to a breadbasket.” – World Bank (1981)

The Green Revolution refers to a period (mid-1960s onwards) when India adopted high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, modern irrigation, chemical fertilizers and mechanisation to boost agricultural productivity especially in wheat and rice. It was a response to food shortages, PL-480 imports, and frequent famines.

What is the Green Revolution?

A technological and institutional transformation of Indian agriculture involving HYV seeds, assured irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, mechanization and scientific farming practices to increase foodgrain output.

Key Factors Contributing to the Green Revolution

1. Technological Factors

• Introduction of HYV seeds such as IR-8, IR-20 (rice) and Lerma Rojo, Sonalika, Kalyan Sona (wheat).
• Extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
• Mechanisation: tractors, tube wells, threshers, pump sets.
• Adoption of multiple cropping practices.

2. Institutional Support

• Creation of Agricultural Universities (PAU, IARI, GBPUAT).
• Formation of Fertilizer Corporation of India and Food Corporation of India (FCI) for procurement and buffer stocks.

3. Policy Support

• Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime.
• Subsidies on fertilizers, irrigation, credit.
• Expansion of Public Distribution System

4. International Collaboration

• Support from World Bank, US (PL-480 food aid) and Rockefeller Foundation.
• Scientific leadership of Dr. M. S. Swaminathan and Norman Borlaug.

5. Irrigation Expansion

• Construction of major dams (Bhakra-Nangal, Nagarjuna Sagar).
• Explosive growth of tube wells.

Impact of the Green Revolution

Positive Impacts

Foodgrain self-sufficiency:

• Wheat production rose from 12 million tonnes (1965) to 120 million tonnes.
• India, once famine-prone, became a food surplus exporter.

Rise in rural income and reduction in poverty

Rural poverty fell from 55% in 1973 to ~28% in early 2000s.

Development of agro-based industries

Flour mills, cold storage, seed and fertilizer industries expanded.

Scientific temper in agriculture

Farming shifted from traditional to scientific and commercial.

Negative Impacts

Regional imbalance

Benefits limited to Punjab, Haryana, Western UP.

Non-irrigated states lagged.

Environmental degradation

• Soil nutrient depletion,
• Overuse of fertilizers/pesticides,
• Groundwater over-extraction (Punjab–Haryana crisis),
• Waterlogging in canal regions.

Social inequality

Large farmers benefitted disproportionately; small farmers lagged.

Monoculture & dietary imbalance

Excessive focus on wheat-rice cycle reduced crop diversity.