Green Revolution - History of Contemporary India
Green Revolution - History of Contemporary India
REVOLUTION
NAME: Samuel Thomas
ROLL NO: 3405
SEMESTER: V
CLASS: TYBA/B
SUBJECT : HISTORY OF
CONTEMPOARY INDIA
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY
AIMS
METHODOLOGY
CHARACTERISTIC
FEATURES OF G.R
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
Indian agriculture had been stagnant for centuries. With primitive implements &
outdated methods of cultivation, the Indian peasants could produce food,
which hardly sustain them. The various land tenure system introduce by the
British had driven the peasants to impoverishment & misery. With meager
produce he could neither feed his family well nor have any surplus for other
needs of the family. Natural calamities such as failing monsoons & exploitation
by the landlords & moneylenders pushed the peasant to the corner & brought
about depression in agriculture
HISTORY
Immediately after independence in 1947, the need to increase agricultural
production was realized by Jawaharlal Nehru. He was of the opinion that in
order to achieve the dream of rapid industrialization, agricultural development
h to be promoted. While devising the Five Year Plans, agriculture and irrigation
received considerable importance. During the First Pla the outlay on agriculture
and irrigation was 31 per cent of the total The outlay in the subsequent Plans
was between 20 to 24 per cent Right from the beginning Nehru realized the
importance of creating the physical and scientific infrastructure that was
necessary for modern agriculture. Huge irrigation and power projects like the
Bhakra-Nangal, a number of agricultural universities and research laboratories,
fertilizer plants, etc. were set up in order to promote agricultural development
and achieve self-sufficiency in food grains and agricultural raw materials.
During the late fifties and early sixties, the land reforms, though slow in
implementation, were gradually expanding the area under cultivation.
It was not enough to bring additional land under cultivation through land
reforms and irrigation facilities. In order to achieve increased
agricultural production, Nehru realized that the agricultural sector had
to adopt technological solutions to have intensive along with extensive
cultivation. During the Third Plan a New Agricultural Strategy was
adopted. According to this strategy, areas with certain natural
advantages were selected for intensive development. These regions
were given a package programme known as the Intensive Agricultural
Districts Programme (IADP) This programme was launched in fifteen
districts, one for each state on experimental basis. Later this strategy
was extended to other areas and was renamed as Ontensive
Agriculture Area Programme (IAAP). Though the quantitative
technological transformation in India, which came to be known as the
Green Revolution came about soon after the death of nehru, infact
cannot be denied that the foundation for the technological
development were laid during Nehru time.
AIMS
The Green Revolution started in the year 1965. The main aim of
Green Revolution was:
In spite of appreciable growth in agricultural output between 1949 and 1965 of about 3% per
year, there was a chronic food shortage since the mid-fifties and in the mid-sixties the situation
became worst. There was stagnation in agricultural growth in the early sixties. The problem was
aggravated due to rapidly increasing population, slow rise in per capita income and emphasis
on industrialization. These factors put a great pressure on Indian agriculture. The gap between
the demand for food and its supply gradually began to widen. In order to meet the food
shortages and to stabilize the prices, the government was forced to import increasing amounts
of food.
Under the controversial PL-480 scheme, India began to import food from the United States since
1956. With the passing years the volume of import of food grains from the United States went
on increasing touching four and a half million tonnes in 1963. Added to these problems were the
two wars, against China in 1962 and Pakistan in 1965, which added to the burden of the nation.
This was followed by two successive droughts in 1965-66 leading to a sharp fall in the
agricultural production by seventeen per cent.
This resulted in phenomenal rise in food price and India had no alternative but to
import more than ten million tonnes of food grains in 1966. Under these
circumstances, economic self-reliance, especially self sufficiency in food
production became the prime objective of the Indian economic policy
It was becoming clear by the mid-sixties that there was no alternative to
technological change in agriculture for achieving self-sufficiency in food grains.
Even those countries in Asia which could carry out radical land reforms and
build up sufficient infrastructure for agriculture had taken up to modernization
of agriculture. Japan took lead in this direction and china was not far behind.
Lal Bahadur Shastri, who followed Nehru as the Prime Minister , Food
Minister, C. Subramaniam, and Mrs. Gandhi who succeeded Shastri in , 1966
were seriously concerned about the situation and took all the necessary step to
extract the nation from the Vicious circle of food shortage. Meanwhile the
miracle in the form of Green Revolution was about to unfold and rescue India
from the perennial curse of food shortage.
ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGE (G.R)
1) Reducing Carbon Emission:
It may be helping to reduce the number of green- house gas emission the proceeding of the
national academy of science of the united states performed a research study in 2013 that
looked at the influence of green revaluation on greenhouse gas emission. In the absence
of the improvements made in crop growth during this time. The level of emission could
have been up to 7.4 times higher than what they were observed through 2004.
Although there can be issues in some parts of the world with deforestation, the impact of
modern techniques due to Green Revolution has helps the world protect itself from the
growing need for more food.
4) Creates Higher Income & More Jobs:
Countries that have yet to go through their version of the Industrial
Revolution might have 70% or more of their economy based on
agriculture services. When the agriculture sector is that important ,the
policies and procedures from the Green Revaluation make it possible for
more job creation to occur. Farmers are growing more harvesters and
processors to work their fields .
2) Multiple Cropping:
Due to the HYV seeds and chemical fertilize, it became possible to obtain three or four crops instead of two from
the same plot in a year. Modern machinery and implements like tractors, harvester, pumping sets , tube wells
etc., were increasingly used.
Being time saving, use of modern machinery had been conductive for multiple cropping . The irrigation facilities
of the countries has been improved and extended so that adequate water supply to the High-Yielding Varieties
of seeds could be assured
4) Employment Generation:
However, fears of the Green Revolution leading to increasing rural unemployment because of labour saving
mechanization proved to be baseless. According to the studies conducted in the regions of Green Revolution, the
demand for casual labour had increased and also the wages, and the condition of the landless labourer had been
somewhat better than in the past. The additional demand for labour, especially in Punjab and Haryana was met
by large-scale migration of labour from the poorer districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
Mechanization of agriculture created urban factory employment. With an increase in rural incomes led to
increased demands for masons, carpenters, tailors, etc., in the rural areas and for factory-produced consumer
goods. However, all the employment generated during the Green Revolution was not sufficient to meet the
employment requirements of the rapidly increasing population, especially in rural areas.
The surplus food grains produced due to the Green Revolution became handy in launching employment generating
poverty-alleviation programmes on a large scale, especially in agriculturally backward areas.
5)Environmental Pollution:
A major problem that had come up in recent years was that of pollution of environment due to the intensive use of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The environmental degradation in the rural areas had arisen not so much from
the high level of chemical inputs used, but due to deforestation and expansion of cultivation. Land-saving
technological changes by reducing pressure for extension of cultivation and by augmenting biomass, contribute to
the conservation of fragile areas and regeneration of forests It had been found that across different states in India,
the extension of areas under cultivation and the deforestation was usually high because the progress of yield-
increasing technology was slow. In such regions, the levels of agricultural income and wages were low and poverty
levels were high. Similarly, the pressure from animals such as goats and sheep on forests and common lands had
been increasing in regions where growth of crop production was slow. This was due to the fact that the rural poor
supplement their income by rearing these animals. Apart from yield-increasing technology for crops, the use of new
technologies in forestry and animal husbandry to raise the yields from trees and animals would go a long way in
protecting the environment. The Green Revolution succeeded in solving one of the major problems of India, that of
food shortage from the middle of the sixties, and laid a stronger base for self-sufficiency in agricultural production.
In spite of initial skepticism and restrictions to certain crops such as wheat and regions, the Green Revolution held
promises of a miracle in agricultural production Gradually, the new agricultural technology embraced other crops
including rice, bajra, pulses and cash crops, and also extended over wider regions of the country. By eighties
India's dependence on foreign countries, especially the United States for import of food ceased, and the 'begging
bowl' image of India was erased. In spite of periodically failing monsoons, famines and increasing population, the
lessons learned from the Green Revolution of mid-sixties have enabled the nation only to feed its enormous
population, but also generate enough surpluses.
GREEN REVOLUTION (G.I) FEATURES
30%
and crops other than wheat were also included in the plan.
20%
The most important requirement for the high yielding variety seeds is proper
44% irrigation. Crops grown from HYV seeds need good amounts of water supply and
farmers could not depend on monsoon. Hence, the Green Revolution has improved
the irrigation systems around farms in India.
Commercial crops and cash crops such as cotton, jute, oilseeds, etc were not a part of
the plan. Green revolution in India mainly emphasized food grains such as wheat and
rice.
To enhance farm productivity green revolution increased the availability and use of
fertilizers, weedicides, and pesticides to reduce any damage or loss to the crops.
It also helped in promoting commercial farming in the country with the introduction
of machinery and technology like harvesters, drills, tractors, etc
CONCLUSION
Overall, the Green Revolution was a major achievement for many developing countries,
specially India and gave them an unprecedented level of national food security.
It represented the successful adaptation and transfer of the same scientific revolution in
agriculture that the industrial countries had already appropriated for themselves.
However, lesser heed was paid to factors other than ensuring food security such as
environment, the poor farmers and their education about the know-how of such chemicals.
As a way forward,the policymakers must target the poor more precisely to ensure that they
receive greater direct benefits from new technologies and those technologies will also need to
be more environmentally sustainable.
Also, taking lessons from the past, it must be ensured that such initiatives include all of the
beneficiaries covering all the regions rather than sticking to a limited field.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.academia.edu/45091511/Green_Revolution
https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/green-revolution/