Green Revolution The Green Revolution, spreading over the period from1967/68 to 1977/78, changed Indias status from

a food-deficient country to one of the world s leading agricul tural nations. Until 1967 the government largely concentrated on expanding the f arming areas. But the population was growing at a much faster rate than food pro duction. This called for an immediate and drastic action to increase yield. The action came in the form of the Green Revolution. The term Green Revolution is a ge neral one that is applied to successful agricultural experiments in many develop ing countries. India is one of the countries where it was most successful. There were three basic elements in the method of the Green Revolution Continuing expansion of farming areas Double-cropping in the existing farmland Using seeds with improved genetics. The area of land under cultivation was being increased from 1947 itself. But thi s was not enough to meet the rising demand. Though other methods were required, the expansion of cultivable land also had to continue. So, the Green Revolution continued with this quantitative expansion of farmlands. Double cropping was a primary feature of the Green Revolution. Instead of one cr op season per year, the decision was made to have two crop seasons per year. The one-season-per-year practice was based on the fact that there is only one rainy season annually. Water for the second phase now came from huge irrigation proje cts. Dams were built and other simple irrigation techniques were also adopted. Using seeds with superior genetics was the scientific aspect of the Green Revolu tion. The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (which was established by the British in 1929) was reorganized in 1965 and then again in 1973. It developed n ew strains of high yield variety seeds, mainly wheat and rice and also millet an d corn. The Green Revolution was a technology package comprising material components of improved high yielding varieties of two staple cereals (rice and wheat), irrigat ion or controlled water supply and improved moisture utilization, fertilizers, a nd pesticides, and associated management skills. The green revolution has two types of effects on Indian economy, namely, (a) eco nomic effects and (b) sociological effects. Economic Effects (i) Increase in agricultural production and productivity: Due to adoption of HYV technology the production of food grains increased consid erably in the country. The production of wheat has increased from 8.8 million to nes in 1965-66 to 184 million tones in 1991-92. The productivity of other food g rains has increased considerably. It was 71% in case of cereals, 104% for wheat and 52% for paddy over the period 1965-66 and 1989-90. The index number of productivity on agriculture (Base -1969 - 70) increased from 88.9 in 1965-66 to 156 in 1991-92 indicating an increase of about 100% in produ ctivity over the period. Though the food grain production has increased considerably but the green revolu tion has no impact on coarse cereals, pulses and few cash corps. In short the ga ins of green revolution have not been shared equally by all the crops. (ii) Employment: The new agricultural technology has created more amounts of employment opportuni ties in the agricultural sector. The new technology is early maturing and makes multiple cropping possible. (iii) Market Orientation: The new technology has made the farmers market- oriented. Due to excess producti on the farmers have to go to the market for selling their surplus production. (iv) Forward and Backward Linkage: Due to new technology the demand for industrial products like fertilizers, pesti cides and insecticides increased which gave rise to industrialization of the eco nomy. Similarly due to excessive production more employments were created in the tertiary sector like transportation, marketing and storage. Sociological Effects

(i) Personal inequalities: Due to Green Revolution the income of rich farmers increased considerably wherea s the poor farmers couldn t reap any benefit. Hence in Punjab it led to concentr ation of wealth, income and assets with the rich farmers on the one hand and gra dual pauperization of the rural poor. This led to a class conflict between the r ich and the poor farmers. The small and marginal farmers were deprived of enjoyi ng the gains of new technology. (ii) Regional Inequality: The new technology was successfully implemented in the wheat-producing belt of t he country whereas the rice producing zones were not at all affected by this Gre en Revolution. Hence the disparity between the two regions increased considerabl y. Father Green Revolution became successful in irrigated areas whereas in the r ained belt the new technology couldn t be properly implemented. Measures for further Green Revolution: In order to further increase agricultural production the following measures have been adopted: (i) HYV seeds: New varieties of HYV seeds have been developed for specific agro-climatic condit ion and the other crops like cotton, Jute, oil seeds and pulses have been covere d under HYV seeds. (ii) Multiple cropping: Due to invention of short maturing seeds multiple cropping has become possible. Appropriate crop rotation has to be chosen in order to maintain long term produc tivity of the soil. (iii) Agricultural credit: Poor farmers require institutional finance for adoption of HYV technology. Hence the Government has extended credit facilities to poor farmers through co-operat ives, commercial banks and RRBS. (iv) Dry farm technique: The new technology has to be extended to dry farming areas. Research should be i ntensified to develop suitable technology which may help in successful implement ation of HYV programme in dry land areas. Speedy implementation of land reform i s also essential for spread of Green Revolution.