In this section an attempt has been made to understand why
the Green Revolution was so successful in Punjab, to scrutinise
its results and contrast it with the present agrarian crisis.
India has gone from a food-deficit to a food- surplus country
largely because of the agricultural transformation of Punjab.
The economic transformation of rural Punjab is basically a story
of agricultural transformation. During the 1960s a fundamental
change occurred in the institutional and economic infrastructure
due to massive public investment. There was irrigation and power
development, agricultural research and extension services, and
the strengthening of the co-operative credit structure. Already,
consolidation of holdings and the predominance of owner farmers
had created crucial pre-requisites for the Green revolution.
Punjab led the country�s Green Revolution of the 1960s and
earned for itself the distinction of becoming India�s �bread
basket�. The Green Revolution introduced a new technology of
production in agriculture. The technology consisted of a package
of inputs, such as, high-yielding varieties of seeds, chemical
fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, weedicides, machines like
tractors, threshers, pumpsets/motors, combine harvesters/
reapers and others. The proper usage of these inputs required an
assured irrigation system, a peasantry with the will and
capacity to adopt the new technology and a government willing to
lend its support and investment. All these conditions were
present in Punjab.
In fact, before the Green Revolution, Punjab had experienced
certain developments that set the stage for its rapid spread.
Before Independence, Punjab�s agriculture had been dominated by
peasant proprietors (Singh, 1989). The rapid settlement of land
claims after the partition of the state, and the completion of
the consolidation of land holdings by the end of the 1950s
created a favourable man-land ratio. The fragmentation of land
holdings seen in other states of India was thus taken care of.
This encouraged peasant proprietors to invest in land
improvement and adopt new technologies, as their holdings had
become economically viable. Land reform measures also encouraged
several land owners to reclaim their land from tenants for
self-cultivation (Gill, 2001). Punjab was also a major
beneficiary of British investment in irrigation works and
development of canal colonies where peasants from the east and
central Punjab were resettled. In the post-Independence period,
canal irrigation was further development by the state. By
1960-61 the net sown area irrigated in Punjab had gone up to 54
During the British period, agriculture in Punjab,
particularly in the canal colonies was largely commercialised.
The peasants who migrated to Indian Punjab from western Punjab
in 1947-48 during Partition were experienced in and geared
towards commercial agricultural production. Thus, even before
the availability of the Green Revolution technology, Punjab was
showing signs of rapid agricultural development. Between 1953-55
to 1963-65, the index of agricultural production of all crops
experiences a growth rate of 4 percent compared to 2.2 percent
at the all India level (Singh, 2001). These conditions in Punjab
were accompanied by an official policy of strengthening and
promoting agricultural research and extension. The College of
Agricultural at Ludhiana was converted into the Punjab
Agricultural University (PAU) in 1962. PAU was put in charge of
agricultural research and education in the state and played an
active role. It is renowned for its work on high yielding
varieties of seeds and technical innovations like fertiliser
drills and threshers.
Simultaneously, the government invested massively in rural
development, ranging from irrigation works, drainage of rain
water, reclamation of land to solve the problem of land
salinity. To promote investment at the farm level, arrangements
were made for credit on long and short term crop loans through
land mortgage, banks and a network of cooperative credit
High-yielding dwarf varieties of wheat from the International
Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) Mexico, were
introduced leading to bumper crops. The availability of assured
irrigation for fertile lands provided a conducive environment
that enabled a dynamic peasantry to accept innovations in seed
technology. Several farmers already possessed the immediate
capacity (supported by the government) to make the necessary
investments in the new technology. These initial innovators were
immediately imitated by other farmers, irrespective of the size
of their holdings, when they observed the sudden jumps in per
The impact was dramatic. Between 1965-66 and 1970-71 the per
hectare yield of wheat doubled, from 1104 kg per hectare in
1965-66 to 2238 kg in 1970-71. Following the success of the new
technology in wheat in the mid -1970s, a breakthrough was
achieved in dwarf high-yielding varieties of paddy. After wheat,
paddy provided a major push to agricultural prosperity in the
state. By the mid -1980s, except for the southern parts of
Punjab, the state began to follow a� wheat-paddy rotation�
pattern in cultivation, and, as a consequence Punjab became the
food bowl of the country. It became the largest contributor to
the central pool of procurement of food grains both for food
security, as well as for running the public distribution system
of food grains. With the minimum support price for wheat and
paddy combined with the procurement system of the union
government, crop production was greatly supported.
The Green Revolution has been the backbone of Punjab�s
development. It increased cropping intensity from 126 percent in
1960-62 to 185 percent in 1996-97, and the net sown area as a
percentage of the geographical area rose from 75 to 85 during
this period. The number of tractors rose from 10,646 in 1962-65
to 234,006 in 1990-93 and pumps sets from 45,900 to 721,220.
Fertilizer (NPK) consumption increased from 30,060 tonnes in
1962-65 to 1212,570 tonnes in 1990-93. Consumption of chemical
inputs also increased.
An important social affect of the Green Revolution was the
destruction of the old
jajmani system and its replacement by a contractual relationship.
This severaly affected the fortunes of service castes and
artisans and resulted in unemployment and underemployment. Many
were driven to poverty.
Another social change was the disappearance of caste
rigidities and the emergence of the middle and rich peasants as
the dominant peasantry in the state. A significant feature of
the agrarian society in Punjab is the numerical preponderance of
Jat Sikhs in rural areas. Scheduled Castes form what is called
the agricultural proletariat or labour force.
The Green Revolution also brought changes in lifestyle.
Aspirations increased � there was demand for better education
for children, better housing and better consumer goods. The
traditional �joint family� system was gradually replaced by the
Politics also changed. There was a gradual shift of power
from the urban elite to the rural elite. The Jat Sikhs became
the dominant political group and as a result, development of
agriculture became the top priority of every successive
government. Supply of agricultural inputs at cheaper rates
became a core demand. In order to relieve farmers from money
lenders, co-operative societies and commercial banks were
established in large numbers to provide agricultural credit to
the farming community. As agricultural became modernised,
electricity for agricultural purpose was required at cheap rates
for long hours. Similarly, fertilizers and pesticides were also
required to be supplied at cheap rates. Thus, successive
governments responded by granting subsidies.
The impact of the Green Revolution differed through the
regions of Punjab. The Doaba region saw a sizeable immigration
of Sikhs to England, United States and Canada. Money remittances
from overseas communities were used by the Jat Sikh farmers in
the Doaba to improve their houses, increase lands and to buy
machines. Recruitment in the army has always been an important
adjunct to the agricultural economy. However, the trend of
supplementing agricultural income from other sources was
unevenly spread through the different regions. The Doaba region
was foremost in this trend, followed by Majha and, only a part
of the Malwa region, like the districts of Ludhiana and Patiala.
One area where the impact of the Green Revolution was least felt
was the so-called Kandi region (the area of the Himalayan
foothills). Until today, the Kandi belt continues to remain
relatively backward socially and economically.
The Green Revolution technology worked very well until the
beginning of the 1980s. But subsequently agricultural began to
show signs of fatigue. Productivity slowed and stagnation set
in. PAU estimates show that on an average the Punjab farmer
achieved 75 percent of the achievable potential yields of rice
and wheat with the currently available technology (PAU, 1998).
As union and
state government support to agricultural has declined, the
present cropping pattern and production system seems to be
economically unsustainable. Additionally, the Green Revolution
technology has put great pressure on the ecological system,
leading to a fall in the level of the ground water table, and
soil depletion. Thus, the initial prosperity that the peasantry
achieved is at this time diminishing at a very rapid rate.
Punjab now requires new technology to make the present crops
more profitable, as well as ecologically sustainable.
A case study on the impact of the Green Revolution on rural
Punjab by Abbi and Singh prepared in 1997:
Some of the major changes found in this study that may have
taken place in a period of 30 years falling between 1965 and
1995 are highlighted as follows:
The increase in agriculture productivity was reflected in
the increase in capital investment. More and more pucca
houses were constructed and roads were paved. The village
presently has a middle school, a rural dispensary, telephone
service, pucca roads, a co-operative bank, a milk collection
post, police post and a focal point.
The social gap between the higher and the lower castes
became negligible in this period. A major change in the
caste hierarchy was visible in both public ceremonial
functions and interpersonal relations, strengthening the
cross-caste alliance. The cross-caste similarity of
lifestyles, helped to promote egalitarian social
Many agricultural labourers migrated from UP and Bihar and
this led to a change of occupation for the local labourer
from agriculture to other occupations like masonry,
construction work, driving, plumbing etc.
Sources: B.L. Abbi and Singh. �Post-Green Revolution Rural
Punjab: A Profile of Economic and Socio-Culture Change
Source: Human Development Report 2004, Punjab