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Unit 12: Green Revolution

the hybrids marketed by private companies.” NCF has, therefore, made a categorical case for vesting Notes
in the Indian farmers the right to use their own seeds developed by them, rather than remain dependent
on private companies and multinationals to get them patented and then deny this right of use to
Indian farmers.
Although, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given a call for a “Second Green Revolution,” it
would be of interest to understand why the first green revolution has run out of steam. Two reasons
were ascribed by the Prime Minister : First, it did not benefit dryland farming. Second, it was not
scale-neutral and had thus benefited only large farms and big farmers. This implies that 62 percent of
marginal holdings accounting for 17 percent of operated area and 31 percent of small holdings of size
1 to 4 hectares accounling for 55 percent of area operated were bypassed by the first green revolution.
Although, production of foodgrains and other crops substantially improved in India but the spread
of green revolution in reducing poverty remained rather limited. It is due to this reason that it is now
being argued and rightly so by the Prime Minister that he Second Green Revolution should concentrate
on the small and marginal farmers.
Self-Assessment

1. Choose the correct option
(i) Green Revolution resulted in significant increase of agricultural productivity due to
(a) High yielding variety of grains (b) Use of pesticides
(c) Improved management techniques (d) All the three
(ii) The region, once hailed, home of Green Revolution in India, was
(a) Punjab (b) Gujarat
(c) Haryana (d) Bihar
3. Of all the high yielding crops, which grain produced the best result?
(a) Wheat (b) Maize
(c) Rice (d) Corn
4. The major results of the benefits of Green Revolution were experienced mainly in North and
Northwestern India between the years
(a) 1960-1965 (b) 1970-1985
(c) 1965-1980 (d) 1975-1988
12.5 Summary

• Since the mid-1960’s, the traditional agricultural practices are gradually being replaced by
modern technology and farm practices in India and a veritable revolution is taking place in our
country.
• As a result of the new agricultural strategy, area under improved seeds has gone up since 1966.
The new varieties are of a short-term duration and consequently, instead of growing one crop,
two crops and sometimes, even three crops are grown. In the case of wheat.
• The new agricultural technology uses such resources like fertilisers, pesticides, agricultural
machinery, etc., which are produced outside the agricultural sector.
• The advocates of the new strategy considered the intensive approach as the only means of
making a breakthrough in Indian agriculture in the shortest possible time.
• The new agricultural technology has made the farmer market-oriented. The farmers are largely
dependent on the market for the supply of inputs and for the demand for their output. At the
same time, the demand for agricultural credit has also increased as the new technology has
increased the cash requirements of the farmer.
• The green revolution caused by the new strataegy was initially limited to wheat, maize and
bajra only. The major crop of India, i.e., rice, responded to the impact of the high-yielding
varieties much later.

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