What was the Green Revolution? Mention two positive and two
negative consequences of the Green Revolution.
Answers
In the face of the prevailing food crisis, the country was clearly vulnerable to external pressure and dependent on food aid, mainly from the USA. Which, in turn, pushed India to change its economic policies. The government adopted a strategy for agriculture in order to ensure food sufficiency. Instead of the earlier policy of giving more support to the areas and farmers that were lagging behind, now it was decided to put more resources into those areas which already had irrigation and those farmers who were already well off. It was argued that those who already had the capacity could help increase production rapidly in the short period. Thus, the government offered high-yielding variety seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and better irrigation at highly subsidised prices. The government also gave a guarantee to buy the produce of the farmers at a given price. This policy provided boost in agricultural production which is known green revolution.
The consequences of the Green Revolution were as given below :
Positive :
(a)There was moderate agricultural growth particulary in wheat production.
(b) It raised the availability of food in the country.
Negative :
(a)It had increased polarisation between classes and regions.
(b)The stark contrast between poor peasantry and the landlords produced conditions favourable for the left-wing organisations to organise the poor peasants.
Answer:
The green revolution was introduced to bring revolution in weak agriculture of India, specially in food grains like wheat and rice through very High yielding varieties of seed.
1. Government has offered high-yielding variety hybrid seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and better irrigation at very subsidised prices.
2. The government has given guarantee to purchase products produced by farmers.
Positive consequences:
1. in So many parts, the stark contrast between the poor peasantry and the landlords produced conditions favourable for left wing organization to organize poor peasants.
2. Green revolution resulted in the rise of the middle peasant sections. These were farmers with medium size holdings, who benefited from the changes and soon emerged politically influential in many parts of the country.
Negative Consequences:
1. Some regions like Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh became agriculturally prosperous, while others remained backward.
2. The revolution delivered only a moderate agricultural growth, brought distinction in region and classes. This brought a sharp contrast between farmers and landlords .