Question -
Answer -
Green revolution was introduced to bring revolutionary changes in the agriculture especially in foodgrains like wheat and rice to increase production through high yielding varieties of seeds, fertilisers and scientific irrigation-
- The government offered high-yielding variety seeds, fertilizers, 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 was the beginning of what was called the ‘green revolution’.
Positive Consequences:
- In many parts, the stark contrast between the poor peasantry and the landlords produced conditions favourable for leftwing organisations to organise the poor peasants.
- Secondly, the green revolution also resulted in the rise of what is called 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:
- Only the rich peasants and the large landholders were the major beneficiaries of the process.
- This created a stark contrast between the poor peasantry and the landlords.
- It delivered only a moderate agricultural growth i.e. a rise in rice and wheat production by raising the availability of foodgrains in the country. On the other hand, it increased polarisation between the classes and regions like northern states i.e. Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh became agriculturally prosperous, while others remained backwards.