Agricultural Revolution Research

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
RESEARCH PROPOSTION SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

COURSE SOCIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT FOR OBTAINING THE DEGREE
B.A.,LL.B.(Hons) DURING THE ACADEMIC SESSION 2019-20
SUBMITTED BY
SARVJEET KUMAR
ROLL NO: 1970
SEMESTER: 3rd
B.A.LLB (Hons)
SUBMITTED TO
Dr. SHAKIL AHAMAD
FACULTY OF SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT
SEPTEMBER 2019
CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NYAYA NAGAR, MITHAPUR, PATNA-800001
SESSION: 2018-23
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the project entitled “AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION”

submitted by me at CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY is a record
of bona fide project work carried out by me under the guidance of our mentor Dr.
SHAKIL AHAMAD. I further declare that the work reported in this project has not
been submitted and will not be submitted, either in part or in full, for the award
of any other degree or diploma in this university or in any other university.
----------------------
(SARVJEET KUMAR)
ROLL NO: 1970
ii | P a g e
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is a fact that any research work prepared, compiled or formulated in isolation is inexplicable
to an extent. This research work, although prepared by me, is a culmination of efforts of a lot
of people who remained in veil, who gave their intense support and helped me in the completion
of this project.
Firstly, I am very grateful to my subject teacher Dr. SHAKIL AHAMAD, without the kind
support and help of whom the completion of this project was a herculean task for me. He
donated his valuable time from his busy schedule to help me to complete this project. I would
like to thank him for his valuable suggestions towards the making of this project.
I am highly indebted to my parents and friends for their kind co-operation and encouragement
which helped me in completion of this project. I am also thankful to the library staff of my
college which assisted me in acquiring the sources necessary for the compilation of my project.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank the Almighty who kept me mentally strong and in
good health to concentrate on my project and to complete it in time.
I thank all of them!
---------------------------
(SARVJEET KUMAR)
ROLL NO: 1970
B.A.LLB (Hons.)
SESSION: 2018-2023
iii | P a g e
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 5
2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................... 7
3. SUBJECT MATTER OF THE REVOLUTION ........................................................... 9
4. IMPACT THE REVOLUTION .................................................................................... 11
5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 16
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 17
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1. INTRODUCTION
At the time of its independence, India was an agricultural dependent economy. And yet the state of
Indian agricultural sector was dismal. From the lack of investment, a dearth of technology, low
yield per acre and many such problems plagued the industry. And so the Indian government took
steps to bring about the Green Revolution using HYV seeds
The Green Revolution started in 1965 with the first introduction of High Yielding Variety
(HYV) seeds in Indian agriculture. This was coupled with better and efficient irrigation and the
correct use of fertilizers to boost the crop. The end result of the Green Revolution was to make
India self-sufficient when it came to food grains.
MS sawaminathan was the father of green revolution. After 1947 India had to rebuild its economy.
Over three-quarters of the population depended on agriculture in some way. But agriculture in
India was faced with several problems. Firstly, the productivity of grains was very low. And India
was still monsoon dependent because of lack of irrigation and other infrastructure.
There was also an absence of modern technology. And India had previously faced severe famines
during the British Raj, who had only promoted cash crops instead of food crops. The idea was to
never depend on any other country for food sufficiency.
So in 1965, the government with the help of Indian geneticists M.S. Swaminathan, known as the
father of Green Revolution, launched the Green Revolution. The movement lasted from 1967 to
1978 and was a great success.
AIMS & OBJECTIVE

The Researcher intends to:
• Know Agricultural revolution.
• Know the Historical background of Agricultural Revolution.
• Know the major figure involved in this revolution.
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RSEARCH METHODOLOGY
Taking into consideration the nature of the project topic, the researcher will be relying upon
doctrinal method of research to complete the project.
SOURCES OF DATA
The researcher is relying upon both, primary as well as the secondary sources to complete the
project.
HYPOTHESIS
The researcher hypotheses that the Agricultural revolution has bring a different concept of
agriculture which gave a new direction and enhances the position of farmer and economy of
the country.
6|Page
2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The world’s worst recorded food disaster happened in 1943 in British ruled India known as the
Bengal Famine. An estimated four million people died of hunger that year alone in Eastern
India (that included today’s Bangladesh). The initial theory put forward to explain that
catastrophe was that there was an acute shortfall in food production in the area1.
However, Indian economist Amartya Sen (recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics, 1998)
has established that while food shortage was a contributor to the problem, a more potent factor
was the result of hysteria related to World War II which made food supply a low priority for
the British rulers. The hysteria was further exploited by Indian traders who hoarded food in
order to sell at higher prices.
Nevertheless, when the British left India four years later in 1947, India continued to be haunted
by memories of the Bengal Famine. It was therefore natural that food security was a paramount
item on free India’s agenda. This awareness led, on one hand to the Green Revolution in India
and on the other, legislative measures to ensure that businessmen would never again be able to
hoard food for reasons of profit2.
However, the term “Green Revolution” is applied to the period from 1967 to 1978. Between
1947 and 1967, efforts at achieving food self sufficiency’s were not entirely successful. Efforts
until 1967 largely concentrated on expanding the farming areas. But starvation deaths were still
being reported in the newspapers. In a perfect case of Malthusian economics, population was
growing at much faster rate than food production. This called for drastic action to increase
yield. The action came in the form of Green Revolution. The term “Green Revolution” is a
general one that is applied to successful agricultural experiments in many Third world
countries. It is not specific to India. But It was most successful in India. The new agricultural
strategy was adopted in India during the Third Plan, i.e., during 1960s. As suggested by the
team of experts of the Ford Foundation in its report “India’s Crisis of Food and Steps to Meet
1
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/essay/green-revolution-essay/essay-on-green-revolution-in-india/66734
(Seated on 10 sept, time: 12:00am)
2
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it” in 1959 the Government decided to shift the strategy followed in agricultural sector of the
country3.
The Green revolution is considered as revolutionary in character as it is based as new

technology, new ideas, new application of inputs like HYV seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water,
pesticides etc. As all these were brought suddenly and spread quickly to attain dramatic results
thus it is termed as revolution in green agriculture4.
3
4
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3. SUBJECT MATTER OF THE REVOLUTION
The new agricultural strategy was adopted in India during the Third Plan, i.e., during 1960s.
As suggested by the team of experts of the Ford Foundation in its report “India’s Crisis of Food
and Steps to Meet it” in 1959 the Government decided to shift the strategy followed in
agricultural sector of the country.
Thus, the traditional agricultural practices followed in India are gradually being replaced by
modern technology and agricultural practices.
This report of Ford Foundation suggested to introduce intensive effort for raising agricultural
production and productivity in selected regions of the country through the introduction of
modern inputs like fertilisers, credit, marketing facilities etc5.
Accordingly, in 1960, from seven states seven districts were selected and the Government
introduced a pilot project known as Intensive Area Development Programme (IADP) into those
seven districts.
Later on, this programme was extended to remaining states and one district from each state was
selected for intensive development. Accordingly, in 1965, 144 districts (out of 325) were
selected for intensive cultivation and the programme was renamed as Intensive Agricultural
Areas Programme (IAAP).
During the period of mid-1960s, Prof. Norman Borlaug of Mexico developed new high yielding
varieties of wheat and accordingly various countries started to apply this new variety with much
promise. Similarly, in the kharif season in 1966, India adopted High Yielding Varieties
Programme (HYVP) for the first time.
This programme was adopted as a package programme as the very success of this programme
depends upon adequate irrigation facilities, application of fertilizers, high yielding varieties of
seeds, pesticides, insecticides etc. In this way a new technology was gradually adopted in
Indian agriculture. This new strategy is also popularly known as modern agricultural
technology or green revolution6.
5
6
http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/essays/green-revolution-essays/essay-on-green-revolution-in-
india/17559 (seated on 10 sept, time: 12:30am).
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In the initial stage, HYVP along with IAAP was implemented in 1.89 million hectares of area.
Gradually the coverage of the programme was enlarged and in 1995-96, total area covered by
this HYVP programme was estimated 75.0 million hectares which accounted to early 43 per
cent of the total net sown area of the country.
As the new HYV seeds require shorter duration to grow thus it paved way for the introduction
of multiple cropping, i.e., to have two or even three crops throughout the year.
Farmers producing wheat in Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi
started to demand heavily new Mexican varieties of seeds like Lerma Rojo, Sonara-64, Kalyan
and P.V.-18. But in case of production of rice, although new HYV varieties of seeds like T.N.-
l, ADT-17, Tinen-3 and IR-8 were applied but the result was not very much encouraging. Some
degree of success was only achieved in respect of IR-8.
The Green Revolution technology employed the use of new high-yielding varieties of seeds as
well as chemical fertilizers. The problem with indigenous seeds was not the fact that they were
not high-yielding, rather it was their inability to stand up to heavy applications of chemicals.
The new varieties were created in conjunction with the fertilizers to work together with heavy
irrigation to produce higher yields. Independently, the seeds as well as the fertilizers were fairly
ineffective, but used together they were promised to double or even triple crop yields (Newman
1997). To employ the methods, Punjab was chosen as the initiation site in India. Although it is
relatively dry, there had been extensive development of irrigation canals during the colonial
period. Additionally, Punjab was home to many large wealthy farmers who would become the
first to receive the Green Revolution packages (Newman 1997)7.
The Green Revolution’s method to increase food production and eliminate hunger is to
introduce technologies such as bio-engineered seeds and chemicals that are developed to
increase yields. However, smaller farmers have fallen behind and have had to take out loans
and sell land to afford the technology of the Green Revolution. These farmers were left
impoverished, and there were many reported suicides by farmers too proud to beg8.
7
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4. IMPACT THE REVOLUTION
Introduction of new agricultural strategy or green revolution has created huge impact on the
economy of the country.
These are discussed below:
(i) Increase in Agricultural Production:
Due to the adoption of new agricultural strategy the volume of agricultural production and
productivity has recorded manifold increase. The production of wheat, rice, maize and potatoes
has increased substantially. Total production of foodgrains in India increased from 81.0 million
tonnes (annual average) during the Third Plan to 264.8 million tonnes in 2013-2014.
This has become possible due to the introduction of Special Foodgrains Production Programme
(SFPP) and the Special Rice Production Programme (SRPP)9.
(ii) Increasing Employment Opportunities:
The introduction of new agricultural strategy has led to considerable expansion of agricultural
employment. Due to the introduction of multiple cropping, job opportunities in the rural areas
has also expanded as the demand for hired workers required for farm activities increased
simultaneously10.
(iii) Strengthening the Forward and Backward Linkages:
Although traditional linkages between agriculture and industry were existing since a long back,
but green revolution has strengthened the linkages. Strong forward linkage of agriculture with
industry was noticed even in the traditional agriculture as agriculture supplied various inputs
to industries.
But the backward linkage of agriculture to industry, i.e., in the form of agriculture using
finished products of industry, was very weak. But introduction of modern technology to
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agriculture has raised a huge demand for agricultural inputs now produced and supplied by
industries.
Thus, modernisation of agriculture and development of agro-based industries has strengthened

both forward and the backward linkages between agriculture and the industry.
(iv) Increase in Regional Disparities:
Introduction of new technology in agriculture has widened the regional disparities as only some
regions well endowed with resources and irrigation potential have benefitted most from the
introduction of modern technology11.
The coverage of green revolution has been raised from a mere 1.89 million hectares in 1966-
67 to only 71.3 million hectares in 1994-95 which accounts to nearly 42 per cent of gross
cropped area of the country.
Moreover, as the green revolution was very much restricted to production of wheat thus the
benefits were very much restricted to 20.4 million hectares of area engaged in wheat production
(only 12 per cent of gross cropped area). Moreover, only those areas having irrigation facilities
and package of other inputs could achieve success in HYVP of wheat.
Thus, accordingly the regions of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh derived the
benefits of new agricultural strategy. But the agriculture of the remaining more than 80 per cent
of the cropped area of the country is still depending on vagaries of the monsoons in the absence
of irrigation facilities.
Accordingly the combined share of Northern States (Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh) in
respect of total production of foodgrains has increased from 29.5 per cent during 1970-71 to
1972-73 to 37.1 per cent during the period 1986-87 to 1988-89. Again the Western States of
Gujarat and Maharashtra registered only a marginal increase from 7.9 per cent to 8.6 per cent
during the same period12.
11
12
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But the combined share of Eastern States and Southern States has declined from 22.3 per cent
to 19.8 per cent and 20.3 per cent to 17.2 per cent respectively. This shows how the introduction
of new agricultural strategy into some restricted areas has widened the regional disparity in
respect of agricultural production and productivity of the country.
(v) Inter-Personal Inequalities:
Green revolution has created some impact on inter-personal inequalities. But economists; are
divided on this issue. Some micro level studies reveal that inter-personal inequalities have
enlarged but some other studies show that the degree of inter-personal inequalities have either
narrowed down or remained neutral13.
The studies conducted by Francine R. Frankel, G.R. Saini and Pranab Bardhan revealed that
the large farmers are benefitted most from the green revolution but other studies made by J.R.
Westley, Usha Nagpal and George Blyn showed that the inequalities have narrowed down as
small farmers are also benefitted considerably from green revolution.
(vi) No response from Small and Marginal Farmers:
Small and marginal farmers in India could not be able to adopt new strategy due to their poor
financial condition and poor creditworthiness. Majority of rural household having small size
of land or no land has derived negligible benefit from this new technology14.
(vii) Market Oriented:
Introduction of new technology in agriculture has transformed the farmers market oriented.
Indian farmers are mostly depending on market for getting their inputs as well as for selling
their output. Moreover, farmers are also depending much on institutional credit available in the
market to meet cost of adoption of new technology.
(viii) Change in Attitudes:
13
14
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Green revolution has contributed favourably to change the attitudes of farmers in India.
Agricultural operation has enhanced its status from subsistence activity to commercial farming
due to the adoption of new strategy15.
Wolf Ladejinsky observed that, “Where the ingredients for new technology are available, no
farmer denies their effectiveness. The desire for better farming methods and a better standard
of living is growing not only among relatively small number of the affluent using the new
technology, but also among countless farmers still from the outside looking in”.
The evidence of qualitative changes in attitudes can be observed from the short- and long-term
investment decision of the farmers, i.e., increasing application of current inputs like HYV
seeds, fertilizer, pesticides etc. and their investment in tube-wells, pump sets for irrigation.
Thus, during the period from 1966-67 to 1989-90, the area under HYVP has increased from
1.89 million hectares to 63.9 million hectares, consumption of fertilizer also increased from 2.9
lakh tonnes to 126 lakh tonnes, the number of irrigation pump sets with electrically operated
tubewells increased from 13 per lakh hectares of gross cropped area to 3995 in 1988. Thus,
Khusro has rightly mentioned, “no one could see such remarkable figures of annual percentage
increase in inputs, and yet to surmise that a structural change had not occurred.16”
(ix) Unwanted Social Consequences:
Green revolution has also raised certain unwanted social consequences. Various socio-
economic studies have confirmed these consequences. Green revolution paves the way for
transforming a large number of tenants and share-croppers into agricultural labourers due to
large-scale eviction of tenants by large farmers as they find large-scale farming is highly
profitable.
Thus G. Parthasarathy in his presidential address delivered at 46th Annual Conference of

Indian Society of Agricultural Economics 1986, observed that “The polarisation process that
accentuates the rural class difference has been further intensified by the green revolution.”
15
16
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Moreover, increased mechanisation of farm has resulted huge number of accidents which
maimed more than 10,000 farm labourers in India till 1985. Again the increasing application
of poisonous pesticides, without realising its health hazards has added a serious health problem.
The International Development Research Centre, Ottawa has reported about 7.5 lakh cases of
acute poisoning with different types of pesticides. But surprisingly no provision for workmen
compensation has yet been made in India.
In the end, it can be observed that inspite of increase in the production of foodgrains, the
country is facing a difficult situation. While the population of the country has crossed 1.2
billion mark by 2011, the demand for foodgrains will also rise to 270 million tonnes.
As the production has reached 264.8 million tonnes in 2013-14 thus the country will have to
raise the production of foodgrains by 6 million tonnes within next two years17.
This is no doubt an uphill task. At this moment what is required is the development of a low-
cost technology for agriculture which can be easily adopted by small farmers due to its cost
efficiency. Thus to meet the requirement of foodgrains, the coverage of green revolution should
be extended by any means18.
17
18
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5. CONCLUSION
The introduction of the HYV seeds for the first time in Indian agriculture. These seeds had
more success with the wheat crop and were highly effective in regions that had proper
irrigation. So the first stage of the Green Revolution was focused on states with better infra –
like Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
During the second phase, the HYV seeds were given to several other states. And other crops
than wheat were also included into the plan
One basic requirement for the HYV seeds is proper irrigation. Crops from HYV seeds need
alternating amounts of water supply during its growth. So the farms cannot depend on
monsoons. The Green Revolution vastly improved the inland irrigation systems around farms
in India.
The emphasis of the plan was mostly on food grains such as wheat and rice. Cash crops and
commercial crops like cotton, jute, oilseeds etc were not a part of the plan
Increased availability and use of fertilizers to enhance the productivity of the farms
Use of pesticides and weedicides to reduce any loss or damage to the crops
And finally the introduction of technology and machinery like tractors, harvesters, drills etc.
This helped immensely to promote commercial farming in the country
Increase in Agricultural Production: Foodgrains in India saw a great rise in output. It was a
remarkable increase. The biggest beneficiary of the plan was the Wheat Grain. The production
of wheat increased to 55 million tonnes in 1990 from just 11 million tonnes in 1960.
Increase in per Acre Yield: Not only did the Green Revolution increase the total agricultural
output, it also increased the per hectare yield. In case of wheat, the per hectare yield increased
from 850 kg/hectare to an incredible 2281 kg/hectare by 1990.
Less Dependence on Imports: After the green revolution, India was finally on its way to self-
sufficiency. There was now enough production for the population and to build a stock in case
of emergencies. We did not need to import grains or depend on other countries for our food
supply. In fact, India was able to start exporting its agricultural produce.
Employment: It was feared that commercial farming would leave a lot of the labour force
jobless. But on the other hand, we saw a rise in rural employment. This is because the
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supporting industries created employment opportunities. Irrigation, transportation, food
processing, marketing all created new jobs for the workforce.
A Benefit to the Farmers: The Green Revolution majorly benefited the farmers. Their income
saw a significant raise. Not only were they surviving, they were prospering. It enabled them to
shift to commercial farming from only sustenance farming.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITE:
• https://www.toppr.com/guides/economics/indian-economy-1950-1990/green-revolution/
• http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/essay/green-revolution-essay/essay-on-green-
revolution-in-india/66734
• http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/essays/green-revolution-essays/essay-on-green-
revolution-in-india/17559
• http://www.indiaessays.com/essays/india/indian-agriculture/essay-on-indian-
agriculture/1337
17 | P a g e

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AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

RESEARCH PROPOSTION SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

I hereby declare that the project entitled “AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION”

ROLL NO: 1970

I thank all of them!

ROLL NO: 1970

2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................... 7

3. SUBJECT MATTER OF THE REVOLUTION ........................................................... 9

4. IMPACT THE REVOLUTION .................................................................................... 11

AIMS & OBJECTIVE

The Green revolution is considered as revolutionary in character as it is based as new

These are discussed below:

(i) Increase in Agricultural Production:

(ii) Increasing Employment Opportunities:

(iii) Strengthening the Forward and Backward Linkages:

Thus, modernisation of agriculture and development of agro-based industries has strengthened

(iv) Increase in Regional Disparities:

(v) Inter-Personal Inequalities:

(vi) No response from Small and Marginal Farmers:

(vii) Market Oriented:

(viii) Change in Attitudes:

(ix) Unwanted Social Consequences:

Thus G. Parthasarathy in his presidential address delivered at 46th Annual Conference of

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