What is the Impact of Green Revolution on Indian Economy?

The green revolution has two types of effects on Indian economy, namely, (a) economic effects and (b) sociological effects.

Economic Effects

(i) Increase in agricultural production and productivity:

Due to adoption of HYV technology the production of food grains increased considerably in the country. The production of wheat has increased from 8.8 million tones in 1965-66 to 184 million tones in 1991-92. The productivity of other food grains has increased considerably. It was 71% in case of cereals, 104% for wheat and 52% for paddy over the period 1965-66 and 1989-90.

The index number of productivity on agriculture (Base -1969 – 70) increased from 88.9 in 1965-66 to 156 in 1991-92 indicating an increase of about 100% in productivity over the period.

Though the food grain production has increased considerably but the green revolution has no impact on coarse cereals, pulses and few cash corps. In short the gains of green revolution have not been shared equally by all the crops.

(ii) Employment:

The new agricultural technology has created more amounts of employment opportunities in the agricultural sector. The new technology is early maturing and makes multiple cropping possible.

(iii) Market Orientation:

The new technology has made the farmers market- oriented. Due to excess production the farmers have to go to the market for selling their surplus production.

(iv) Forward and Backward Linkage:

Due to new technology the demand for industrial products like fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides increased which gave rise to industrialization of the economy. Similarly due to excessive production more employments were created in the tertiary sector like transportation, marketing and storage.

Sociological Effects

(i) Personal inequalities:

Due to Green Revolution the income of rich farmers increased considerably whereas the poor farmers couldn’t reap any benefit. Hence in Punjab it led to concentration of wealth, income and assets with the rich farmers on the one hand and gradual pauperization of the rural poor. This led to a class conflict between the rich and the poor farmers. The small and marginal farmers were deprived of enjoying the gains of new technology.

(ii) Regional Inequality:

The new technology was successfully implemented in the wheat-producing belt of the country whereas the rice producing zones were not at all affected by this Green Revolution. Hence the disparity between the two regions increased considerably. Father Green Revolution became successful in irrigated areas whereas in the rained belt the new technology couldn’t be properly implemented.

Measures for further Green Revolution:

In order to further increase agricultural production the following measures have been adopted:

(i) HYV seeds:

New varieties of HYV seeds have been developed for specific agro-climatic condition and the other crops like cotton, Jute, oil seeds and pulses have been covered under HYV seeds.

(ii) Multiple cropping:

Due to invention of short maturing seeds multiple cropping has become possible. Appropriate crop rotation has to be chosen in order to maintain long term productivity of the soil.

(iii) Agricultural credit:

Poor farmers require institutional finance for adoption of HYV technology. Hence the Government has extended credit facilities to poor farmers through co-operatives, commercial banks and RRBS.

(iv) Fertilizer consumption:

Chemical fertilizer is one of the most important ingredients of green revolution. Hence more fertilizer has to be produced in order to meet its growing demand.

(v) Dry farm technique:

The new technology has to be extended to dry farming areas. Research should be intensified to develop suitable technology which may help in successful implementation of HYV programme in dry land areas. Speedy implementation of land reform is also essential for spread of Green Revolution.