595 words article on Green Revolution

India is predominantly an agricultural country. Nearly 70% of its population lives in villages and their main occupation is agriculture. The population of India in 1951 was 36 crores. It has increased to 84.4 crores by 1991. While the population increases by leaps and bounds, the cultivated area of the land remains the same. Against this background food shortage becomes inevitable.

After the partition of the country, (1947) most of the cultivable lands of Punjab and Bengal went to Pakistan, making food shortage more acute. India had no other alternative except to import food grains. India made an agreement, Public Loan 480 (P.L.480) with U.S.A. This agreement had political strings attached to it, which went against the free interests of our country.

So sooner or later, our country had to relay on self-sufficiency in food grains and take steps in that direction. Our late Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri implemented the Five Year Plans effectively. Many irrigation dams were taken up and constructed. Electricity supply was also extended to farmers. Thus started an impetus in the field of agriculture.

Green Revolution started in the year 1967-68 with the growth of production in wheat and rice. The revolution was not easy to implement. It had to face a number of difficulties.

1) The agricultural production in India per hectare and per worker was very low.

2) There was overcrowding of workers in the field of agriculture.

3) The methods of cultivation were traditional and conservative.

4) The use of artificial (chemical) fertilizers was not known.

5) The land holdings were very small, less than a hectare in many cases.

6) Many did not own their land. They held them as tenants.

7) Fertilizers were inadequate and farmers were not aware of the latest techniques of production.

The above difficulties had to be overcome if Green Revolution was to succeed. Hence the government started different methods and techniques to overcome them. They adopted the following steps:

1) New dwarf varieties were introduced.

2) Scientists developed new varieties of crops which could withstand pests.

3) Chemical fertilizers were imported and were also used. Farmers were trained in their use.

4) New techniques and methods, machinery and tools were introduced.

5) Sufficient propaganda and publicity was given to educate the farmers.

6) High yielding varieties and multiple cropping patterns were introduced.

7) Extra land was brought under irrigations through new irrigation projects.

8) New credit facilities were made available to farmers.

All these steps taken by the government yielded good results. As against 9.7 million hectares under wheat production in 1951, now 25 million hectares are available for growing wheat. The production which was 6.4 million tones in 1951 has now reached more than 68 million tones. One could easily see that there was a greet leap forward in food production on account of Green Revolution. Our country no longer imports any food grains. Government has started a number of institutions to help the revolution. They are 1. NABARD –special national Bank to meet agricultural demands, (2) National Seeds Corporation, and (3) IFFCO – fertilizer producing company.

The Green Revolution is still going on. Efforts are being made to reach self-sufficiency in pulse and oil seeds also, where there is still some deficit. With the effective measures undertaken by government and the willingness of farmers to adopt scientific and new methods of cultivation, one can be u=sure that our country would not only prove to be self-sufficient, but it would also be in a position to export agricultural products to needy countries in the coming years.