The Green revolution starting in early 1960s under the leadership of Lal Bahadur Shastri and M.S Swaminathan now needs an evergreen revolution to sustain.
Main Body
Impact of Green Revolution Positive: 1) India transformed to the 'Grain Bowl of the world'. 2) Ushered in higher yields (eg Wheat HYV needs in Punjab) 3) Production of food crops increased to ensure food security (eg Data to ISI till today). 4) Created a regime of food superiority country to exporting country. 5) Increased the income of farmers of India. Negatives: 1) Created regional disparities (eg Punjab-Haryana least beneficial, Bihar-Jharkhand). 2) Focus on monoculture led to soil salinization (eg Rajasthan). 3) Fertilizers excessive usage led to contamination (eg Blue Baby syndrome in Punjab). 4) Large scale exploitation of groundwater (eg 21 cities to be ground zero soon [UNH]). Measures to usher in Evergreen Revolution: 1) Diversification for raintown revolution (eg Values Committe) 2) Preservation of blue economy and secondary agriculture - Meera Sunary Committe 3) Introduction of HYV needs of other varieties - Oilseeds like Mustard, Soybean 4) Participatory Irrigation management (eg 85000 Pani Panchayat) in India. 5) Intercropping + Multicropping (eg Mustard with Wheat, Soybean with Bajra) 6) Revamping the PDS and MSP regime (Mantik Singh Athaumalia Committe) 7) Provision of targeted and universal welfare to farmers (Shanta Swamy Committe) Evergreen revolution proposed by MS Swaminathan in the need of the hour to increase the GVA of agriculture from 17% to 25%.
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ADITYA TALWAR
Agriculture and Food Security
Government Schemes
Green Revolution and Evergreen Revolution
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analytical
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