"While Green Revolution has made India self-sufficient in food grains, it has also led to many unintended ecological and socioeconomic repercussions in the country". Do you agree? Discuss with the help of examples.
Green revolution has always been considered as one of the biggest achievement in the field of food production. It is referred as a situation wherein there is quantum jump in production of food grain with the use of high yielding varieties seeds (HYV), fertilizers and pesticides coupled with expansion of irrigation facility, multiple cropping and use of modern mechanized implements like tractors, threshers, harvesters etc. It was initiated with motive to achieving self-sufficiency in food grain production however now its several harmful effects are also coming up such as upon the ecology and environment of the country, green revolution has led to marked decline in the forest cover of India. The use of modern mechanical instruments has led to large scale deforestation of the forest cover. Moreover, as the green revolution employs mono-culturing, the practice which requires large tracts of land, which are not often available, intensive amounts of fertilizers and large volumes of water, is seen to bring difficulties to farmers. Unintended consequences in water use, soil degradation, and chemical runoff have also caused some serious environmental issues. There are various other undesirable social consequences of the green revolution and one such is that the large farmers have started to evict their tenants as they find it more profitable to cultivate the land themselves. Recently, the Delhi High Court has asked State govt. of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan to inform it about the actions taken against stubble burning, which is the deliberate burning of the straw stubble that remains after wheat and other grains have been harvested.
The loss of forest cover and frequent crop burning has added to the existing problem of air pollution. Thus, not directly, but indirectly green revolution has led to some unintended repercussions.
Topics: GS-III: Public Distribution System Buffer Stocks and Food Security