Humans can do without any luxuries of life, but not without food and shelter – clean water and unpolluted air being essential requirements too. Human beings are known to have lived like animals for centuries. Then they moved into caves in the Stone Age. Habitable dwelling units came much later. However, food is of prime importance for sustenance of any form of life. This underlines the imperative of agriculture. Therefore, the present talk about a second Green Revolution in India assumes immense importance.
The first Green Revolution (GR) came about in the Sixties, starting with an imported wheat variety and building of mega dams. Its benefits were largely limited to the North-Western region, but it effected a major turnaround for the country in the food sector. The emphasis led to self-sufficiency in rice and wheat. Soon, the days were gone when the country had to go to the US with a begging bowl and get large consignments of PL480 wheat to keep the hungry Indian stomachs filled. While self-sufficiency has been achieved in the case of wheat and rice, and exports have become the order of the day, there still persist problems in relation to pulses, edible oils and vegetables but most of all, in proper storage and timely transportation of food grains.
When Prime Minister Narendra Damodardass Modi backed the call for a second Green Revolution, as he did a day ago, it was well appreciated but eyebrows are raised too. The one-year-plus rule of Modi has proven beyond any shadow of doubt that he is completely pro-corporate, promoting crony capitalism, and is hell bent on acquiring even agricultural land to help industries. The focus of this government has been to stray from farms to factories. Clearly, someone who has consciously been following such a path cannot be depended on to promote the cause of agriculture in this vastly populated and highly under nourished country. Yet his recent pronouncement must not be pushed away as irrelevant or untrustworthy.
Fact is, despite the big talk about industrialization, India survives on its agriculture. Over 65 per cent of the population is still dependent on agriculture through small or big land-holdings. Complaints about farming ‘not being a paying proposition’ have grains of truth in it, but we cannot be impervious to the immense danger of a social upheaval in the event of a food scarcity in the country. All the development that India talks about will turn on its head. Any government that is successful, like the one headed by Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu or Naveen Patnaik in Orissa, has understood this basic truth. As a matter of first priority, they have been able to devise ways and means to feed their under-privileged population and gain public acceptance in the process.
On the other hand, when a government is talking about adopting a policy wherein it would shift major chunks of the farming community to alternative means of income generation, that policy would ring the death knell for social well-being. First of all, farmers cannot be expected to be technically skilled and immediately start doing something else. Secondly, India does not possess any machinery with which it can implement such a herculean task of human movement. If this exercise fails, which it would for sure, social disharmony is certain to take place. No nation can survive or develop with a fractured and embattled society. We do not have to look far to see what disharmony means. The upheavals in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and wherever the Islamic State has raised its head are horrendous examples of how things can turn both ugly and scary.
With such a background, when Prime Minster Modi’s statement — however weak or fumbling it may be — in favor of a Second Green Revolution is taken into consideration, it must be treated seriously. May be the man has realized the importance of agriculture and the need to protect and strengthen that sector. He should be encouraged to take it forward. Here, hopefully, comes a great opportunity. Green Revolution Version 2 should mean we make agricultural produce that is quantitatively more by adopting the best farming techniques. Instead of destroying ground water sources as has happened in Punjab and Haryana, we may learn from Israel to conserve. There is scope to produce more vegetables, pulses and fruits and export them by meeting the highest international food safety parameters.
For, while we wholeheartedly welcome a second Green Revolution, it is imperative that the practices we followed in the past are discarded. Excessive pumping out of ground water reserves, unlimited use of pesticides and chemicals are real problems. Reckless use of chemicals, as has happened in north India has turned our land unproductive or underproductive over a period of time; it is also polluting the ground water. Worse, harm is caused to the health of those who consume such produce.
The nation, government and the farm community must get together to produce food in large quantities in a much more nature-friendly manner. The government must take steps to make agriculture profitable and attractive for the youth. We must make India a food surplus and food exporting nation if we want a stable future.
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