Green Revolution's unintended fallout: Deepening of India's farming crisis

The Green Revolution is coming back to bite us in ways that policymakers then could not have bargained for. Now, as farmers block borders around the National Capital region (NCR), the downsides of that signature achievement of the sixties is manifesting itself in myriad crises — inefficient power supplies, water shortages, deteriorating soil health, air pollution, and an escalating freebie culture.

 

The Green Revolution was undoubtedly transformational. The programme spared India from famine and the humiliation of its ship-to-mouth existence from Public Law or PL480 wheat shipments from the US. Today, unfortunately, the policies that made it a success are