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It is in this background that Himmat Singh’s book on the Green
Revolution in Punjab makes for refreshing reading. The study
once again highlights the positive achievements of Punjab’s
agrarian economy. Apart from emphasising the obvious facts about
the increasing productivity of land and income in the state
during the last four or five decades, Singh makes a strong case
for looking at Punjab as a model of economic development and
social change that is worth advocating for other parts of the
developing world.
Arguing against
the popular critiques of the Punjab model of development, Singh
says that agrarian change did not generate any imbalances.
Neither did the Green Revolution peter out after its initial
successes. With help of available official data and studies
carried out by various scholars, he shows that the state
continued to experience "sustained real per capita rise in
income levels" through the decades of 1980s and 1990s.
Environmentally
also, agriculture-led economic growth has positive effects. The
Punjab experience shows that despite rapid growth in its
economy, the forest cover in the state has not declined. On the
contrary, the total area classified as ‘forest’ grew from
35,000 hectares in 1960-61 to 1,23,000 hectares in 1970-71 and
further to 2,22,000 hectares by 1990-91. This argument is very
interesting because it contradicts the commonly held assumption
that the Green Revolution technology has been detrimental to
environmental equilibrium.
Environmentalists
have also pointed to the declining levels of groundwater because
of its over-exploitation by tubewells. While Singh admits that
this is, indeed, a problem, the situation is a little more
complex than is at first apparent. Had there been no tubewells,
Punjab would have faced a serious problem of salinity because of
its wide network of canals. Tubewells help in keeping the water
table down. However, there is still a need to cut down on the
exploitation of groundwater. This can be done by introducing
some changes in agricultural patters, such as bringing down the
area under paddy cultivation and switching over to a crop like
sugarcane.
At the social and
political levels also, the Punjab experience has been
commendable. Despite some initial cynicism, the Green
Revolution, Singh argues, did not widen inequalities in the
rural society or lead to a ‘red revolution’, as was
predicted by some. Thus, Punjab presents a model of agrarian
change and social transformation that should be replicated
elsewhere. Singh goes to the extent of describing Punjab as
"the developing world’s first ‘post-industrial’ rural
society".
While the author’s
enthusiasm to project Punjab’s economic achievements in a
positive light is undoubtedly commendable and his book is surely
a useful addition to the body of available literature on the
region, his celebration of the so-called Punjab model seems
rather overstated. The prevailing mood in the region certainly
does not match his optimism. The agrarian economy is not only
faced by the challenges posed by globalisation and a changing
economic philosophy where it is becoming increasingly difficult
for the Punjabi farmer to find buyers for his produce, but Singh’s
assumption about the love of the Punjabis for their villages is
also not valid any longer. The younger generation of
enterprising Punjabi farmers feel that villages do not offer
them the kind of opportunities they are looking for. Hence most
of them move to the cities.
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THE
agrarian changes and increase in productivity of land experienced in
Punjab during 1960s and 1970s was phenomenal. Even though it
occupied less than two per cent of the total land area of India,
Punjab began to produce enough surplus food grains to solve the
problem of food scarcity facing the entire country. Thanks to the
success of its agrarian economy, Punjab emerged as the most
"progressive" and prosperous state of independent India.
Punjab was an example of success worthy of emulation by the entire
developing world.
