Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:
The Green Revolution, as you know, was a government programme of agricultural modernisation. It was largely funded by international agencies that was based on providing high-yielding variety(HYV) or hybrid seeds along with pesticides, fertilisers, and other inputs, to farmers. Green Revolution programmes were introduced only in areas that had assured irrigation, because sufficient water was necessary for the new seeds and methods of cultivation.
Which of the following is NOT true about the first wave of the Green Revolution?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → It was primarily the small and marginal farmers who were able to benefit from the new technology.
Option (1) Increasing inequalities in rural society. — True. In the first phase, in the 1960s and 1970s, the new technology seemed to be increasing inequalities in rural society. Well-to-do farmers with land, capital and know-how could invest in the new seeds and fertilisers and earn more.
Option (2) Displacement of the service caste groups. — True. Tillers, tractors, threshers and harvesters displaced the service caste groups who used to carry out these agriculture-related activities, and this also increased the pace of rural-urban migration.
Option (3) It was primarily the small and marginal farmers who were able to benefit from the new technology. — False. It was the other way round: it was primarily the medium and large farmers who benefited. The inputs were expensive, and small and marginal farmers could not afford to spend as much on them as large farmers.
Option (4) The rich grew richer and many of the poor stagnated or grew poorer. — True. This is the process of ‘differentiation’, the ultimate outcome of the Green Revolution.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.3 The Green Revolution and its Social Consequences … In most of the Green Revolution areas, it was primarily the medium and large farmers who were able to benefit from the new technology. This was because inputs were expensive, and small and marginal farmers could not afford to spend as much as large farmers to purchase these inputs.…” “…Thus, in the first phase of the Green Revolution, in the 1960s and 1970s, the introduction of new technology seemed to be increasing inequalities in rural society.…” “In addition, the introduction of machinery such as tillers, tractors, threshers, and harvesters (in areas such as Punjab and parts of Madhya Pradesh) led to the displacement of the service caste groups who used to carry out these agriculture-related activities.…” “The ultimate outcome of the Green Revolution was a process of ‘differentiation’, in which the rich grew richer and many of the poor stagnated or grew poorer.…” |