Which category of farmers were forced to commit suicide after failing to increase their productivity by practicing Green Revolution methods?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Small peasants
Option (1) Large landed farmers — Incorrect. Large landowners were the main gainers of the Green Revolution: they had the land and money to buy the new inputs, so they could bear its costs and risks.
Option (2) Wealthy farmers — Incorrect. Wealthy farmers could pay for seeds, fertilisers and pesticides without borrowing heavily, so the debt that drove farmers to suicide did not press on them in the same way.
Option (3) Small peasants — Correct. Many farmers who committed suicide were marginal farmers (farmers with very small holdings) who were trying to raise their productivity by Green Revolution methods. These needed costly inputs; subsidies fell, markets were unstable, and many borrowed heavily. When the crop failed, the debt could not be repaid.
Option (4) Zamindars — Incorrect. Zamindars were landlords who collected revenue from cultivators under the colonial zamindari system, which was abolished after Independence. They were not the farmers working their own small plots with new methods.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.6 Globalisation, Liberalisation, and Rural Society … Many farmers, who have committed suicide were marginal farmers, who were attempting to increase their productivity, primarily by practising Green Revolution methods. However, undertaking such production meant facing several risks: the cost of production has increased tremendously due to a decrease in agricultural subsidies, the markets are not stable, and many farmers borrow heavily in order to invest in expensive inputs and improve their production.…” |