UPSC Mains 2020 GS Paper 3 Q13: model answer

In 1960–61 Punjab grew about 2 million tonnes of wheat. Today it fills a large share of the central pool. The rice–wheat system fed a hungry nation, and it now threatens the land that made it possible.

Factors of success

• High-yielding varieties of wheat (1960s) and rice, from Borlaug and Swaminathan.
• Assured irrigation: canals and tubewells with cheap or free power.
• Fertiliser and pesticide subsidies.
• MSP with assured procurement by FCI: a guaranteed buyer.
• Institutions: agricultural universities (Pantnagar, Ludhiana), extension and cooperative credit.
• Consolidated holdings and entrepreneurial farmers.

How it became a bane

Ecological

• Groundwater: Punjab extracts more than its annual recharge; most blocks are over-exploited.
• Soil: falling organic carbon, micronutrient deficiency and salinity.
• Air: stubble burning each October–November chokes Delhi.
• Health: pesticide residues and a 'cancer belt' in Malwa are widely reported.
• Biodiversity: pulses, millets and oilseeds pushed out.

Economic and social

• Fiscal cost: food and fertiliser subsidies and free power.
• Stagnant incomes as yields plateau and costs rise.
• Debt and farmer distress; migration abroad from Punjab.
• Regional imbalance: the east and rainfed areas left behind.
• Nutrition: a diet heavy in cereals; India imports edible oil and pulses.

Way forward

• Paying farmers to diversify, as in Haryana's Mera Pani Meri Virasat.
• Direct-seeded rice and residue management.
• MSP and procurement for pulses, oilseeds and maize.
• Metered power with a direct cash benefit, as Punjab's Pani Bachao Paise Kamao pilot tried.
• Shifting procurement and research money to eastern India, where water is plentiful.
• Crop-neutral support per hectare, so the farmer is not paid more for the thirstiest crop.

The rice–wheat system was the right answer for 1966; India now needs a different answer for 2047.