IS

REALLY

green ?

Subham Roy
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this “Biology Investigatory

Project” on the topic “Green Revolution “has been
successfully completed by SUBHAM ROY of class XII –
B under the guidance of Miss Papiya Mukherjee in
particular fulfillment of the curriculum of Central
Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) leading to the
award of annual examination of the year 20201-22.

Subject Teacher’s External’s Signature

Signature

Principal’s Signature School’s Stamp

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would

not have been possible without the kind support and
help of many individuals.

I would like to thank my principal Mr. Bhavik Parekh

and school for providing me with facilities required to
do my project.

I am highly indebted to my biology teacher Mrs.

Papiya Mukherjee for her invariable guidance which
has sustained my efforts in the stages of this project
work.

I would like to thank my parents for their continuous

support and encouragement.

My thanks and appreciations also go to my fellow

classmates and the laboratory assistant in developing
the project and to the people who have helped me
with their abilities
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 AIM

To study the ill effects of green revolution on the soil,

water, air, and health.

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 1 INTRODUCTION

The Green Revolution is referred to as the process of increasing

agricultural production by incorporating modern tools and techniques
converting it into an industrial system. Until 1967, the government
majorly concentrated on expanding the farming areas but the rapidly
increasing population than the food production called for a drastic and
immediate action to increase yield which came in the form of the Green
Revolution. Mainly led by agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan in
India and initiated by Dr. Norman E Borlaug, which leveraged
agricultural research and technology to increase agricultural
productivity in the developing world.
The method of green revolution focused on some basic elements, that
are:
1. Using seeds with improved genetics (High Yielding Variety seeds).
2. Double cropping in the existing farmland and
3. The continuing expansion of farming areas
4. Other practices include:
• Irrigation infrastructure
• Use of pesticides
o Use of insecticides
o Use of herbicides
• Land reforms
• Improved rural infrastructure
• Supply of agricultural credit
• Use of chemical or synthetic
fertilizers
• Use of advanced machinery and sprinklers or drip irrigation systems.

The Green Revolution within India commenced in 1968, leading to an

increase in food grain production. Major milestones in this undertaking
were the development of high-yielding varieties of rust resistant strains
of wheat.
However, certain social activists like Vandana Shiva are of the opinion
that it caused greater long term sociological for the Indian farmers. Due to
the rise in use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, there was a negative
effect on the soil, land, water, and air. By the 1980s the package of the
Green Revolution had started affecting farmers’ incomes badly.
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 1.1 ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE

To understand the effects of the Green Revolution, we first need to

understand the effect High Yielding Variety seeds had on farming.
Firstly, the use of these seeds slowly started decreasing soil fertility.

The plant of any crop has 3 parts to it the roots,

the head at the very top and the stem. Before
the Green Revolution, the system was that
humans would eat the grains and the stem
would be cut into pieces and fed to cattle as
fodder. The dung produced after consuming this
fodder was used in the field as fertilize making a
cycle and so nutrients coming from the soil were
going back in it through the cattle.

But the Green Revolution brought in 2

changes. First, the HYV seeds were
known as a dwarf-variety because stem
was made shorter to prevent the plant
from falling over as the weight and size
of the head was more compared to the
stem. So, because of this the production
of fodder decreased. Secondly, the
processes of farming became
mechanized and therefore the role of
cattle reduced. Thus, less fodder and fewer cattle breaks the cattle,
soil, and farming cycle. This led to a decreased use of the organic
dung-fertilizer which in turn led to a reduction of organic matter and
microorganisms in the soil.

When there is a reduction of organic matter in the soil, farmers use

more chemical fertilizers for the same amount of yield. Urea, which is
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a nitrogen based chemical fertilizer is being overused because of

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reduced soil fertility, lack of awareness, and highest subsidies in
India. The overuse of Urea causes a nutritional imbalance in the soil
changing the ideal consumption ratio of Nitrogen, Phosphate and
Potassium fertilizers from 4:2:1 to 7.1: 2.7:1 which is about 8 times
higher than ideal. This imbalance causes soil fertility to further
decrease and forces farmers to use even more chemical fertilizers
increasing the cost of farming every year.

In 1970 the fertilizer to crop response

ratio was 13 kgs per kilogram of
fertilizer, this has reduced to 3.7 kgs by
2005.They said when their fathers
started using chemical fertilizers, the soil
fertility started decreasing and now if we
do not put enough chemical fertilizers,
the crop will fail increasing the cost of
inputs. Thus, skyrocketing the consumption of chemical fertilizers.
But the graph of yield is dropping because of polluted soil and the
fact of the matter is that if the soil is not
fertile, no seeds will be able to produce
healthy crops. Add to that, these
chemicals also seep into the
groundwater and pollute it. Despite the
acceptable amount of nitrate in
groundwater is at 50mg per liter; in
some major agricultural areas this
number is more than twice.

Also, to use HYV seeds the farmers are forced to implement

monoculture because of utilization of external inputs and chemical
fertilizers that work for one plant. But in monoculture if the plant is
attacked by pests or some other disease, then all the plants will
succumb to it leading to a higher chance
of the crop being destroyed by pests.
This again forces farmers to use
pesticides to save their crop. This leads
to a technological treadmill as when a
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farmer uses a particular kind of

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pesticide, it kills about 90% of the pests and the 10% who are slightly
stronger survive to become immune to the pesticide. These pests will
then multiply, and the farmer will then have to buy a different
pesticide for them. The farmer is always running to keep up nature.
It’s obvious that when so many pesticides are used that it will
eventually begin to affect the health of people.

So much pesticide is used in farms that pesticides such as DDT and

Lindane, both of which are known carcinogens
(cancer causing), have been found in their
food, their water and even in people’s blood
streams. A travel to any village during summers
give a sight of rural medical practitioners put
beds on the streets which are occupied by the
farmer or laborer upon returning after spraying
pesticides and are given saline drips and
nebulizers. When they feel better, they go home, sleep do the same
thing again the next day.

A study conducted in early 1980s found

that most of the wheat flour samples
taken from mills contained DDT and
Lindane. Even the breast milk of new
mothers both pesticides in every
sample. The average amount of DDT in
the samples amounted to 18 times the
safe consumption level. This one of the main reasons that farmers
have the highest Cancer rate in India - about 90 cancer patients per 1
lakh people compared to the national average of 80. Since 2008 17
farmers die due to cancer every day. Many children have deformities,
problems in eyes and ears, etc. all because of the excessive use of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides. They
expressed their pitiful conditions as high
level of toxicity is in air, then it goes into
our soil and from our soil into our water.
This has caused all our resources to
become polluted. Even the cow milk
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and meat from various animals is

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poisonous as the cattle feed on fodder
containing chemical pesticides and
fertilizers like urea.
The Green Revolution has also
impacted the groundwater in a big way.
While chemical fertilizers and pesticides
are polluting the groundwater, the use of
HYV has significantly decreased groundwater levels. Although high-
yielding varieties of wheat may yield over 40 per cent more than
traditional varieties they need about three times as much water -1500
liters over 500 while paddy, which was hardly grown in north before
the Green Revolution, requires 5377 liters of water per kilo of yield.
Farmers stated that before the Green Revolution, there was
protective irrigation with over 75% agriculture being rain fed and they
used of canals only when required. But that just disappeared post
revolution as we must depend on intensive irrigation. It is not the
plant that requires irrigation, but the chemicals used require it as
these chemicals like urea are salts that when used ‘burns’ the plant.
That’s because it kills the plant and so, to not have a negative impact
on the plant, we dissolve the fertilizer in water they added. Therefore,
slowly farmers started depending on tube wells for irrigation. 41% of
irrigation was dependent on tube wells in 1966 which by 2019, rose
to 71%. While groundwater should be available at 50 to 60 feet below
the ground in several regions, the
groundwater level has fallen to 200
feet with multiple blocks fallen into the
dark zone. The farmers said that now
they must dig deeper tube wells to find
water, increasing their cost.
To produce electricity required to run
these tube wells, tons of is coal burned
increasing the carbon footprint
(currently 18%) and ¼ of this coal becomes fly ash (containing toxic
metals such as Uranium, Mercury, Chromium, Arsenic and Selenium)
and goes into the air. These toxic metals then fall onto the ground
and pollute the soil and water. This will lead to complete
desertification of farmlands in the next 20-25 years.
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The government passed Preservation of
Subsoil Water Act law in 2009.
According to this law, farmers must stop
sowing rice in April and must wait until
June-mid so that their cropping
coincides with the monsoon season. But
the famers said that paddy requires a
period of 4 months of growth. Since these months now start in mid-
June and end in mid-October, they are left with 15 days instead of 1
month to harvest paddy and get their fields ready for the next crop -
wheat. Encouragement to use combine harvesters instead of labor is
done. However, the combine harvester only cuts the head of the
plant which contains the grain, and the rest of the plant is left in the
field. The farmers cannot feed this to the cattle because it contains
Silica that the cattle will not be able to digest. So, solve this issue, the
farmers were told to burn this stubble by none other than the
extension services of our agricultural
departments. Therefore, now the
stubble is burned at a time when cold
winds from the Himalayas are flowing
towards pushing the stubble burning
smoke towards south where it gets
trapped under the cold air.

Another consequence of the Green Revolution was the lowered

diversity in crops. Although apart from wheat and paddy, Nutri
Cereals like Jowar, Bajra and Ragi are also assigned an MSP, the
government hardly procures any of these. The farmers spoke that in
last decade the government procured only 1% of what they
produced, often at equal or lower price than the price of production.
Therefore, many farmers prefer to grow wheat and paddy and they
have drastically reduced the production of Nutri Cereals causing us
to import high volumes of them. “If we are given the correct price for
oilseeds, we will grow so much of it that we won’t have to import it.
If we are not given the right price, how will we grow these crops?” -
famers added. Not only did Nutri Cereals and Pulses disappear from
our fields they also disappeared from our plates. Now every 100gms
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portion only contains 0.65mg of iron and 8mg of protein leading to an

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increase in problems of anemia and malnutrition - about 59% of
children under five and 53% of women between 15 and 45 suffered
from anemia. Our diet mostly consists of gluten from polished wheat
and rice. The roots of malnutrition are the disappearance of
biodiversity and indebtedness because of chemicals which is the
package of the Green Revolution putting it at the heart of the
malnutrition crisis.

1.2 INDIAN ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY

The Green Revolution within India led to

an increase in agricultural production
which led to higher income of farmers
but the ones having large farmlands
continued to make greater absolute
gains in income by reinvesting the
earnings in farm and non-farm assets and purchasing land from the
smaller cultivators which eventually lead to the loss of small farmers.
The cost using HYV seeds, with their associated demands of
increased irrigation systems and pesticides is very high. Many
farmers have difficulty in paying for the expensive technologies,
especially if they have a bad harvest. The average monthly income of
an agricultural household is roughly Rs 77,000 per year. To meet
these expenses, the farmers are forced to borrow money from These
high costs of cultivation push rural farmers to take out loans mostly
from Arhityas — typically at high interest rates. Over-borrowing
commonly entraps farmers into a cycle of debt. Farmer's financial
issues have become apparent in rural areas which have witnessed
an alarming rise in suicide rates.
Excluding the countless unreported
cases, there has been estimated to be a
51.97% increase in the number of
suicides among farmers in 1992–93,
compared to the recorded 5.11%
increase in the country. According to a 2019 report, indebtedness
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continues to be a grave issue affecting farmers today, demonstrated

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by the more than 16600 committing suicides between the years 2000
and 2015. The most common method of committing suicide among
farmers is by consuming pesticides.
They informed with grief that in the beginning, it was fine as the
government was giving subsidies on all the things. However, because
resources were depleting rapidly, the cost of inputs started mounting.
They need diesel, chemicals, and electricity whose costs keep
increasing, often higher than income. Additionally, the MSP given on
crops has also not been increased according to the increase in costs.

1.3 INCREASED REGIONAL DISPARITIES

There was no regional equality

as the revolution worked better
in irrigated and high potential
rainfed areas and tech-savvy
areas. The villages or regions
without access of sufficient water and / or technology were left out
that widened the regional disparities between adopters and non-
adopters. Since, the HYV seeds technically can be applied only in a
land with assured water supply and availability of other inputs like
chemicals, fertilizers etc. The application of the new technology in the
dry-land areas is simply ruled out. Also, the revolution worked better
for wheat grains, so, the farmers growing wheat got the most benefit.
The states like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh having
good irrigation and other infrastructure facilities were able to derive
the benefits of the green revolution and achieve faster economic
development than other states.
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 2 CONCLUSION
The farmers were sold the rotten dream of Green Revolution that by
1980 started adversely affecting then and by 1990, the farmers were
completely trapped in the model of the Green Revolution.
Initially, the government started out by providing HYV seeds,
chemical fertilisers, water, and electricity to farmers at subsidised
rates. These HYV seeds, if given the right number of inputs like
pesticides, chemical fertilisers, and water, had the ability to produce
more output than traditional seeds. But excessive and inappropriate
use of fertilizers and pesticides has polluted waterways and killed
beneficial insects and wildlife. It has caused over-use of soil and
rapidly depleted its nutrients. The rampant irrigation practices led to
eventual soil degradation. Groundwater practices have fallen
dramatically. This new model of monoculture poses great risk to the
farmers further increasing the chemical input and starting a cycle of
technological treadmill. Further, heavy dependence on few major
crops that were more beneficial to them has led to loss of biodiversity
of farmers, and the increased of stubble burning cases since 2002.
These problems were aggravated due to absence of training to use
modern technology and vast illiteracy leading to excessive use of
chemicals.

Firstly, what we call the Green Revolution was not

green at all.
Because Green is what works alongside nature.
What works against nature can’t be green.
And revolution comes from the soil. It is not forced
upon, that is dictatorship.
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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/GREEN_REVOLUTION

2 HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/GREEN_REVOLUTION_IN_INDIA

3 HTTPS://BYJUS.COM/FREE-IAS-PREP/GREEN-REVOLUTION/

4 HTTPS://WWW.VEDANTU.COM/COMMERCE/GREEN-REVOLUTION

5 HTTPS://WWW.NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV/PMC/ARTICLES/PMC3411969/

6 HTTPS://WWW.SCIENCEDIRECT.COM/TOPICS/EARTH-AND-PLANETARY-
SCIENCES/GREEN-REVOLUTION

7 HTTPS://STUDY.COM/ACADEMY/LESSON/WHAT-IS-THE-GREEN-
REVOLUTION-DEFINITION-BENEFITS-AND-ISSUES

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