New economics of India's green revolution : income and employment diffusion in Uttar Pradesh / by Rita Sharma and Thomas T. Poleman

This book is a reappraisal of the effects of the Green Revolution in India's most important agricultural region. Following the introduction in the late 1960s and early 1970s of the high yielding varieties of wheat and rice, there arose a concern that modern technology could be a double-edged sword in India. The early consensus held that the new technology-while making possible great increases in foodgrain output encouraged gains in resource-rich regions at the expense of ones less well endowed; advantages would flow only to wealthy farmers, not to the landless and near-landless, thus sharpening social conflicts.

The findings in The New Economics of India's Green Revolution challenge this assessment. Through an examination of the changes that have occurred in Uttar Pradesh-India's largest state, its agricultural heartland, and a principal locale of the Green Revolution-Rita Sharma and Thomas T. Poleman show that the impact of technological change has varied over time. Their findings indicate that while income disparities indeed widened in the early stages of the Green Revolution, subsequent years have witnessed a significant narrowing of these differences. Collating data collected from three levels-the region, the village, and the individual household they show that previously bypassed regions are now experiencing the benefits of technological advances, and the second-generation, or income diffusion, effects of these advances have encouraged new noncrop and off-farm activities in which landless and near-landless families can engage while remaining in their villages. The authors draw heartening conclusions They maintain that the Green Revolution not only holds the potential for increasing food production at rates ahead of population growth; it also bids fair to help resolve India's far more perplexing employment problem.