The Green Revolution re-assessed: Insider perspectives on agrarian change in Bulandshahr District, Western Uttar Pradesh, India

• Published in: Geoforum Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 73 - 89
• Main Authors: Jewitt, Sarah, Baker, Kathleen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 2007; New York, NY Pergamon Press
• Subjects: Agricultural development; Agriculture; Agriculture - India - Uttar Pradesh (state), India; Asia; Bgi / Prodig; Bulandshahr; Caste; Food production; Green Revolution; Historical analysis; HYVs; India; Indian subcontinent. Himalaya; Inequality; Land utilization - India - Uttar Pradesh (state), India; Regional studies; Rural population; Socio-economic impacts; Socioeconomic development; Standard of living; Uttar Pradesh (state), India - Social conditions; Villages - India - Uttar Pradesh (state), India; UttarPradesh; India; India, Uttar Pradesh; Green Revolution; Socio-economic impacts; Agriculture; HYVs; Bulandshahr; India; Economic impact; Methodology; Agricultural production; Agricultural revolution; Land
• ISSN: 0016-7185; 1872-9398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2006.06.002

In spite of raising Asian per capita food production by 27% and making India food self-sufficient, the Green Revolution has received much criticism for its environmental and socio-economic impacts. Taking on board post-development critiques of ‘speaking for’ Third World ‘others’, this paper seeks to examine the Green Revolution from the points of view of people directly affected by it. Comparative, historically-informed research in three villages for which 1972 baseline data exist reveal that the Green Revolution has ensured, in the words of one marginal farmer that ‘nobody sleeps with an empty stomach nowadays’. Most villagers associate the Green Revolution with increases in living standards and weakening community-based wealth hierarchies. Nevertheless, socio-economic inequalities between certain Scheduled Castes and other villagers are still very apparent.