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Punjab: Heartland of farming
Rasheeda Bhagat
What is it about the Punjab farmer that has made him succeed in agriculture, and made Punjab the heartland of the Green Revolution?
Dr M.S. Swaminathan’s take:
The Sikh farmers have farming in their blood and it is a way of life as also a means of livelihood. They are very hardworking and enterprising. Even before Independence, there was land consolidation in Punjab which was not done elsewhere. Also, the farmer was the cultivator, there were no tenants and he had a long-term stake in the land; he was not just a landlord. Unlike Bengal where the zamindars all sat in Calcutta these people were actually working on their land.
Punjab has also had more irrigation water from its rivers. After Independence, the Punjab Agricultural University was one of the best and started developing technology. Farmers in the region went there; the link between scientists and farmers was very strong in Punjab.
Being a border State, it had excellent rural communications. And because of defence and troop movement, communication and other infrastructure had to be good. What was done for defence benefited agriculture; tractors could quickly move grains over good roads. I’ve long called Punjab, Haryana and Eastern UP the fertile crescent of India.
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