BLOODY COLORS OF GREEN REVOLUTION

OVERVIEW:

In this article, we will discuss the evolution of Green revolution and its impacts on Bharat. We will discuss here: 

* What is Green revolution? How and where it was initially originated? When does it come to Bharat? 

* Different states of Bharat where Green revolution was started. Punjab as the first state where Green revolution experimented. 

* Formation of new agricultural universities and push to the older universities to discover new technologies, thus, boost the agricultural productivity. 

* Intensive Farming- To produce maximum output from per acre of land with the input of maximum labor, efforts, Fertilizers etc.

* Introduction of Machinery and eviction of manual labor from agriculture. 

* End of Multi-cropping culture and promotion of Mono-cropping. 

* Introduction of Various Inorganic materials like chemical fertilizers, synthetic Fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs in the name of Green revolution. 

* Hazardous effects of Green revolution on the humans as well as on the birds, animals & Environment. 

* Diseases caused due to the introduction of harmful chemicals in agriculture. 

* Increased input cost of agriculture and thus rise of indebtedness and suicides among farmers of Bharat. 

* A small animated movie on ' Bloody colors of Green revolution'. 

DISCOURSE:

Green revolution means To transform the traditional agriculture into an industrial system with the adoption of modern methods & technology like Machinery such as Tractors, Harvesters, Reapers, etc.; hybrid/high yielding seeds, Chemical fertilizers, Insecticides, Pesticides, Herbicides, Genetically modified crops(GMOs)**, Irrigation facilities etcetera and thus boost the production output from Agriculture.

The green revolution was originated in Mexico in the 1950s. Afterward, it enters America. Green revolution increased the production output of agriculture at a very huge scale, initially. Various researches were done in America, Mexico and other nearby countries to look for possible ways for increasing productivity from Agriculture. High yielding grains were invented, Chemical fertilizers, Urea, Synthetic fertilizers, Insecticides, Pesticides, herbicides, and many other Agro-medicines were invented to boost the agricultural output. Various machines like tractors, trailers, Reapers, Harvesters, Combines, etc. were also designed to transform the manual practices of agriculture into a modern way. It is also called as Intensive Farming. Norman Borlaug was termed as the father of Green revolution. Under his directions, various new techniques in agriculture were adopted. Initially, it gave a boost to the production from agriculture, but soon, after the first and second decades of Green revolution, various impossible to reverse side-effects of Green revolution was also observed. 

During the 1960s Bharat was going through a difficult phase. After British rule, Bharat wasn't left with enough resources to feed her growing population. Bharat was hastily moving towards the situation of mass- famine. So to overcome the situation, one solution that the then government of Bharat found, was the Green revolution. The, then agriculture minister of Bharat M S Swaminathan invited Norman Borlaug to Bharat in 1963 and afterward, Green revolution came in effect in Bharat. 

Green revolution showed most of its effect, in the northern states of Bharat. Having plain lands and good irrigation facilities, Punjab was selected at first, for experimenting with the green revolution. Afterward, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and other states of Bharat also joined the League. Initially, with a success in increasing agricultural output, the Green revolution covers the whole Bharat during the 1960s-1970s. 

Under the directions of Norman Borlaug, various high yielding seeds of Wheat, Maize, barley, jowar, Rice, etc. were imported to Bharat. Agricultural universities were established to research on the different varieties of seeds and treat them in a way to get more productivity. Various Industries for making agricultural equipment like tractors, trailers, harvesters etcetera were also started. 

Synthetic and chemical fertilizers, Insecticides, Pesticides, and other Agro-medicines were imported in Bharat initially, afterward, these were started to make here in India, too.

Various huge Foreign Agrochemical companies like: 
1.MONSANTO 
2.BAYER 
3.BASF 
4.DOW 
were also started operating in Bharat and grows a lot more, while working in Bharat. This is due to the reason as Bharat is an Agriculture-based economy.

Due to which the Natural & Organic way of Agriculture got completely transformed into an Unnatural & Inorganic practice of profit-making. However, the massive production output from agriculture with the help of Green Revolution can never be neglected, but various side-effects of Green Revolution that are impossible to cure were also observed in Bharat. Let's discuss some of them now.

1. First of all, the biggest and the most harmful side-effect of Green revolution is the DISEASES associated with the introduction of harmful chemicals in Agriculture. 

Produced with the help of synthetic fertilizers and chemical sprays, the food contains a significant amount of chemicals in it. So, the consumption of such food has caused various deadly diseases among the farmers and the consumers of Bharat. The diseases associated with these are:

1.Different types of cancers(Skin Cancer, Throat Cancer, Stomach Cancer etc.)
2. Respiratory malfunctioning.
3. Lung disorders and Lung- failure.
4. Liver Complications.
5. Skin Diseases - associated with handling of these agrochemicals.
6. Genetic disorders- lead to the birth of physically or mentally challenged, under-nourished, under-developed children.
7. Some others like - Early menstrual discharge among girls, immature greys, lack of strength and stamina, low brain-power, etc. also came out as the side effect of Green-Revolution in Bharat.

2. Moving on, the second major side effect of Green Revolution is on the Environment. The Chemical sprays, Urea, Fertilizers, Insecticides/pesticides sprays has polluted the SOIL, WATER as well as AIR. Researches have found a huge level of Ammonia, Zinc & Sulphur in Air and Water across the country.

Birds/Animals also got effected inversely with the green revolution. Various ancient species of Birds like House sparrow, Some specific Vultures and animals like Black Buck, etc. got extinct and some are very close to the Extinction. It is mainly due to the reason of cutting down of trees and making way for tractors and other machines to move freely in fields. So, birds & animals lose their Habitat in the form of these trees. 

Mono-cropping is also promoted in the Green Revolution and thus lead to the end of Multi-cropping.

3. The third considerable side-effect of Green revolution is the dependence of Agriculture on the Agro-medicines and thus the increased input cost of Agriculture. However, the Agro-based foreign companies have grown a lot in Bharat, but it makes the financial situation of Indian Farmer very miserable. The seeds promoted while Green revolution grows only with the help of costly Fertilizers and also pesticides/insecticides/herbicides sprays are required to save them from various insects. And also the dependence of Agriculture on heavy Machines like Tractors, Trailers, Combines, etc. takes the cost of Agriculture to the limits of Sky. So, despite of providing high output, the input cost of Agriculture has gone very high, thus the farmers are getting under Debt, rapidly. The number of suicides among farmers is much larger than the suicides due to any other reason across the country. According to Business today 12,360 in 2014 and 11,379 in 2016 Indian farmers have committed suicides.

4. Another Side-Effect of Green revolution is the Intoxication and Degradation of the Food. 
The Organic means Naturally occurring food, is much more nutritious than the food produced with inorganic techniques, various researches have proved this fact. Also, one's own experience can find out the difference between Inorganic and Organic food. Today all types of Inorganic practices, whether it's Genetically modified seeds(GMOs) or its harmful synthetic fertilizers or chemical sprays, all are practiced widely in Agriculture without caring about the health of the people who consume this Inorganically grown food. The level of the food is degraded to the limits. The food we see in the markets today is INTOXICATED, ADULTERATED and nothing more than SLOW-POISON.

I remember an incident justifying this fact of the Degraded food quality. One of my knowns has told this to me, some time ago. It was the days of Summer, and fruits like Watermelon, Muskmelon were on peak, in the markets. He purchased a Watermelon one evening and put it in the refrigerator, assuming they will eat it next day. But surprisingly, the next day when he opened the refrigerator what he found, the watermelon had grown bigger in size overnight and wasn't coming out of the refrigerator. All his family members struggled but watermelon was stuck in the refrigerator. At last, they cut it in pieces and take it out. It's funny but also a matter of serious concern. How a plucked watermelon can grow in the refrigerator overnight? It cannot happen Organically, it must be treated with some dangerous chemicals or Enzymes to multiply the size. Similarly vegetables like Pumpkin, Bottle guard are also injected with enzymes to multiply the size, also some fruits like lychees are colored to look redder. It's unfortunate how the lives of people are being put on stake for making profits. 

Let's watch now a small animated movie on 'Bloody Colors Of Green Revolution'. Please make sure your device's media volume is full and then click on the video twice to get it played.

PROPOSED COUNTERMEASURES:

Significant steps are required to get over the damage caused due to blindly following the Green Revolution. We as a society, needs to transform the Inorganic and Unnatural practices of farming to an Organic and Natural Way of Farming. We will get back in an upcoming article about Natural or Organic Farming. So please Stay tuned.

**- GMOs- Get more information about GMOs in an upcoming article.

Attributions: Pixabay.com, Pexels, Bensound.com