The green revolution and poverty in India: A case study of West Bengal

Abstract

This article analyses the green revolution from the perspective of the development and use of irrigation facilities between 1986 and 1989 in one village in West Bengal, India. It reviews recent debates concerning the green revolution in India, focusing on questions of equity and relative benefits to different sections of the rural population. It then presents evidence from a plot-to-plot survey of land farmed by the study villagers over three consecutive winter seasons, showing the ways in which socioeconomic village structures are imprinted on the surrounding landscape. The benefits of new irrigation facilities have been mediated by already existing village power structures and have flowed in a disproportionate fashion to the richer villagers. The poor have gained some absolute benefits, mainly through extra employment, but these appear quite marginal when compared to the increased revenue flows to their richer neighbours. In particular, the poorest villagers, mainly living in female-headed households, have gained least from the green revolution. The article concludes that in addition to the development of irrigation infrastructure, state intervention is necessary to support the livelihoods of the very poor if levels of poverty are to be reduced.