Agrarian Distress in Indian Punjab: A Public Policy Paralysis

The drift towards resource-intensive, high-yield crop-based cultivation in the early 1960s, widely called the Green Revolution, has led to ecologically unviable cropping patterns with adverse monetary fallouts in Punjab, which had once earned the sobriquet, the Granary of India. Since price and availability are the basis of competition, farmers are not sufficiently incentivised to address the vital issue of the decline in natural resources. As a result, securing food and nutrition while conserving the environment is challenging. So is mobilising diverse and apposite stakeholders whose perspective is vital to move ahead sustainably. The vital issue is considering the likely impact of input incentives, output support or restraints, technical backing, and financial aid on agricultural outcomes that vary across contexts and crops. This decision-based case introduces the participants to real-life socio-economic and ecological challenges, which they can relate with any other agriculture-based economy. The highlight of the case is the way the problem is anticipated to be viewed by different stakeholder groups and the conflicting policy options supporting conventional vis-à-vis organic farming. It is also interesting to review the conditions under which the proposed solution is most robust. Such a review would likely sensitise participants to how a change in perspectives can impact the suitability of alternative policy options.