A study by the department of social security development of women and children found that 67 per cent of households in Punjab have at least one person addicted to drugs.6 per cent of youth in Punjab are addicted to drugs. Punjab stays way ahead of the other states in the country.06 lakhs (64.Punjab’s hardy and enterprising Jat peasants, dispossessed of their lands in West Punjab due to the Partition in 1947, found a land just as welcoming and put their energies and genius into making the best of it. Its enterprising peasants were quick to adopt the new varieties that came out of the field laboratories of Norman Borlaug. From a breadbasket state it has now become a basket case, that is engorged on huge subsidies such as MSP, free electricity, hugely subsidised fertilisers and de-risked markets.
God and this country both have both been generous to Punjab.30 lakhs.7%) are marginal farmers, 1.In 1955, the total national outlay for irrigation was Rs.10 lakhs, or 37.7%) small farmers and 7. But after 1947, this trend accelerated in Indian Punjab. In fact, Punjab’s farm subsidy is higher than the annual income for farmers in the rest of the country.20 million hectares (83.3%).6 per cent of it is with perennial irrigation, more than half of this is due to the huge Central government projects, the Bhakra Nangal being the most notable among them.This means that the bulk of the MSP subsidy accumulates here.4 per cent of the total geographical area) and the net area sown is 4.The British, in their quest for land revenue, rightly chose composite Punjab for special attention. The bulk of the procurement accrues in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Even so, over 75 per cent of the wheat and paddy grown in Punjab and Haryana is procured by Central and state agencies under MSP.
This was the beginning of the Green Revolution (and with it the ruination of Punjab’s economic future).29,106.93 lakhs, out of which 2. From being the role model state, it has now become a national burden. You will not see this bounty and equitable distribution anywhere else in the country. Each year, about 60,000 Punjabi officers and men retire from the armed forces, and over a million households benefit from the generous pensions. Yet, Punjab is afflicted with a severe blight. India now finds itself in a situation when it produces more than it eats. India has food reserves of 82 million tons, that is 2.When India faced crippling food shortages in the early 1950s and 1960s, it depended on Punjab to bail it out.83 lakhs (16.023 million hectare (95.There is no doubt that Punjab is a major foodgrain production centre, but the notion that it feeds India is quite exaggerated.The Green Revolution spread to some other parts of the country, but the largesse is concentrated in Punjab and Haryana.036 million hectares and the cultivable area is 4.54 per cent of the irrigation outlay.30 lakhs, which is only 4. The production has been in the vicinity of 285 million tons during the past three years.
The porous India-Pakistan border and the situation in Pakistan have only intensified the criminalisation of its government and border communities.6%) farmers holding land above two hectares. The total number of land holdings are 10. Yet another study by the Narcotics Bureau discovered that almost 51. As we drove through the golden fields laden with wheat, and noticing the general lifestyles and carriage of the people, I remarked to my companion that if all of India came close to this kind of prosperity, the country would be a major global economy.2%, by tubewells: 72. Of this, Punjab got Rs 10,952.62 per cent.Punjab has the best agricultural and most irrigated land in the nation..019 million hectares (by canals: 26.Punjab has also benefited by a disproportionately large recruitment into the armed forces and the paramilitary forces, giving most rural families a second stream of income. Today, if 82 per cent of all land in Punjab is arable and 98. It was number one in almost every field.7 per cent of the cultivable area).5% and by others: 1.06 per cent. To incentivise its farmers, the Central government began a policy of procurement, assuring producers of a ready market and increasingly better prices.
Those were the times when Punjab was India’s model state. As the gap between the MSP and market prices kept widening, it only incentivised more production. Its politicians and their bureaucratic fellow conspirators, irrespective of party affiliation, have been among the country’s most venal and corrupt. The total geographical area of Punjab is 5.04 lakhs (18. According to the State Bank of India NAFIS survey, the annual income of agricultural households becomes Rs 2,77,596, which is higher than twice the national average. In the year 2019-20, the total national foodgrain production was 292 million tons, of which Punjab produced about 11.7 times more than is needed.
So much so, today the market price of a quintal of wheat is about Rs 500-600 less than the minimum support price at which the state buys. How this happened ODM gear drive sprinkler is a lesson for policymakers. The net irrigated area is 4.I recall travelling through Punjab in the early 1980s with an English economist. So, what has brought Punjab to this sorry pass?Clearly, it is that Punjab has been reeling under bad governments.The truth is that the rest of India supports Punjab, with this absurd minimum support price (MSP) scheme, which is actually an above-the- market price scheme. Admittedly Punjab’s productivity is much higher than that of the rest of the country, as it accounts for only about five per cent of the 54 million hectares of irrigated farmland. In contrast, Bihar got only Rs 1,323. Each Punjabi agricultural household gets an annual subsidy of Rs 1,73,165. They invested in its irrigation
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