What are the major factors responsible for making rice-wheat system a success? In spite of this success how has this system become bane in India?
Approach · directive: “what / how”
What it asks · Explain why the rice-wheat system succeeded (technology, assured water, price and procurement support) and how it now harms water, soil, air and crop diversity.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Explain the major factors that made the rice-wheat system a success
- Explain how the system has become a bane for India, and the way out
Open with · India's foodgrain output touched a record 296.65 million tonnes in 2019-20 (Economic Survey 2020-21), a harvest built on the rice-wheat system of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh; rice reached irrigated Punjab and Haryana only in the 1970s with the Green Revolution (NCERT), and the system now strains water, soil and air.
Cover
- Success: HYV wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines) by the mid-1960s with fertilisers, pesticides and machines; assured canal and tubewell irrigation on alluvial soils (NCERT).
- Success: assured MSP and open-ended FCI procurement, cheap power, fertiliser and credit, ICAR research and extension, and a kharif-rabi calendar that fits mechanised farming.
- Bane, water: Punjab's stage of groundwater extraction 156.87% in 2024 (CGWB), far above the 100% over-exploitation mark.
- Bane, soil, air and incentives: urea-skewed nutrients, salinity; stubble burning events 1,27,774 (2016) to 61,332 (2019) (Economic Survey 2020-21); Punjab's procurement levies 14.5% of MSP (Shanta Kumar Committee).
- Way forward: Haryana's Mera Pani Meri Virasat (Rs 7,000 per acre to replace paddy), price support for pulses and oilseeds, direct-seeded rice, metered power, residue as resource.
Close with · Rewarding water saved and crops diversified, rather than grain alone, would turn the Green Revolution's granary into a model of sustainable intensification: more food from less water, land and emissions.
Add value (verified)
- Economic Survey 2020-21 (Vol 2, Ch 7): foodgrain production in 2019-20 (fourth advance estimates) a record 296.65 million tonnes.Economic Survey 2020-21, Volume 2, Chapter 7: Agriculture and Food Management ↗“In the year 2019-20 (as per fourth advance estimates), total food grain production in the country is estimated at record 296.65 million tonnes which is higher by 11.44 million tonnes than the production of food grain of 285.21 million tonnes achieved during 2018- 19.”
- The same chapter: crop residue burning events in Punjab, Haryana and UP fell from 1,27,774 in 2016 to 61,332 in 2019 after in-situ management machinery, short-duration paddy and diversification.Economic Survey 2020-21, Volume 2, Chapter 7: Agriculture and Food Management ↗“iv) crop diversification leading to reduction in area under paddy. As a result, the crop burning events in these states reduced from 127774 in 2016 to 61332 in 2019.”
- CGWB's Punjab report (2024): the State's stage of groundwater extraction was 156.87% in GWRA-2024 (163.76% in GWRA-2023), far above the 100% that defines over-exploitation.Dynamic Ground Water Resources & Ground Water Quality of Punjab, 2024 - Central Ground Water Board, Ministry of Jal Shakti ↗“Stage of Ground Water Extrac- tion (in %) 164.42 165.99 163.76 165.77 156.87”
- Shanta Kumar Committee (High Level Committee on restructuring FCI, January 2015): statutory levies on procurement range from under 2% of MSP in Gujarat and West Bengal to 14.5% in Punjab; it recommended a uniform 3-4% cap.PIB, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, 22 January 2015: Recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI ↗“the statutory levies including commissions, which vary from less than 2 percent in Gujarat and West Bengal to 14.5 percent in Punjab, need to be brought down uniformly to 3 percent, or at most 4 percent of MSP, and this should be included in MSP itself”
- Haryana's Mera Pani Meri Virasat scheme (Kharif 2020) pays Rs 7,000 per acre to farmers who replace paddy with less water-intensive crops.Crop Diversification Programme - 'Mera Pani Meri Virasat' - Haryana Water Resources Authority ↗“The 'Mera Pani Meri Virasat' scheme has been launched by the State Government of Haryana during Kharif 2020 for the purpose of water conservation. Through this scheme, the state government is encouraging crops that require less water in place of paddy that consumes more water. Under this scheme, Rs. 7000/- per acre is provided to the farmers who have replaced their paddy crop by alternate crops.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 368words · Minimalist IAS
India's foodgrain output touched a record 296.65 million tonnes in 2019-20 (Economic Survey 2020-21), a harvest built on the rice-wheat system of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Rice reached irrigated Punjab and Haryana only in the 1970s with the Green Revolution (NCERT); the system that fed the nation now strains its water, soil and air.
Factors that made the rice-wheat system a success
- Package technology: high-yielding dwarf wheat (Mexico) and rice (Philippines), available by the mid-1960s, with fertilisers, pesticides and machines (NCERT).
- Assured irrigation: canals and tubewells on fertile alluvial soils; HYVs need regular moisture, which is why the strategy worked in Punjab, Haryana and western UP.
- Price and procurement: assured MSP and open-ended FCI purchase gave a guaranteed buyer for both crops.
- Cheap inputs and extension: subsidised power, fertiliser and credit, with ICAR research and extension.
How the same system became a bane
- Groundwater: paddy on free power pulls the aquifer down; Punjab's stage of groundwater extraction stood at 156.87% in 2024 (CGWB), far above the 100% over-exploitation mark.
- Soil: urea-heavy use skews nutrients, organic matter falls, salinity and waterlogging spread, yield growth slows.
- Air and climate: stubble burning feeds north India's winter smog; burning events fell from 1,27,774 in 2016 to 61,332 in 2019 only after in-situ residue machinery was subsidised (Economic Survey 2020-21); flooded paddy emits methane.
- Distorted incentives: procurement levies run to 14.5% of MSP in Punjab against under 2% in Gujarat (Shanta Kumar Committee, 2015); MSP-led monoculture crowds out pulses and oilseeds and has displaced gram from Punjab and Haryana (NCERT).
| Aspect | Success factor | Bane today |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Assured canal and tubewell irrigation | Punjab extraction 156.87% (2024) |
| Price | MSP and FCI procurement | Monoculture, surplus stocks |
| Residue | Mechanised harvesting | Stubble smoke, methane |
Way forward
- Pay for diversification: Haryana's Mera Pani Meri Virasat (2020) gives Rs 7,000 per acre for replacing paddy; price support and procurement for pulses, oilseeds and millets.
- Water-smart paddy: direct-seeded rice, short-duration varieties and metered farm power.
- Residue as resource: custom hiring centres for in-situ machinery; paddy straw for biomass plants.
Rewarding water saved and crops diversified, rather than grain alone, would turn the Green Revolution's granary into a model of sustainable intensification: more food from less water, land and emissions.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
