The rate of the poverty class is already under 10% in Punjab, while that in Bihar is quite high - only second to that in Orissa. Further, the rate of the below-poverty line population among agricultural laborers in the northwest provinces is less than the rate of cultivators in Bihar (Table 1-5).
We now see the outcome of the self-sufficiency in foodgrain-supply attained by India. The self-sufficiency in foodgrain-supply achieved through the Green Revolution means only no import of foodgrains, and the abandonment of the vast poverty class suffering from food shortages. The process, in which considerable inequality was maintained in distribution of land-based assets without taking any effective measures, was to become a factor disturbing the Indian economy. This point will be discussed further in the following sections.
2-2 Irrigation in India
The greatest cause of regional gaps is the difference in progress of the Green Revolution, behind which differences in irrigation rate exist. However, irrigation rates alone cannot explain the progress of the Revolution. As shown in Tables 1-6 and 1-7, during the 20 years from fiscal 1970 to fiscal 1990, the irrigation rate for wheat production improved by 25 percentile points, whereas that for rice production rose only 7 points. The rates of increase in planted areas for and output of wheat are also relatively high. Indeed, the Green Revolution was a revolution of wheat.
What then made the difference between rice and wheat? The greatest mason is that the high-yielding varieties of rice require more intensive water management than those of wheat. Therefore, the Green Revolution was successful for rice only in the fields where water management was good. As observed from Figure 1-7, the land productivity for wheat reaches 3 ton per hectare when the land is fully irrigated, and can be 1.5 to 2 ton even at 20 to 40%. On the other hand, while the productivity for rice is 3.5 ton per hectare or above in Pubjab or Haryana where the irrigation rate is nearly 100%, it is as low as 1 to 1.5 ton where the irrigation rate is 50%.
