PUNJAB

 

Punjab, state of India, located in the northwestern part of the subcontinent.
It is bounded by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir to the north,
Himachal Pradesh to the northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast,
and Rajasthan to the southwest and by the country of Pakistan to the west.
Punjab in its present form came into existence on November 1, 1966, when
most of its predominantly Hindi-speaking areas were separated to form the
new state of Haryana. The city of Chandigarh, within the Chandigarh union
territory, is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.
The word Punjab is a compound of two Persian words, panj (“five”) and āb
(“water”), thus signifying the land of five waters, or rivers (the Beas,
Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej). The word’s origin can perhaps be
traced to panca nada, Sanskrit for “five rivers” and the name of a region
mentioned in the ancient epic the Mahabharata. As applied to the present
Indian state of Punjab, however, it is a misnomer: since the partition of
India in 1947, only two of those rivers, the Sutlej and the Beas, lie within
Punjab’s territory, while the Ravi flows only along part of its western border.
Area 19,445 square miles (50,362 square km). Pop. (2011) 27,704,236.

Punjab is one of India’s most prosperous states. The Punjab’s prosperity has been
largely due to the state’s development of agriculture. There are six major factors that have led to the Punjab’s highly productive agricultural system.
One factor that makes Punjab a productive agricultural area is its fertile soil. Punjab is for the most part a large, flat plain of fertile alluvial soil found among five rivers
The second factor is the extensive irrigation works that
control and distribute the water throughout the area for
maximum benefit. The sections of land between the rivers
are called doabs. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the
governments built dams, reservoirs, and extensive irrigation
canals criss-crossing these doabs. These irrigation systems
work together with the summer monsoon rains to water
Punjab’s fertile soil. Today Punjab irrigates 78% of its
farmland, considerably more than any other Indian state.
Photo courtesy of www.arttoday.com
The third factor that aids Punjab’s success in agriculture is
that it experiences two distinct growing seasons: November
to April and May to September. Winter crops such as wheat, bartley, sugar cane,
and vegetables are sown in November. Spring arrives in early February, and trees
begin to blossom; wheat, barley, sugar cane, fruit and vegetables all ripen to be
harvested in April. In May, land is ploughed again, and the summer crops are
planted. A period of intense heat begins in May and lasts throughout June. During this period, farmers and their crops wait for the coming of the summer monsoon
rains, which last from July through September. The main summer crops-- rice, cotton, and tobacco-- are reaped in October. In November, the cycle of the farmers' year begins again as winter crops are sown. These growing seasons allow farmers to
produce a lot of food.
The fourth factor is due to Punjab’s economic equity among the people. This
economic equity resulted from the transfer of people and property during the partition of 1947 (see History). Because there is considerable economic equity, class barriers in Punjab are lower than elsewhere in India. Therefore, most farmers, who own and intensely farm their croplands, are willing to share their farm tools and animals with  each other on a cooperative basis.
The fifth factor is that the governments of both India and Punjab have followed
policies to encourage farming by supporting a scientific approach to farming, by
extending cheap loans to farmers, and by making sure farmers receive high prices for the crops.
The sixth factor-- which is key to the growing prosperity and wealth of India’s Punjab
state-- is improvement in agriculture due to the Green Revolution. The Green
Revolution refers to the increase in agricultural harvests due to the use of improved
planting and harvesting strategies, large amounts of water, chemical fertilizers,
pesticides , and High Yield Variety (HYV) seeds. The Green Revolution in farming
began in the 1960s when an American agricultural expert, Dr. Norman Borlaug, led the development of HYV seeds in Mexico. Use of HYV seeds for growing wheat, rice, and other grains requires large amounts of water, fertilizers, and pesticides,
which makes farming expensive. However, the amount of food produced does rise significantly. Borlaug received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his efforts to
eradicate hunger throughout the world.
Because of the Green Revolution, Punjab-- which makes up only 1.6% of India’s
land-- produces about 21% of India’s wheat, 8.5% of its rice, and 7.5% of its cotton.
As a result of this success, Punjab has less people living below the poverty line than any other state in India. Increased wealth in Punjab has led to an improved standard of living, better education, and opportunities to travel for a substantial minority of the people.
The Green Revolution, which first took off in the Punjab, has spread rapidly to other parts of India, even to areas where the natural environment is less suitable than  Punjab to using HYV seeds. As a result, India achieved self-sufficiency in the
production of food by the early 1990s.
Despite the success of the Green Revolution, some people criticize the impacts that this scientific approach to agriculture has had on both farming and on Indian society.
These critics claim:
 The extensive irrigation systems built to provide the water necessary to grow
crops and the use of this water is destroying the water table and increasing
the salt present in the soil which is harmful.
 The environment is harmed by agricultural methods connected with the Green
Revolution. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides poison the water, soil, and the
food people eat.

 The success of the Green Revolution has led Indian farmers to concentrate
on producing grains most suitable for export. As a result the diet of India's
poor people has changed, so that they can not get vital nutrients like iron and
folic acid.
 Only the largest and most successful farmers have benefited from the Green
Revolution. Growing HYV crops has always led to increased mechanization of
farming. As a result, tractors and other mechanical implements are rapidly
replacing the use of animals and hand tools in Punjab today. Unfortunately,
some farmers who can not afford to purchase machinery, fertilizers, and
pesticides are often forced to sell their land and to move into other
occupations.
While much of what the critics claim is true, many believe that the South Asian
farmers have no choice but to continue the Green Revolution in order to produce
enough food for the subcontinent's ever rising population.

Punjab ranks 7th in per-person real income, but has the
highest asset ownership levels, closely followed by Kerala. Punjab has the highest
proportion of households with all durables including a computer (10 in every 100) and the lowest proportion of households with no durable asset, not even a mobile or a bicycle (just over 4 in every 100). The rest of the households (nearly 86 out of every 100) own
some durables, the report added.
This widespread ownership makes Punjab the most prosperous state. Punjab and Kerala also have the least disparity in asset ownership between their capital cities and the rest of the state.