Punjab and Haryana de-risking Indian economy

Context

Punjab and Haryana is contributing to India’s food security, especially post the Green Revolution which is helping India’s concerns of low monsoon this year due to better irrigation facilities.

• During the last two-years, the combined share of Punjab and Haryana in procurement declined to 50-51%, which has gone up in the last two years to 70-74%, reinforcing their status as reliable, “all-weather” contributors to national food security.

Weather patterns and India’s Food security:

• As, the upcoming year is estimated to be an EL Nino year with delayed monsoon onset, the agriculture and Kharif crops are estimated to be impacted in India.
• The immediate impact of a subnormal monsoon would be on the kharif crops, the sowings of which have barely taken off.
• Moreover, if El Niño is going to get stronger, the impact could extend to the rabi (winter-spring) crops.
• These, particularly wheat, are grown using groundwater and dam reservoirs that are recharged/refilled during the monsoon. A subnormal monsoon can, in other words, hit both rice and wheat production.
• India is dependent on Rice and Wheat for its most of the food grain consumption and these weather events led to a sense of insecurity regarding food production and consumption.

Role of Punjab and Haryana:

• Punjab alone cultivated paddy (rice with husk) on 67 lakh hectares (lh) in 2022-23, including 4.94 lh under basmati varieties.
• The Punjab government is supplying eight hours of uninterrupted free power daily to run these tube-wells during the four-month paddy season (from transplanting to harvesting), starting June 10.
• Punjab — known as the ‘Granary of India’ — produces 20 per cent and nine per cent of India’s wheat and rice respectively.
• At the international level, this represents three per cent of the global production of these crops.
• The state is responsible for two per cent of the world’s cotton and wheat production and one per cent of the world’s rice production.

Reasons for Punjab’s Prosperity:

• The higher yield is possibly because of the Green Revolution, a period when Indian agriculture was converted into an industrial system.
• Modern methods and technology — including high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, tractors, irrigation facilities, pesticides and fertilisers — were adopted.

Food Security act, 2013: Salient features:

• Foodgrains are distributed at subsidized rates.
• Targeted Public Distribution System.
• Food Security Allowance.
• Transparency provisions are made available to avoid loop holes.

Food Security Programs in India: Public Distribution System. Mid-day Meal Scheme. Integrated Child Development Services scheme. Mega Food Parks. Sampada Yojana

• Significance of Act:

• To boost the Agriculture sector.
• Aids the Government to Regulate the Prices.
• Enhance reduction in poverty.
• Access to nutritious food.
• Also important for global security and national stability.