Articles by H S Shergill

India's food security depends vitally on wheat and rice production in Punjab, which contributes more than 50 per cent of the central pool of cereal stocks. The sustainability of wheat and rice production at the present scale in Punjab has been questioned by some experts, both on economic and ecological grounds. The evaluation of empirical evidence on economic and ecological aspects of wheat-rice cultivation in Punjab, however, shows that it is quite sustainable: the economics of rotation is sound, a growing domestic market is assured for the next few decades and the minimum support prices programme will continue in the foreseeable future. The returns are the highest among the competing crop rotation combinations and there is no imminent ecological threat. The fall in the water table has neither crossed the danger mark nor has the fall been caused by wheat-rice cultivation per se.

Some Cross-Section Evidence H S Shergill This paper investigates the role of agrarian structure in rural poverty. A highly skewed land distribution, proletarianisation of sizeable sections of the rural population, widespread share-tenancy and interlocked factor markets are some of the more regressive features of the existing agrarian production relations that are supposed to not only inhibit the transition to a more progressive agriculture but also block even the 'trickle-down' of benefits to the rural poor of whatever little increase in farm production occurs in such a socio-economic milieu. How valid is this supposition?