Arrested Green Revolution

Arrested Green Revolution (From a Special Correspondent) VILLAGE Manupur, about 4 miles north of the market town of Khanna, lies in district Ludhiana, the core of the Green Revolution region of Punjab. The sixties were the years of capitalist transformation in Manupur. ln that decade, the material base of the Brahmin moneylenders was undermined Faced with the spectre of pauperisation and possible proletarianisation, many emigrated in search of jobs to nearby urban centres, The period of the decline of the moneylenders was also that of the rise of a rich capitalist peasantry, Nurtured in the soil of state funds, by 1970, this emerging agrarian bourgeoisie seemed a testimony to the success of the IADP. Today, however, from the upper section of this same rich peasantry is emerging a group of moneylenders. Long heralded as the vanguard of a capitalist Agrarian order, these peasants appear to be changing course in mid-stream. Parasitic, unproductive capital once again threatens to dominate and become a fetter on agricultural production in Manupur Let us examine the process in some detail, In the sixties, agricultural production in Manupur became increasingly scientific, The adoption of the new seed, Kalyan, was followed by the spread of tubewells, guaranteeing a regular supply of water. Animal manure gave way to chemical fertilisers. As the market price of these fertilisers and of oil used in tubewells rose, the least prosperous of the rich peasantry was compelled to seek loans to meet rising production costs. The loans taken in mid-season would be repaid after the sale of the harvest. For these, it turned to the only readily available source: merchant capital in the nearby town of Khanna. With these wholesale merchants, the rich peasants had already established relations, the for- mer being the buyers of the village harvest as well as the sellers of ferti- ' listers.