ri   lt re and ood        ana ement       8.13
     oilseeds, maize, barley on the margins, etc., were                     it is more due to deforestation and
     negative impacts.                                                      extension of cultivation in ecologically
                                                                            fragile areas. At the same time, there
     2. Ecological Impact                                                   is an excessive pressure of animals on
     The most devastating negative impact of the                            forests—mainly by goats and sheeps.
     Green Revolution was ecological. When the                   (ii) Toxic Level in Food Chain: Toxic level
     issues related with it were raised by the media,                  in the food chain of India has increased to
     scholars, experts and environmentalists, neither                  such a high level that nothing produced
     the governments nor the masses (what to say of                    in India is fit for human consumption.
     the farmers of the GR region— they were not                       Basically, unbridled use of chemical
     educated enough to understand the side effects of                 pesticides and weedicides and their
     the inputs of the GR) were convinced. But a time                  industrial production combined together
     came when the government and other government                     had polluted the land, water and air to
     agencies started doing studies and surveys focused                such an alarmingly high level that the
     around the ecological and environmental issues.                   whole food chain had been a prey of high
     The major ones among them may be glanced in                       toxicity.
     their chronological order:
          (i) Critical Ecological Crisis: On the basis       conclusion
               of on-field studies24 it was found that       The above studies and the reports were eye-openers
               critical ecological crises in the GR region   in the area of ecologically non-sustainable kind of
               are showing up—                               agriculture as well as a big question mark on it.
               (a) Soil fertility being degraded: Due        This was the time when agro-scientists suggested
                    to the repetitive kind of cropping       for a really ‘green’ (eco-friendly) revolution, which
                    pattern being followed by the farmers    is today known among the experts with many
                    as well as the excessive exploitation    more names—the evergreen revolution, the second;
                    of the land; lack of a suitable crop     green revolution and green farming.
                    combination and the crop intensity,
                    etc.                                        croPPInG PAtterns
               (b) Water table falling down: As the new      The set and combination of crops which farmers
                    HYV seeds required comparatively         opt for in a particular region, in their farm practices,
                    very high amount of water for            is cropping pattern of the region. Multiplicity of
                    irrigation—5 tonnes of water needed      cropping systems has been one of main features
                    to produce 1 kg of rice.                 of Indian agriculture and it is attributed to
               (c) Environmental degradation: Due            rainfed agriculture and prevailing socio-economic
                    to excessive and uncontrolled use        situations of the farming community.
                    of chemical fertilizers, pesticides           The cropping pattern in India has undergone
                    and herbicides have degraded the         significant changes over time. As the cultivated
                    environment by increasing pollution      area remains more or less constant, the increased
                    levels in land, water and air. In India  demand for food, because of increase in population
                                                             and urbanisation, puts agricultural land under
       24.   Based on various empirical studies in the 1990s
             conducted separately by Vandana Shiva, C.H.     stress, resulting in crop intensification and crop
             Hanumantha Rao, ICAR, Planning Commission, etc. substitution of food crops with commercial crops.