







































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 5 (1): 1-3 January 2022 

 

EDITORIAL 

New Perspectives on Indian Agriculture  

Kamal Bawa and Kanchan Chopra 

The Green Revolution (GR) ushered in an era of unprecedented food 
security in India. The country not only became self-sufficient in providing 
food grains to its citizens, but it also started to export them to other 
countries. However, the intensive agriculture propagated by the GR has 
also left the land, soils, water, and below and above ground biodiversity 
severely degraded. The burning of agricultural residue has become a major 
driver of air pollution, resulting in health hazards during early winters in 
northern India. This is compounded by additional health risks from water 
pollution due to the leakage of pesticides and fertilizers into surface and 
ground water. The impacts of climate change will cause further disruptions 
to an already unstable system, which continues to generate a significant 
amount of greenhouse gas emissions, thus perpetuating the problem. This 
issue of the journal focuses on alternatives to intensive agriculture. 

There have indeed already been calls for alternatives to the intensive 
agriculture approach. Policymakers at the national level have recently called 
for natural, zero-budget farming. The meaning of the term is not clear, but 
the rationale is. Other alternative systems include crop diversification, 
agroecology, climate-smart agriculture, conservation agriculture, 
regenerative agriculture, and several more. All of these have the same goals: 
low levels of chemical inputs, improved soil management, and increased 
below and above ground biodiversity. 

Six contributions in this issue deal with contemporary concerns in Indian 
agriculture, largely in the context of alternatives to intensive agriculture. Raj 
Paroda comments on how cropping systems need to be diversified to 
promote greater sustainability and conservation of natural resources. This 

 
 ATREE, Bengaluru and University of Massachusetts, Boston. kamal.bawa@gmail.com  

 Formerly, Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, Delhi. 
choprakanchan14@gmail.com  

Copyright © Bawa and Chopra 2022. Released under Creative Commons Attribution © 

NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of  Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581–6152 (print); 2581–6101 (web) 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v5i1.661  

mailto:kamal.bawa@gmail.com
mailto:choprakanchan14@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v5i1.661


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [2] 
 

  

paper also suggests possible future crop diversification reforms based on 
science and suited to specific agro-climatic conditions. These reforms can 
increase production and farmer incomes and ensure conservation through 
sustainable intensification. 

Incentives will be needed to steer Indian agriculture in a different direction. 
Ravi Prabhu argues that approaches that follow the principles of 
agroecology and regenerative agriculture are viable alternatives to industrial 
agriculture, but incentive-based approaches still depend heavily on the 
commodification of nature. He presents another alternative, the 
“stewardship economy”, that values the well-being of farmers and other 
stewards of the land along with rewarding performance in delivering 
products and services. The transition to this new economy could build on 
existing reforms and introduce new innovations, resulting in a more 
resilient and equitable future for Indian agriculture. However, recent 
backtracking by the government on agricultural reforms in the face of 
farmers’ protests makes one question the practicality of such transitions. 

Shannon Olsson and her coauthors point out that regenerative agriculture is 
gaining attention worldwide as a method to restore and conserve natural 
resources while maintaining crop productivity. A lack of consensus on what 
specific conditions define it, however, has made it more difficult for 
decision-makers, researchers, the agricultural sector, and the public to move 
forward in adopting these practices. The authors propose a common 
framework for defining and developing regenerative agriculture practices 
and techniques in India, considering the viewpoints of multiple stakeholders 
and the current challenges facing the agricultural sector. 

Regenerative agriculture is one of several types of systems that follow 
agroecological principles. Mihir Shah points out that despite the urgent 
need to scale up agroecology approaches as alternatives to the GR and its 
destructive impact, progress in this direction has been slow because the 
policy framework governing agriculture has remained within a GR 
paradigm. He suggests key policy reforms that could help remove this 
impediment to facilitate, support, and accelerate movement towards agro-
ecological farming in India. 

Amita Shah and her co-authors highlight the increasing feminization of 
India’s agriculture. They propose that the next phase of agriculture in India 
will require a deeper understanding of women’s contributions as well as of 
measures to strengthen their role to promote food security across all 
regions and socio-economic contexts. Based on the results of a survey 
carried out in Gujarat and West Bengal, the authors discuss the state of 
food security and the role of women in agriculture in these areas in an 



[3] Kamal Bawa and Kanchan Chopra 

 

  

effort to support the argument that women’s roles must be recognized and 
strengthened by policymakers to promote food security in India. 

Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Itishree Pattnaik, in a field-based note, further 
investigate the role (and plight) of farmer households headed by women in 
the Sundarbans area of West Bengal. The percentage of such households is 
higher in this part of West Bengal because of the higher incidence of 
outmigration by men due to limited economic opportunities. Most of the 
women work as agricultural labourers, are highly indebted, and have limited 
opportunities to earn income from other sources. Both the agricultural 
extension services and the government’s limited employment scheme, 
MNREGA, have an extremely limited reach in this part of the state. 

Clearly, Indian agriculture faces many challenges. This collection of papers 
describes and proposes solutions for a few of these challenges. New 
paradigms and policy frameworks are needed to address the existing and 
emerging challenges.   

The issue carries, in its regular sections, four research papers, four book 
reviews, and a contributed thematic essay which together reflect the 
diversity of interests the journal spans. Themes covered in research papers 
range from “the impact of beliefs on food choices” to the “erosion of 
biodiversity and culture” and the “valuation of marine ecosystem services”. 
The thematic essay focuses on energy conservation, technological 
innovations, and behavioral interventions. One cannot help concluding that 
this first issue of Volume 5 is indeed a weighty one, in ways more than one! 

 

 

 

  


