Growth and poverty in the rural areas of the Indian State of Punjab, 1960-61 to 1970-71

Abstract

Punjab is not only one of the most advanced states in India, but also a very rapidly growing one. During the decade studied its real income per head increased at a rate two-and-a-half times as fast as that of India as a whole.2 Like the rest of India, Punjab is overwhelmingly rural. During the decade under consideration, the rural economy of the state experienced an improvement in agricultural technologythe Green Revolutionthat was quite unprecedented in its spread and in the over-all prosperity it brought to the countryside. This chapter presents the results of a study aimed at determining the extent to which the benefits of this rapid growth trickled down to the poorer sections of the population. The focus of the study is on the rural sector.