Downloads: 4 | Views: 55 | Weekly Hits: ⮙4 | Monthly Hits: ⮙4

Research Paper | History | India | Volume 5 Issue 12, December 2016

Politics, Science and Agricultural Transformation in Kashmir (1948 - 1980)

Dr. Javeed Ul Aziz

Abstract: Agriculture in Kashmir witnessed significant transformation after 1948, partly due to the restructuring of agrarian relations through the programme of land reforms and partly due to the adoption of scientific and technological innovations. There was considerable increase in food production and entitlement of the cultivating community to the produce from land also registered significant improvement. However, in comparison to the plains of India especially Punjab the increase in productivity and production of food crops in Kashmir was only marginal and its dependence on outside markets for food items could not be reduced to any considerable extent. In fact, the region could not witness what in true sense may be called ?Green Revolution?. Based on a wide range of official and non - official sources this paper attempts to identify and analyse the reasons which impeded the process of Kashmir agricultural transformation and resulted in low productivity, shrinking of arable land, and the failure of the state to devise appropriate strategies to harness the vast potentialities of hill agriculture. This paper also explores the complex mutual interactions among science, politics and agricultural transformation in Kashmir.

Keywords: Agrarian relations, Technological innovations, Green revolution, Agricultural revolution

Edition: Volume 5 Issue 12, December 2016,

Pages: 2163 - 2168