Agriculture, energy & sustainable development pathways
Capstone lesson linking agriculture, energy transition and sustainable development pathways for UPSC, with India's policies, targets and institutions.
Agriculture as an Environmental Pressure Point
Indian agriculture sustains roughly 45% of the workforce yet contributes about 18% of GDP, and it is simultaneously a victim of and a driver of environmental stress. The sector accounts for roughly 14% of India's gross greenhouse-gas emissions, dominated by methane (CH4) from enteric fermentation in livestock and flooded paddy fields, and nitrous oxide (N2O) from synthetic fertilisers. The Green Revolution of the late 1960s (Norman Borlaug's high-yielding varieties, introduced in India from 1966-67 under C. Subramaniam) achieved food security but generated second-order costs: groundwater depletion in Punjab and Haryana, soil salinity, micronutrient deficiency, and skewed cropping patterns favouring water-intensive paddy and sugarcane.
Soil, Water and Input Sustainability
The Soil Health Card Scheme (launched 19 February 2015) maps nutrient status to rationalise fertiliser use. The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY, 2015) pushes micro-irrigation under its 'Per Drop More Crop' component to counter the fact that India draws over 60% of its irrigation from depleting groundwater (Central Ground Water Board assessments). The Neem-coated urea mandate (2015) curbs diversion and slows nitrogen release. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY, 2015) and the National Mission on Natural Farming (2023) promote chemical-free farming, building on Sikkim's distinction as India's first fully organic state (declared 2016).
Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Practices
The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), one of eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC, 2008), promotes drought-tolerant varieties, agroforestry and integrated farming. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research's NICRA project (National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture, 2011) develops climate-ready cultivars. India's championing of millets — securing the UN's designation of 2023 as the International Year of Millets — reframes nutri-cereals as low-water, climate-resilient staples. Crop diversification away from paddy, direct-seeded rice, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), and zero-budget natural farming reduce methane and water footprints.
Stubble burning in north-west India each October-November illustrates the agriculture-air-pollution linkage; the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR (CAQM Act, 2021) and in-situ management via the Pusa bio-decomposer (ICAR-IARI, 2020) are the policy responses. Sustainable agriculture, therefore, sits at the intersection of food security (SDG 2), water (SDG 6), climate (SDG 13) and land (SDG 15). For UPSC, the analytical thread is that input-intensive productivity gains carry ecological liabilities that must now be reversed through efficiency, diversification and natural-farming pathways without sacrificing the food-security gains of the Green Revolution.
