Punjab’s ecological crisis: The Akali Dal, SGPC, and competing democratic and authoritarian approaches to development

ABSTRACT When the 'green revolution' began in Punjab in 1964, Punjab sprang to the front rank of Indian agricultural production. But since about 2000, it has been increasingly clear that the technology is leading to an encompassing ecological disaster. The reason for the change lies in the organizational framework. Born in a spirit of flexible egalitarian democracy, it is now dominated by rigid central authoritarianism that forces farmers to grow one crop rotation for one buyer: wheat and rice for the Food Corporation of India. The SGPC and Akali Dal have had an important role in this transformation. This describes it.