Depeasantization in Punjab: Status of Farmers who Left Farming

The state of Punjab, earlier regarded as an agriculturally developed region of India, has been passing through a severe economic crisis. The capital-intensive mode of production, propagated by the green revolution in the mid-1960s, is turning out to be non-viable for the small peasantry and hence, they are being involuntarily manoeuvred towards shifting away from farming. Based on a field study in Punjab during the year 2012-13, it was observed that 14.39% of the farmers had left farming since 1991. A considerable proportion of marginal and small farmers who have been pushed out of agriculture become wage labourers.