I’m going to do a slightly substantial thread in Sadanand Dhume’s piece for @WSJ because I am quite disturbed at the flex the debate is taking. The problems in the piece go far beyond a debate on how “gentle” the govt has been on the farmers. Thread. 👇🏽

This causation is misrepresented. There’s a history to this. During the Green Revolution Punjab and Haryana moved to the wheat-paddy cultivation cycle from their traditional crops. This was encouraged and as we all know from CBSE textbooks, was done in the national interest.

At that time sustainability wasn’t a watchword but by 1980 a massive decline in the water table was noted. Why? Because paddy required five times more irrigation than wheat. So if you irrigate a wheat crop six times in one season, paddy will require 30 irrigations.

When free electricity was thrown in the mix farmers’ preferences changed. They also started growing longer term maturing paddy, like Pusa 44. Paddy was also planted in May-June with a maturation in October.

Dhume’s piece seems to suggest that paddy cultivation is preferred.

This is incorrect. After the paddy crop is harvested, the areas are brought under wheat cultivation if the farmer has the means to.

Why is this even important? Because of TIMING. This also brings me to the second issue I have with the piece. Stubble burning.