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Resource Consumption · Regional

Punjab

Green Revolution gains bought with groundwater that is now being drawn down.

How this page works

Six sections are filled in: the parts that are stable and factual. Four are yours — evidence, perspectives, evaluation and the current connection. Those four are where the marks are, and they are deliberately empty. A case study only counts once you have completed them.

↧ Download the Punjab template Word · ready to fill in · the six given sections already completed
Before you write about this one

The Green Revolution genuinely prevented famine. Evaluating its costs is not the same as saying it was a mistake.

§ 01

The ten-part record

01 · Location Filled in for you

Punjab, India
30.9°N 75.8°E · scale: Regional

See this case in context on the case study map.

02 · Geographic context Filled in for you

An intensively farmed Indian state, central to national food security since the Green Revolution, irrigated heavily from groundwater. Water tables have fallen substantially across much of it.

03 · Processes Filled in for you

What is changing here, and the mechanisms driving it.

  • Intensive irrigation from groundwater
  • High-yielding varieties requiring water and fertiliser
  • Subsidised electricity enabling continuous pumping
  • Aquifer depletion and rising extraction costs
04 · Evidence You build this

Find these, and write the year beside every figure. A statistic without a date is not evidence.

  • Rate of groundwater table decline
  • Punjab's share of national wheat and rice production
  • Electricity subsidy cost for agricultural pumping
  • Proportion of blocks classified as over-exploited
Your figures go here
05 · Stakeholders Filled in for you

Who is affected, and separately, who holds the decision-making power.

  • Punjabi farmers dependent on current practice
  • Indian consumers relying on the region's output
  • State and national governments funding subsidies
  • Future farmers inheriting a depleted aquifer

Named above as a starting list. For each one, add what they actually want, and note where two of them want incompatible things.

06 · Perspectives You build this

Find two sources that disagree about this case — not two summaries of the same view. Record who each is, what they claim, and what interest they have. A perspective without a holder is not a perspective.

Your notes go here
07 · Concepts Filled in for you

Which of the six apply here, and what each one reveals.

  • Process. The water-food-energy nexus in one field.
  • Possibility. Crop switching and pricing reform are available and politically hard.
  • Power. Subsidies benefit farmers now and cost everyone later.
08 · Evaluation You build this

How significant is this? How effective was any response? What are the limitations of your evidence? What else could explain the pattern? Reach a judgement and defend it.

Your notes go here
09 · Current connection You build this

One dated development from the last twelve months. Does it strengthen, weaken or complicate the case as recorded above? Update this every time you revisit the case.

Your notes go here
10 · Exam use Filled in for you

Food security, the water-food-energy nexus, and resource stewardship.

Now go and build the other four

Reading this page is not the same as having a case study. Take the template, find the evidence, and fill in sections 4, 6, 8 and 9 in your own words.

↧ Download the template Or take the blank version for a case of your own
§ 02

Where to look

Start here. Prefer the organisation that produced the data over anyone summarising it.

Links checked 27 August 2026 · external links open in a new tab

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