How Punjab's fading prosperity is fuelling unemployment and unrest

Agriculture sector has shrunk as gains from Green Revolution have dwindled

Of all protests by government employees across India in 2015, one-third took place in Punjab. The state witnessed no less than 5,764 protests by government workers that year, in which employees ranging from schoolteachers to sanitation workers took to the streets.

In most cases, the demands were the same: More hiring; ‘regularisation’ of contract workers — that they be made permanent employees with concomitant benefits such as pension, insurance and leave allowance; or both.

Once among India’s wealthiest and fastest-growing states, Punjab ranks a middling 12 in terms of gross state domestic product. The state’s agriculture sector has shrunk as the gains