‘Operation Flood’ brought a milk revolution — Can ‘Operation Vegetables’ usher in Green Revolution 2.0?
Bihar has just delivered a decisive mandate. NDA has swept the polls, giving the state political stability and the freedom to think big: It cannot afford incrementalism any longer.
The state remains India’s most economically distressed, with low industrialization, chronic unemployment, and the highest migration level in the country. Today, Bihar’s youth wait for opportunity, not doles.
Bihar needs a breakthrough economic model, one capable of creating jobs at scale, raising rural incomes, and taking it into the big boys’ league among the states.
My submission is that such a model is possible, starting immediately.
India’s four unresolved problems, and one solution
India lives with four structural problems that no ministry has been able to solve adequately.
- Nutritional deficiency: Our diets are overloaded with carbohydrate-rich rice and wheat, but scarce in nutrient-rich vegetables, leading to stunting and anemia among the poor, and diabetes, hypertension, and obesity among the rich.
- Water scarcity: Rice and wheat consume enormous amounts of groundwater. Crop patterns, more than climate change, drive water stress.
- Agrarian distress: Farmers remain trapped in low-value cereal farming, dependent eternally on MSP to survive.
- Fiscal burden: India spends over ₹2 lakh crore annually on MSP and ration subsidies, improving neither the health of the people nor the income of the farmers adequately.
These four crises look separate but share a common root: an over-dependence on cereals.
And this leads to the central idea I had outlined below in one of my earlier PGurus articles[1]:
India does not need four different solutions. It needs one systemic shift.
Operation Vegetables: India’s common pill
A transition from water-guzzling cereals to high-nutrient, high-profit vegetables and millets, supported by large-scale processing, cold-chain logistics, and anchor demand, can:
- Improve nutrition
- Reduce water stress
- Raise farmer incomes
- Lower fiscal deficits
This is not an abstract idea. It is patterned on the Amul Milk success model, but applied to vegetables.
Operation Vegetables could be, fundamentally, a national solution.
And yet, it will create a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Bihar can take the lead and reap disproportionate rewards, bringing it out of chronic poverty, unemployment, and backwardness.
Why Bihar is best placed to win the first-mover advantage
India needs Operation Vegetables.
But Bihar needs it more.
And is well-positioned to implement it, taking the lead.
Here’s why:
- Geography advantage: Bihar sits next to a 40 crore–strong consumer belt: NCR, UP, Jharkhand, Bengal, and Odisha. It has well-developed but yet to be sufficiently utilized national highways, expressways, and rail corridors for refrigerated transport.
- Agronomic strength: Bihar’s fertile soil is naturally suited for vegetables, which will deliver value all year round, needing less water compared to cereals, and the state has more ready-to-work unutilized labour.
- India’s largest underutilized workforce: Bihar has one of the lowest female labour participation rates in India.
Women will have an intrinsic advantage in vegetable processing, sorting, cutting, grading, quality control, etc.
A women-led Operation Vegetables cooperative can give Bihar a governance edge. - Low cost, high scalability: Labour costs are competitive, land costs are moderate, and the political system is stable. Biharis will grab the opportunity with both hands, which cannot be said about the other states, which have better employment opportunities and where they want jobs commensurate with their qualifications.
Bihar can scale vegetable processing faster than richer, rigid, industrialized states. - A migrant population that wants to return: Lakhs of Biharis working all over India would willingly return if dignified, fair-income local jobs became available.
In short, Operation Vegetables is India’s dire need, and Bihar’s huge opportunity.
Immediate action plan for Bihar
Bihar’s path to leadership can begin with 3 steps:
1. Ship value, not bulk
Vegetables should not leave Bihar raw. They must leave as:
- Ready-to-cook packs
- Frozen cuts
- Dehydrated vegetables
- Processed products
- Millet-based mixes
This requires cutting, freezing, dehydration, and packaging units, all in Bihar.
Processed exports will carry 4 – 8x the value of raw produce, easily absorbing transport costs, despite Bihar being landlocked, due to low labour costs and economies of scale.
2. Secure base load
To de-risk investment, Bihar must ensure committed buyers, in the form of:
- Mid-Day Meal kitchens
- Defence canteens
- Railways
- State nutrition programs
- Central government canteens
The Central government can help Bihar secure these committed orders, provided Bihar delivers.
Even a 10 – 15% assured procurement will give the cooperative the base load required to scale.
3. Choose a loan model, not grants
The Centre can just provide long-term loans, not necessarily subsidies or grants.
Repayment from profits can keep the model fiscally disciplined, sustainable, and unquestionable.
Long-term action plan
Early success in Operation Vegetables can be copied by other states.
So, Operation Vegetables can be the bootstrapping project. The real objective should be long-term sustenance of economic performance and growth through other projects, such as:
A. Rural industrialization – Bihar’s China moment
Bihar can use its cooperative profits to develop businesses around industries like:
- Drip irrigation manufacturing
- Crop nutrient units
- Small farm machinery for horticulture
This will lower Bihar’s production costs permanently. Bihar can follow the China model of growth, but within India.
B. Own global niches
Bihar can brand, process, and export products like the ones below based on its local specialties:
- Makhana
- Shahi Litchi
- Katarni Rice
C. Become India’s cold-chain talent factory
Based on its expertise and experience in Operation Vegetables, Bihar can become a trainer of:
- Refrigeration technicians
- Food safety and QC officials
- Cold-chain logistics operators
The Bihar multiplier
A Bihar-led Operation Vegetables can deliver:
- Jobs at scale (especially for women)
- Higher farmer income per acre
- Lower migration
- Industrialization in rural districts
- Better nutrition for urban (and even rural) India
- Reduced fiscal burden on the Union Government
- Water savings across the grain belt
It is rare for one economic model to serve both national priorities and a state’s aspirations so well.
India’s solution, Bihar’s breakout opportunity
Operation Vegetables could be India’s solution to multiple chronic problems.
But it can also be Bihar’s breakout moment, also making it India’s Vegetable capital.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] A common pill for health-agro-water-fiscal illness? – Nov 13, 2025, PGurus.com
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
- Can India’s crisis be Bihar’s economic opportunity? - November 18, 2025
- A common pill for health-agro-water-fiscal illness? - November 13, 2025
- The hour of Indian Muslim youth - November 12, 2025
