As early as in 1968, M.S. Swaminathan—popularly known as the Father of the Green Revolution—made an ominous speech in Varanasi. He warned that exploitative, high-yield agriculture could deplete groundwater, poison the soil and cause widespread cancer. In the decades since, each of his prophecies has unfortunately come true. While the Green Revolution fed a billion people, it has also destroyed Punjab’s ecology and health in all the ways Swaminathan feared.