get Rs and Rs as their daily wages respectively. From 27, November 2001 the rates are revised respectively as Rs 132 and Rs 72 showing a twenty percent increase. Rapid increases in the cost of cultivation along with the relatively lower growth rates in the farm prices of paddy, in the absence of any major improvements in farm technology have adversely affected the profitability of the crop. The declining profitability in turn induces paddy farmers to reduce the extent of the application of agricultural inputs that may adversely affect the crop productivity. 5.1.4 Growing aversion of the new generation to paddy cultivation