Green Revolution in India

The state of Punjab led India's Green Revolution and earned the distinction of being the "breadbasket of India."[1][2]

The Green Revolution was a period that began in the 1960s during which agriculture in India was converted into a modern industrial system by the adoption of technology, such as the use of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, mechanized farm tools, irrigation facilities, pesticides, and fertilizers. Mainly led by agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan in India, this period was part of the larger Green Revolution endeavor initiated by Norman Borlaug, which leveraged agricultural research and technology to increase agricultural productivity in the developing world.[3] Varieties or strains of crops can be selected by breeding for various useful characteristics such as disease resistance, response to fertilizers, product quality and high yields.

Under the premiership of Congress leaders Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi,[4][5] the Green Revolution within India commenced in 1968, leading to an increase in food grain production, especially in Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh. Major milestones in this undertaking were the development of high-yielding varieties of wheat,[6] and rust resistant strains of wheat.[7][8]

  1. ^ Kumar, Manoj, and Matthias Williams. 2009 January 29. "Punjab, bread basket of India, hungers for change." Reuters.
  2. ^ The Government of Punjab (2004). Human Development Report 2004, Punjab (PDF) (Report). Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011. Section: "The Green Revolution", pp. 17–20.
  3. ^ Hardin, Lowell S. 2008. "Meetings That Changed the World: Bellagio 1969: The Green Revolution." Nature (25 Sep 2008):470-71. Cited in Sebby 2010.
  4. ^ Swaminathan, M. S. (10 August 2009). "From Green to Ever-Green Revolution". The Financial Express. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  5. ^ Rajagopal, Gopi (13 October 2016). "The Stories of Ehrlich, Borlaug and the Green Revolution". The Wire (India). Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  6. ^ "About IARI". IARI. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  7. ^ "Rust-resistant Wheat Varieties. Work at Pusa Institute". The Indian Express. 7 February 1950. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  8. ^ Newman, Bryan. 2007. "A Bitter Harvest: Farmer Suicide and the Unforeseen Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of the Green Revolution in Punjab, India." Development Report 15. Food First. Cited in Sebby 2010.