Indian Agricultural: Growth, Generation, Policy & Problem Indian Agricultural | Page 26

Pg.no. 25
06. Green revolution
The Green Revolution, or Third Agricultural Revolution, is a set of research and technology transfer
initiatives occurring between 1950 and the late 1960s, that increased agricultural production
worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s.The
initiatives resulted in the adoption of new technologies, including high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of
cereals, especially dwarf wheats and races, in association with chemical fertilizers and agro-
chemicals, and with controlled water-supply (usually involving irrigation) and new methods of
cultivation, including mechanization. All of these together were seen as a 'package of practices' to
supersede 'traditional' technology and to be adopted as a whole.
Both the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation were heavily involved. One key leader was
Norman Borlaug, the "Father of the Green Revolution", who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.
He is credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. The basic approach was the
development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation infrastructure,
modernization of management techniques, distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and
pesticides to farmers.
The term "Green Revolution" was first used in a speech on 8 March 1968 by the administrator of the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), William S. Gaud, who noted the spread of the
new technologies: "These and other developments in the field of agriculture contain the makings of a
new revolution. It is not a violent Red Revolution like that of the Soviets, nor is it a White Revolution
like that of the Shah of Iran. I call it the Green Revolution."
In 1961, India was on the brink of mass famine. Norman Borlaug was invited to India by the adviser to
the Indian minister of agriculture Dr.M.S. S Swaminathan. Despite bureaucratic hurdles imposed by
India's grain monopolies, the Ford Foundation and Indian government collaborated to import wheat
seed from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Punjab was selected
Ramesh Kumar P