New Wheat Varieties Start India’s Green Revolution

During the mid-1960s, consecutive droughts struck India in 1964–1965 and 1965–1966, triggering acute food shortages and famines for a growing population. Traditional cultivation practices had struggled to meet national needs, leaving the country facing graver grain deficits than many other developing nations. These crises prompted the Indian government, first under Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and then under his successor Indira Gandhi, to collaborate with international donor agencies to shift domestic agriculture toward an intensive, industrial model focused on modern technological inputs.

The initiative formed part of a broader international effort initiated by agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug to expand crop productivity in developing nations. Within India, the campaign was primarily directed by geneticist M. S. Swaminathan alongside Food and Agriculture Minister Chidambaram Subramaniam, while researcher Dilbagh Singh Athwal contributed to wheat development. Institutions such as the Indian Agricultural Research Institute focused on selecting and breeding crop strains for higher yields, responsiveness to synthetic fertilizers, and disease resistance, particularly targeting rust-resistant varieties of wheat.