Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan: A national programme to ... - Vigyan Prasar

imported grains to feed our population. Firstly, there is never a perennial or dependable
source for importing grains as international relations keep changing. Secondly, by importing
grains, we could not check the rate of their price rise. In the 1960s though, this situation was
not unique to India. A lot of Third World countries had recently got their independence and
they were struggling to feed their populations. At this point in time, the introduction of dwarf
high-yielding varieties of wheat, coupled with use of chemical fertilisers and expansion of
irrigation facilities ushered in the Green Revolution, which is supposed to have saved the lives
of one-third of the world’s population. The man who is credited with it is Dr Norman Borlaug.
Caption: A typical result of Green Revolution
The introduction high-yielding varieties of wheat in India was the turning point for our
agriculture and we have been moving ahead from there. Several measures were introduced
to improve agricultural production along with use of high-yielding crop varieties. In this task,
the group of indigenous scientists led by Dr M S Swaminathan played a major role. Among
the other steps taken include: development of irrigation facilities, more widespread use of
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