The Green Revolution begins
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Mexican dwarf wheat, tube wells and fertiliser lift Punjab's wheat harvest from 1.9 to 5.6 million tonnes between 1965 and 1972.
Semi-dwarf wheats bred by Norman Borlaug in Mexico were imported in 1965 and 1966 and adapted at the Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Delhi. With tube-well water and fertiliser, Punjab's wheat harvest nearly tripled in seven years, and India's dependence on American food aid had ended by the early 1970s.
The costs came later: falling water tables, heavy chemical use and a narrowing of crops. The same years saw the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966, which carved Haryana out of the old state and gave its hill districts to Himachal Pradesh.
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