The major scientific pathway of the green revolution of
the late 1960s was productivity enhancement of cereal grains,
particularly wheat and rice. A quantum jump in the productivity
and production of wheat and then rice transformed
the image of India as a ‘begging bowl’ to ‘bread basket’.
Today, nearly 40 years later, the ‘green revolution’ is
aptly recognized as ‘forest or land saving agriculture’. If
the yield improvement associated with the green revolution
in wheat and rice had not taken place, India by now would
have had to convert nearly 80 million hectares of forest land
to produce the current level (~207 million tons) of harvest
of food grains. The green revolution that raised the ceiling
to yield also reinvigorated the entire agricultural production
machinery in the country. In particular, it restored
self-confidence in India’s agricultural capability.