The document discusses India's "Green Revolution" in the 1960s to address concerns over food supply keeping pace with population growth. Key aspects included land reform to increase farm size and redistribute land to landless farmers. High-yielding rice varieties were developed that were shorter, stronger, and produced much higher yields. Mechanization through technologies like tractors replaced manual labor to increase efficiency. Irrigation schemes such as pumps and river projects helped ensure a steady water supply. The successes were crop yields increasing by 300% for some, overall food production supporting the growing population, and surpluses generating income that raised living standards.

1. Need
In the 1960s, there was concern from the Indian government that the country would not
be able to grow enough food to support the ever increasing population, so they put into
place what was called the ‘Green Revolution’. The idea of the ‘Green Revolution’ was to
use technology to increase food output and as a result, over the last 50 years a series of
changes have taken place in farming in India with the introduction of more ‘Western-
type’ farming techniques.
LAND REFORM –
Efficient farming was difficult in India due to the many small farms (75% less than 3ha),
which had become a product of the ‘Laws of Divided Inheritance’ (with farms being split
between the sons of the farmer on his death), many of the poor didn’t even own land,
whereas large amounts of land were owned by a few rich land owners The solution
was Land Reform – aimed to increase farm size, setting a limit on the amount of land
the more wealthy could own and redistributing surplus land to those without.
HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES
The problem: existing rice varieties grew rapidly but very tall so fell over easily and had
to be grown quite far apart. The solution was the development of new high yielding
varieties of rice – resulting in the development of a new rice plant known as IR8. This
was shorter and stronger; could be planted much closer together, enabling more crop
per area; had a shorter growing season and produced almost 3-4 times as much yield
per hectare.
MECHANISATION
The problem: rice growing is labour intensive, with many jobs to be done requiring great
human input.The solution was the technology such as tractors and mechanised ploughs
were introduced from MEDCs, replacing water buffalo and increasing efficiency,
reducing the required human input.Other changes brought about by the Green
Revolution:(i) – Irrigation schemes, including the introduction of electric / diesel
pumps to help ensure a more steady and reliable source of water for the new IR8 HYVs
and large-scale projects such as the Narmada River Project (a series of dams built to
help provide water for irrigation of the land)

2. (ii) As the introduction of tractors and other ‘Western’ style technology was not as
successful as first hoped, Alternative, ‘Appropriate Technology’ has been introduced
which is suited to the local people’s wealth, skills and knowledge, for example low cost
irrigation schemes etc.What were the successes of the Green Revolution?(i) Those that
could afford the new Hybrid seeds, technology etc. saw an increase of 300% in crop
yields;(ii) The overall increase in food production helped to feed the ever increasing
poulation with India becoming largely self-sufficient(iii) Increased output overall meant
that some subsistence farmers had a surplus which they were also able to sell, helping to
raise living standards further. Money raised in this was was also reinvested into the
farm, helping with the costs of machinery etc. or to buy more land(iv) Areas in which the
Green Revolution was successful became richer and more money was available for
investment in schools, clinics, industry etc.