Wheat has been grown in India since ancient times and the wheat grains discovered in the Mohenjo-daro excavations belong to a unique species called Tirticum spaerococcum. At present, there are nearly 14 million hectares under this crop, out of which about 4 million are irrigated.
While wheat cultivation in our country is thus one of great antiquity, the yield per hectare was below 800 Kgs. for a long time. Consequently, the gap between demand and supply had grown and shortfall had been largely met hrough import from the United States under the PL 480 programme.
A principal reason for the low yields obtained even in irrigated areas is the tall straw of the older varieties which makes the cultivation of the crop under good conditions of soil fertility and water management difficult. In order to overcome the barriers to high yields, the Indian Agricultural Reasearch Institute, New Delhi, introduced from Mexico in 1963 a wide range of wheat material possesing the genitic factors for dwarfing originally discovered in "Norin" Japanese wheats, through the kind courtesy of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture.
What is even more significant, the dwarf wheats are not only helping to increase the yield of wheat but are also acting as catalyst in bringing about a total transformation in the outlook and agronomic methodology of our rural community, thus ending the divorce between labour and intellect.
The Posts and Telegraphs Department brought out a special postage stamp to commemorate the "Wheat Revolution"and its significance to our agricultural revolution and economic well-being.
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