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. Most of the area is under the bread wheat Tirticum aestivum but over a million hectares in Madhya Paradesh, Maharashtra and Mysore are under the macaroni wheat, Tirticum durum and some area in the Nilgiri Palani hills in Madras State is under Tirticum dicoccum. While wheat cultivation in our country is thus one of the great antiquity, the yield per hectare has remained below 800 Kgs. for a long time. Consequently, the gap between demand and supply has grown and shortfall has 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 overcum 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 Rock-feller Foundation and the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture. These varieties were tested during 1963-64 and 1964-65 under the All India Coordinated Wheat trials sponsord by the Indian Council of Agricultural Reasearch and carried out in collaboration with the Agricultural Universities and State Departments of Agriculture.

Two of them, Lerma Rojo and Sonora 64 were found to do well and yield about 6 tonnes per hectare in many areas. In order to increase wheat production as speedy as possible, the Government of India imported from from Mexico 250 tonnes of seeds of these varieties in 1965 and 18,000 tonnes in 1966. As a result, nearly 400,00 hectares were under the dwarf, fertilizer responsive varieties during 1966-67 and they were grown in about 2 million hectares during 1967-68. There is no paralel in the world for such speed in the practicle exploitation of a significant research finding. India produced 6.8 million tonnes of wheat at the beginning of the First Plan in 1951.

The production during this year (1067-68) is estimated to be about 16 million tonnes. The inter-action between Farmer, nature and Science has led to this revolution. New dwarf wheat varieties like Kalyansona, Sharbati Sonora, sonalika, Safed Lerma and Chhoti Lerma were made available by our scientist during 1967. Many more outstanding varieties both for irrigated and unirrigated wheat areas are in the breeders assembly line. The wheat revolution may thus envelop the entire irrigated area during the next season. 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 is happy to bring out a special postage stamp to commemorate the "Wheat Revolution" and its significance to our agricultural revolution and economic well-being.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India