After independence Indian agriculture emerged from the shadows of British colonial policies striving to ward off six critical inherited issues— extreme food insecurity; primeval agricultural technology; low level of irrigation; meagre spread of agricultural knowledge institutions and highly distressed farming community. In the wee years of independence the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru remarked “...everything else can wait but not agriculture”. It is interesting that the issue of food security came to the fore only by 1967; land reforms recommended by the J C Kumarappa Committee was effectively implemented only in the early seventies; a decade and a half from 1951 to 1966-67 added a mere 5 million hectares (m ha) to India’s irrigated area of 22.6 m ha bringing its share from 17 to 20 per cent; and that technological and institutional changes took place only after 1965-67.  It took India almost two decades to shake off the colonial constraints—the initial years lost in groping for the right kind of development model with agriculture as an accompaniment rather than the vanguard of change. The shocks of 1965-66 and 1966-67 in the form of drought and the war with Pakistan crippled the Indian economy and agriculture sector was the worst sufferer.

The dawn began with technological intervention through water, seed-fertilisers and institutional changes which transformed the scenario significantly. The production of foodgrains saw a quantum jump and institutional reforms—prices commission, extension network, agricultural research station’s network, agricultural universities and revamping of agricultural administration—supported the sector to bring in new growth. The present issue of G’nY, focussing on the preceding decades of agriculture, addresses debates primarily around problems of the irrigation sector and genetically modified crops.