Background: The world's worst recorded food disaster happened in 1943 in British-ruled India. Known as the Bengal Famine, an estimated four million people died of hunger that year alone in eastern India. There were several contributing factors that created this famine:

Image of an Indian Family who are emaciated; their bones are visible through their skin. Seated are: an adult male; a mother holding a baby; an adult male with a small child leaning on him. On the floor an adolescent male leans on the adult male a smaller male sits nearby.
Source: India Famine Family, Wikipedia.		 This is a photo of an Indian family who were affected by the Bengal Famine.

The British left India in 1947 while India continued to deal with the horrors of the famine.  Now free of the British, India focused on securing their food supply. The people of India also wanted to eliminate the possibility of unscrupulous traders hoarding the food supply to make a profit.

Laws were created to ensure that traders would never again hoard the food supply for the purpose of profit. Between 1947 and 1967 efforts by India to secure the food supply were somewhat unsuccessful. The Green Revolution addressed the shortage of the food supply.

The Green Revolution

The Green Revolution was a movement to improve farming practices through agricultural innovations in Third World countries. India is not the only country involved, but it is the most successful. India’s Green Revolution took place from 1967-1978.

Here are the three parts of The Green Revolution in India:

  1. Expansion of farming areas
  2. Double-Cropping in existing farmland
  3. Using seeds with improved genetics

After employing these methods, India experienced great success in agriculture: