Madhumita Saha

Abstract. I investigate the interactions of agricultural science/technology with the political context of Cold War, Third World nationalism, economic development, and modernization needs of India. I will analyze how the U.S. and the Indian government, in association with private agencies, used scientific and technological resources to increase crop production to avert the specter of communism and famine. My analysis of research reports of Indian agricultural institutes challenges the prevalent notion that biochemical resource-based modern agriculture started in India with the introduction of Green Revolution technology in 1965-66. I seek to understand the nature of agricultural research and its correlation with the burgeoning Indian fertilizer industry. My research draws on Indian and American documents including reports of government agencies, newspapers, World Bank, the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, and Indian Communist Party, U.S. corporate histories, and private papers of public officials in the libraries of University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and the Hagley Museum and Library.