Abstract
This article explores the history of agricultural research in independent India in the context of Cold War politics, highlighting recurrent food crises and the drive for national modernization. It looks at the research conducted on rice and wheat at two of India's premier research institutes, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and the Central Rice Research Institute. The article revises the argument that scientific research was of little importance to India's agricultural development policy before the coming of the capital- and chemical-intensive Green Revolution technology, by highlighting the scientific work done on uses of organic, cheaper, locally available seeds and manures. The essay further reinterprets the place of traditional agricultural practices in the context of the modernization imperative of a newly independent state.
