Born Then
1966–1985

Life during the Green Revolution in India

Be born in a place it hit, a few years before it began, and see what it did to five ordinary lives.

What it meant for ordinary people

High-yield wheat and rice, irrigation and fertiliser roughly doubled grain output in Punjab and other regions from the late 1960s, ending India's dependence on food aid. Farmers with land and water gained most; groundwater depletion came later.

How hard it hits each person in the game (risk of death, of being conscripted, of leaving) comes from our model, estimated from the sources.

Around the same time