The Work of "Feeding the World": from India's Green Revolution to the Paradox of Plenty

Abstract

The food situation in India today defies conventional development wisdom: while the government struggles to dispose of massive food surpluses, the population is among the most malnourished and food-insecure in the world. This dissertation traces the conceptual lineages of the policies that have produced this "paradox of plenty" back to the Green Revolution of the 1960s through to today. In this exploration, my research finds that the situation is not a "paradox," but unfortunately, is a predictable, even banal, result of the very policy prescriptions offered as the means of ending hunger and the path to development. Navigating policy details, readings of development and modernization theory, and the uniquely important role of food and agricultural aid and hunger in India-US relations, I draw on extensive archival research and insights yielded through "expert" interviews to unravel the logic underlying development and the policy prescriptions to elucidate how the logic of the Green Revolution's "development" path has produced today's conditions of hunger amidst plenty.