Image Courtesy: CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur
The adoption of technology in the Indian agriculture scenario started in the 1960s, during which mechanised farm tools, improved irrigation facilities, the use of high-yielding seed varieties, and the application of pesticides and fertilizers started getting adopted. Upon Independence, India was left with indigenous manual or animal-driven agricultural tools. The country endured two severe droughts during 1964-65 and 1965-66. But this was before the Green Revolution, which changed the agricultural scenario in the country. The Green Revolution in India was spearheaded by Dr MS Swaminathan, an Indian agricultural scientist who was conferred the honour of Bharat Ratna in February 2024. From 1968 onwards, the introduction of modern agricultural technologies in the agricultural sector improved the conditions of recurring famines in the country, and Indian farmers started to appreciate the use of technology to improve productivity and economic growth.
Alongside the Green Revolution in the country, something parallel was happening in the agricultural sector. Learning lessons from severe famines, the Indian Government started to promote mass-scale adoption of modern farm machinery and mechanically powered tools like tractors and harvesters. Animal traction started getting replaced by imported mechanically powered agriculture equipment. This is where tractors started gaining importance in the country and among the countrymen.
ROLE OF TRACTORS IN GREEN REVOLUTION
Among all the mechanised tools introduced in agricultural sectors during the Green Revolution era, the tractor is the pioneer and the most prolific contributor in achieving the desired result. However, in the 1960s, India was heavily dependent on importing these tractors, which were crucial in achieving self-reliance in the agricultural sector. Most of these tractors were imported from countries like the then Soviet Union, then Czechoslovakia, Romania, Germany, the UK and Poland. In 1963-64, considering the increasing domestic demand for tractors, local industrialists started tying up with international tractor manufacturers to create joint ventures for the domestic production of tractors. This was the time when, due to the policy of the Green Revolution, the number of tractors imported in India started increasing day by day.
LANDMARK DECISION FOR INDIGENOUS TRACTOR
With the help of international tractor manufacturers, the domestic production of tractors started helping the countrymen in the mechanization of the agricultural sector, but there were still some vital concerns. Unlike the Western countries, the land holdings of most Indian farmers were relatively small. Most of these international-brand tractors were designed for larger farmers. This forced the Planning Commission of India to rethink this matter. The Commission members began to consider the prospects of building tractors with unique designs that would fit the demands and budgets of the nation’s small and medium-sized farms. There was speculation that by 1968-69, the annual demand for tractors in India would reach approximately 40,000 units. Out of these, about 50% of the tractors must be 20 HP or below. Thus, during the Fourth Five-Year plan, developing a 20 HP tractor was recommended as one of the several crucial projects of the country. These projects were targeted to be completed with techno-financial assistance from then USSR. Thus, the Government of India decided to form a delegation to visit the USSR for further discussion.
Image Courtesy: CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur
VISIONARIES BEHIND SWARAJ
Another historical event occurred just before the decision to develop a 20 HP Tractor with USSR’s technical and financial assistance. In 1964, the then Prime Minister of India, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru invited one of the very young, dynamic and visionary mechanical engineers, Man Mohan Suri, to lead the country’s only national-level mechanical research institute, named the CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CMERI), Durgapur, as its director. Man Mohan Suri was a highly acclaimed scientific personality of the time who was awarded the Padma Shri in the year 1961 and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (the highest Indian science award) in 1962 for his outstanding contributions to the field of Engineering Sciences. Suri was mainly known for his invention, Suri Transmission, a hydro-mechanical transmission unit for diesel locomotive engines, which finally resulted in 36 patents filed in 11 countries.
After Suri joined as the director of CSIR-CMERI, the Indian delegation, led by the then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog), visited the USSR in May 1965. Suri joined the Indian delegation as a technical expert. The visit was to discuss the nature and magnitude of assistance the Soviet government could give India for developing 20 HP tractors and other projects on the list. When the Indian delegation visited Moscow to discuss the development of a 20 HP Tractor within India and sought technical and financial assistance, the Soviet counterpart showed reluctance in committing anything to the tractor project. This proved a turning point in the Indian tractor industry and India’s Green Revolution.
LEADERSHIP FOR TEAM SWARAJ
Triggered by the Soviet denial to extend any assistance to India to develop 20 HP indigenous tractors in the country, Suri started thinking about the pros and cons of executing such an ambitious project with the help of an international partner. He felt that the formulated project proposal was supposed to use high foreign exchange content and may also need many foreign experts on the team to design and manufacture the targeted tractor as per Indian field requirements. Since the Russians had already denied assisting the Indian team in the tractor project, Suri volunteered to design it in India. He discussed his plan with the head of the Indian delegation team. He informed the Planning Commission that CSIR-CMERI might shoulder the responsibility of designing a fully indigenous 20 HP tractor for India without seeking any international assistance. Simultaneously, he also targeted another arduous task: not to use any imported spare parts inside the targeted Indian tractor.
In the meantime, intending to form a dedicated tractor design team before visiting USSR, Suri had invited one of his colleagues, Chandra Mohan, to join CSIR-CMERI and assist him in the envisioned tractor project. Upon receiving Suri’s invitation, Mohan quit his Indian Railways’ service and joined CSIR-CMERI. Further, they motivated and formed a committed team of five-six fresh young engineers who could be instrumental in delivering the envisioned dream of a fully indigenous tractor in India.
After then USSR’s reluctance to assist India in its tractor project, Man Mohan Suri (left), then director of CSIR-CMERI, volunteered to design the tractor in India, and invited one of his colleagues, Chandra Mohan (right) to join him on that project
Images Courtesy: CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur
THE BIRTH OF SWARAJ
CSIR-CMERI, under the leadership of Suri and Mohan, prepared a five-page project proposal for the development of a fully indigenous tractor and submitted the same in 1965 for the consideration of the Planning Commission of India. Incidentally, being satisfied with the proposal, the commission agreed to fund it. The R&D began in 1965 to design a new tractor under the direction of a specially created Committee of Technical Experts (CTE) comprising representatives from industries, agricultural universities, farmers and the Tractor Training and Testing Station (TTTS) (now Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute (CFMTTI)) in Budni, Madhya Pradesh. The Indian government had originally established TTTS as the Agricultural Machinery Utilization Centre (AMUC) in 1955 at Budni with the specific objective of training future farmers about using, maintaining and up-keeping farm machinery. Later, in 1959, AMUC was renamed as TTTS after adding a dedicated testing division to assess the suitability of agricultural machines for Indian climatic conditions. Finally, in 1983, the TTTS was again renamed to CFMTTI after being upgraded significantly with a specific focus on testing and training of farm machinery and equipment.
Scientists working on developing the Swaraj tractor; Man Mohan Suri at the tractor development site; the tractor being demonstrated to senior leader Morarji Desai
Images courtesy: CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur
The core design team, under Suri and Mohan’s mentorship, started its endeavour with minimal knowledge about the agricultural tractors and prevailing constraints in terms of resources available to them. To understand the technical insights of the required specifications of an agricultural tractor, several patents were studied, and consultations were made with different Indian agricultural universities and even with individual farmers of the country. Considering the Indian weather conditions and to achieve a cost-effective design, the modular design strategy was adopted. The relative merits of the available design of agricultural tractors were studied in depth. Furthermore, due to possible manufacturing facilities, current skills, available raw materials, local agricultural practices, and weather conditions, a custom design of an indigenised tractor started taking shape by developing each of its components. In the process of R&D developing indigenised parts, it had been felt that the availability of standard hydraulics was critical for a good agricultural tractor. This inspired the team of CSIR-CMERI to develop a single-lever automatic depth-cum-control hydraulic system and original power transmission system for the indigenous tractor. Development of such crucial tractor components resulted in the acceptance of patents simultaneously in India, USA, UK, Germany, Japan, France, Poland and Yugoslavia, which became a landmark in achieving the indigenised technologies for the development of tractors.
Finally, in November 1967, the prototype of a fully indigenised, custom-made tractor saw the light of the day. Specially designed test rigs were created to test the prototype extensively in simulated field conditions, and such tests lasted non-stop for over 1,200 hours with 10-30 per cent overload during the hottest summer months. Two years after testing the prototype, three more units were developed and assembled in March 1969 for extensive field trials and performance evaluation at the TTTS, Budni. The tractor was again set for testing in May/ June 1971 after incorporating several modifications in the hydraulics, steering gear, front axle, engine and cooling system. Interestingly, this first Indian tractor from CSIR-CMERI surpassed all the expectations of its developers and performed better than most of the imported tractors in the power range of 20-25 HP, primarily in terms of drawbar pull and drawbar HP to available PTO power ratio, which are the prime requirements for any agricultural tractors.
Image Courtesy: CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur
The time had arrived to name this India’s first tractor, and it was thought that the given name should be easy to pronounce and signify the power and grace of the indigenously developed product. Finally, the name ‘Swaraj’ was suggested and approved by then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. The name ‘Swaraj’ draws inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Swaraj’ concept, which signifies economic freedom and self-reliance.
SWARAJ’S STRUGGLE TO GET FINANCIALLY ESTABLISHED
As a new technological baby of India, Swaraj was now looking for a good commercialisation partner who could take this excellent product to the market to make the country ‘Atma Nirbhar’ in terms of a Swadeshi tractor. The earlier prototype was fabricated with the financial assistance of a Durgapur-based public sector, namely Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation (MAMC). However, during the economic recession of 1967-71, the MAMC withdrew its support due to business losses. At that time, the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation Limited (PSIDC), impressed by the indigenous design of Swaraj, its acceptability among the farmers of the Punjab and future employment potential in the state, extended its hands for production. In 1970, PSIDC approached CSIR-CMERI and obtained the technology license to manufacture the Swaraj tractors. Later, the PSIDC requested CSIR-CMERI authority to release those five engineers who worked on the Swaraj project to join their newly established firm, Punjab Tractors Limited (PTL), Mohali. After getting relieved from CSIR-CMERI, Chandra Mohan joined PTL as its MD. Suri established M/s Suri & Associates, which later worked as a consulting firm to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) to help PTL with the tractor manufacturing project. For financing the project, PTL approached the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), but they faced denial as PTL was able to contribute less than 10% of the total project cost, contrary to the requirement of 15-20%. However, considering the excellent DPR and commitment of the project promoters, IDBI’s top management agreed to approve the financial assistance of more than 85% of the total project cost.
TRANSFORMING INDIA AS A TRACTOR EXPORTER
The nation has been on a long journey since the launch of the first Swaraj tractor. Swaraj Tractors achieved a historic milestone by creating India’s first indigenous tractor. PTL first commercially launched Swaraj 724 in 1974. As a result of the initiation of endeavour for Swaraj, India transformed from an importer of tractors to the world’s leading exporter of tractors. Swaraj 735 was awarded with the National Gold Shield Import Substitution during 1975. Chandra Mohan was awarded with Padma Shri in 1985 for his rare entrepreneurial acumen and business strategies. He has lately come to be regarded as the ‘Father of Tractor’ in India. In the early 2000s, India surpassed the United States as the world’s leading manufacturer of tractors. In 2007, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. bought a majority share in PTL, which was incorporated into M&M as the Swaraj Division in February 2009. In 2013, India produced 6,19,000 tractors, accounting for 29% of the global output. In 2018-19, Swaraj produced over 1,20,000 tractors, the second highest by an Indian tractor brand during the year and has sold over 1.5 million tractors since inception. Despite economic liberalisation in 1991, during the 50th year of Swaraj, M&M leads tractor industries in India with a total of 41.68% market share in FY 2023-24.
Image Courtesy: Swarajchannel.co.in
The story of Swaraj, the tractor, is inspirational in its own right but also holds deeper significance in an age and time when there is all round emphasis on Atma Nirbhar Bharat by developing indigenous technology for the country’s progress, and especially relevant in this month when India celebrates National Technology Day in honour of another indigenously developed technology—the nuclear technology.
*The writer is the Principal Scientist and Head of Information Technology at CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur. He is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and also associated with the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad as an Associate Professor of Engineering Sciences. He can be reached at r_barnwal@cmeri.res.in.
