India has come a long way since 1945 when it became one of the founding members of FAO as a low-income food-deficient country. Today, the country is not only self-sufficient in rice and wheat, it also produces over 260 million tonnes of food grains, 269 million tonnes of agriculture produce and 132 million tonnes of milk. Agriculture is a mainstay of the country’s economy, contributing to 18 percent of India’s GDP and providing a source of employment for more than 47 percent of the population.* FAO has been a staunch partner in this journey of success since 1948, when our operations in India first began. In recent years, our efforts in the country have gone beyond the realm of food production, concentrating on providing technical assistance for incorporating best practices to generate agricultural outlooks, facilitating adoption and promotion of improved livestock management practices, and building knowledge and capacities of communities to adapt to climate change. At the same time, India is also an important knowledge partner for FAO, providing technical expertise to other countries, and the lessons learned from programmes implemented over the years are now being applied in other parts of the world.