Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday unveiled a new variety of lotus flower with 108 petals, named "Namoh 108", developed by the city-based National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI). The Namoh 108 lotus variety flowers from March to December and is rich in nutrients. This is the first lotus variety whose genome is completely sequenced for its characteristics, Ministry of Science & Technology said in a statement.
Singh hailed the NBRI for naming the lotus variety as "Namoh 108" and called it a grand gift to the "relentless zeal and innate beauty of Narendra Modi in the tenth year of his tenure as the prime minister," as per the statement. "Considering the religious importance of the lotus flower and 'the digit 108', this combination gives an important identity to this variety," Singh said.
NBRI is a premier plant-based, multidisciplinary, state-of-the-art National R&D center based in Lucknow. Singh also released apparel made from lotus fibre and perfume 'Frotus', extracted from lotus flowers and developed by the NBRI under the Lotus Research Programme in collaboration with Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre, Kannauj, the statement further stated.
The minister also launched the Lotus Mission and said this project was being undertaken in a mission mode like other priority schemes such as the National Honey and Bee Mission, National Bamboo Mission, National Food Security Mission, National Mission on Natural Farming, National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture and Gokul Mission.
“Under the guidance of PM Modi, the Government has now initiated the Lotus Mission after the stupendous success of Aroma Mission. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has reiterated that this Government not only starts a scheme or project, but also ensures that it is capped,” he said, as per the statement.
During the event, Singh also released herbal colours for various applications, extracted by NBRI from flower offerings made at temples, which can also be used for dying silk and cotton cloths. The Minister also released the new variety of Aloe vera named ‘NBRI-Nihar’, a clonal selection with approximately 2.5 times the gel yield compared to Aloe vera, the statement said.
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