The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s tableau during the 75th Republic Day parade highlighted the unleashing of a Purple Revolution ushered through lavender cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The CSIR’s scientific interventions have led to the phenomenal growth of lavender cultivation and development of lavender products taking lavender from lab-to-market and creating several agri-start-ups in J&K.
The tableau also showcased India’s first women friendly, compact, Electric Tractor developed by the CSIR, the Ministry of Science & Technology said here on Saturday.
The visually enchanting tableau aligned with the ‘Viksit Bharat’ theme of the Republic Day Parade 2024.
The CSIR developed an elite variety of lavender suitable for cultivation in temperate regions of J&K and provided free saplings and end-to-end agro-technologies to farmers and also installed distillation units for essential oil extraction in several regions of J&K.
The success of lavender cultivation in J&K earned it the sobriquet, ‘Purple Revolution’.
The front section of tableau represented ample cultivation of lavender and an empowered 21st century woman farmer figurine from J&K. The middle section showcased scientific interventions by CSIR scientists and providing quality planting materials to a farmer and also featured farmers working on the lavender farmland.
Under agro-mechanical technology, the indigenously developed India’s first women-friendly compact electric tractor of CSIR, PRIMA ET11, was showcased. Highlighting agro-technical developments, the distillation unit for extracting essential oil from lavender flowers was also shown.
The rear section features the concept of Agri-start-ups in India and export of lavender based products (perfumes, oil, incense sticks).
The all-women CSIR tableau showcased achievements under Government’s initiatives of scientific developments enhancing farmers’ incomes, Naari Shakti, Agri-start-ups and global business.