Namoh 108: Jitendra Singh unveils new variety of lotus with 108 petals

"Considering the religious importance of the lotus flower and 'the digit 108', this combination gives an important identity to this variety," Jitendra Singh said

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 "NBRI Namoh 108" lotus variety flowers from March to December and is the first flower whose genome is completely sequenced for its characteristics.

"Considering the religious importance of the lotus flower and 'the digit 108', this combination gives an important identity to this variety," Singh said.

Singh lauded the NBRI for naming the lotus variety as "Namoh 108" and termed 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".

NBRI is a constituent institution of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

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 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.