Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh unveils the lotus variety named Namoh-108.
Credit: X/@DrJitendraSingh
A Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratory on Saturday unveiled a new variety of lotus with 108 petals and named it Namoh-108 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as botanists in other institutions raised key questions on such a variety.
“Namoh-108 is a grand gift to the relentless zeal and innate beauty of Narendra Modi, coming as it does in the 10th year of his tenure as the prime minister,” Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said in Lucknow.
Developed by the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), the lotus blooms from March to December and is rich in nutrients. It is also the first lotus variety whose genome has been completely sequenced for its characteristics, the Union Science Ministry said in a statement.
“Considering the religious importance of the ‘lotus flower’ and ‘the digit 108’, such a combination gives an important identity to this variety,” said Singh. The digit 108 has significance in Hindu scriptures and religious texts.
However, researchers outside the CSIR system have questions about the NBRI claims. “Why did they waste so much of the taxpayer’s money to bring out a variety with 108 petals? What’s the biological or evolutionary significance of the work,?” questioned a biologist from a leading institute.
Scientists observe the development of bigger varieties of fruits like mango or watermelon is common as they produce more pulp for fruit processing industries, and rose varieties with more petals may be important for perfume makers. Also, there are botanical gardens that make new orchid varieties, name them after celebrities and sell them in the market.
“Will the NBRI sell this variety to the market? It is not clear to me what motivation the NBRI team had. The scientists should explain what kind of biological work they undertook,” a plant biologist who did not wish to be identified told DH, noting that carrying out genetic sequencing was not a big deal any more.
Last year, NBRI former director S K Barik was quoted in a news report claiming that researchers had collected a 108-petal wild lotus from Manipur and planted them in Lucknow. It is not clear whether it was the same Manipur wild variety that has been renamed as Namoh-108 or if there were research contributions from the NBRI team to create this variety.
The minister also announced launching a lotus mission, but didn't provide any details on the component of such a mission.
Singh also released a new variety of Aloe vera named ‘NBRI-Nihar’, a clonal selection having approximately 2.5 times high gel yield in comparison to Aloe vera. As per the field observations, ‘NBRI-Nihar’ is found least affected against bacterial and fungal diseases.