Doda brand product

In news– The Union government has designated Lavender as Doda brand product recently and Doda is the birthplace of India’s Purple Revolution (Aroma Mission).

Key updates-

It was also announced that lavender can be promoted under ‘One District, One Product’ initiative to attract Agri- StartUps, entrepreneurs and farmers.
Kishtwar’s Rattle Hydropower Project has been revived after over eight years.
Rattle Project, which along with Pakkal-Dul project and Kiru project make the entire region Power-surplus.
Khilani – Goha – Sudhmahadev National highway, also linking Kalota and Humbal, and National High Altitude Medicinal Plant Bhaderwah will become functional early next year in district Doda.

About Purple Revolution (Aroma Mission)-

It was launched by the Union Ministry of Science & Technology through the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) Aroma Mission, which aimed at increasing lavender cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The mission’s focus is to take advantage of the geographical conditions and increase the homegrown market along with farmers’ income.
Lavender cultivation is practiced in almost all the 20 districts of Jammu & Kashmir.
Under the mission, first-time farmers were given free lavender saplings, while those who had cultivated lavender before were charged Rs. 5-6 per sapling.
Initially, CSIR introduced high-value essential oil-bearing lavender crops through its Jammu-based laboratory, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicines (IIIM) for cultivation in districts Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri. However, the crop is native to Europe.
Apart from providing planting material, distillation units are provided and farmers are trained in the extraction process.
As a result, many of them have become entrepreneurs specializing in lavender oil.
CSIR has launched Phase-II of Aroma Mission in which it is proposed to engage over 45,000 skilled human resources and will benefit more than 75,000 farming families across the country.
Apart from Lavender, many other high-value aromatic and medicinal cash crops have been introduced by CSIR in J&K.