The Hindu : New Delhi News : Fragrance, brightness, pleasing colours: it's all about flowers....

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 09, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Fragrance, brightness, pleasing colours: it's all about flowers....

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: Describing flowers as a feast to the eyes, President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam on Friday said the time had come to genetically design flowers that would have a unique shape, petal size, pleasing colour with a longer shelf life and fragrance. Dr. Kalam, who inaugurated the three-day 2nd International Flora Expo 2006 and 1st International Landscape Expo 2006 at Pragati Maidan here, was presented with possibly "the world's biggest flower bouquet" consisting of over 175,000 flowers by the Indian Flowers and Ornamental Plants Welfare Association on behalf of farmers across the country.

However, the President showed his large-heartedness by not carrying the gargantuan bouquet to his residence but donating it to the expo so that the public could see and adore it.

Revealing that he had been living among flowers from early morning to late evening day in and day out at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Dr. Kalam said: "Whichever direction we go, flowers greet us. There are beautiful flowers that adore and beautify the Mughal Gardens through their appearance, brightness, pleasing colours and fragrance. There are some varieties of jasmine that blossom with fragrance in the morning and others blossom with fragrance in the evening. "

Stating that floriculture indeed needs a national vision promoted by Union the Ministry of Agriculture and the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the President said this would help the country attain a target of 1 billion dollar worth of floriculture exports by 2010.

Besides promoting the export of flowers, Dr. Kalam said it was essential to recognise that there are 300 million middle class people in the country who simply love flowers.

"In many parts of the country, women love flowers. They wear flowers and offer them to God on auspicious occasions. I believe we have to develop a flower business within the country that may at times exceed the export demand. We should develop floriculture keeping both the domestic and international markets in mind," he added.

Stressing the need to devise a unique variety of rose from the country that would combine flowering beauty and fragrance, Dr. Kalam said: "For carrying out such challenging experiments both with flowers and other bio-diverse creations of nature, I have earmarked about five acres of land in Rashtrapati Bhavan. I invite five floriculturists who would like to scientifically explore the creation of new varieties of flowers that give both beauty and fragrance. This will give a message of uniqueness and give Indian flavour to the whole world."

Noting that Indian roses were sought after in both the Western and Eastern world, Dr. Kalam said the world's best Internet-based auction site was operated from Bangalore. "During Valentine's Day, it is common to see aircraft loads of roses being shipped from places like Bangalore. If only we could succeed in making the roses both beautiful and fragrant and long lasting, we will have a significant share in the world market."

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