New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir’s lavender-based agri-entrepreneurship, referred to as the “Purple Revolution,” received national recognition on Tuesday as the CSIR-led Aroma Mission team was conferred the Rashtriya Vigyan Team Puraskar 2025 at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The award was presented by President Droupadi Murmu, highlighting how lavender cultivation from J&K’s Himalayan regions has emerged as a model for science-driven rural livelihoods.
The recognition came during the second edition of the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar, where 24 eminent scientists and innovators from across the country were honoured in the presence of Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh. The Aroma Mission team was acknowledged for powering India’s much-discussed “Purple Revolution” by translating laboratory research into field-level outcomes, particularly through the promotion of lavender cultivation and processing in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Aroma Mission, operating under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has been credited with opening new livelihood avenues for farmers in J&K, reducing India’s dependence on imported essential oils and demonstrating the socio-economic impact of coordinated scientific intervention. Lavender cultivation, which began in areas such as Bhaderwah and Gulmarg, has now spread to other parts of the Union Territory and is being adopted by states like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Congratulating the team, Dr Jitendra Singh wrote on X that the award recognised the mission’s contribution in “gifting the world the concept of the Purple Revolution and presenting lavender as a new avenue of agri-entrepreneurship, kindling prospects of attractive livelihood even in remote hilly terrains of the Himalayas.”
At the ceremony, the prestigious Rashtriya Vigyan Ratna Puraskar 2025 for lifetime achievement was awarded posthumously to renowned astrophysicist Prof Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. Several other awards under the Vigyan Shri and Vigyan Yuva categories recognised individual and early-career contributions across disciplines including agriculture, biological sciences, engineering, medicine, space science, mathematics and technology.
Instituted by the Modi government as part of a new national science awards architecture, the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar aims to acknowledge excellence across the full spectrum of scientific work, from lifetime achievement to team-based innovation. This year’s ceremony underscored the growing emphasis on application-oriented science and its role in addressing national priorities.
