Prez Murmu Lauds Tribals and NRRI for Keeping Alive India’s Rice Cultivation Heritage

Cuttack: India is proud of its rice diversity and rice is a key factor of food security and the economy in India, said President Droupadi Murmu at the second Rice Congress at ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) in Cuttack on Saturday.

According to her, rice is part of our heritage and culture as it is mentioned in the Vedas and several ancient literatures. Rituals and festivals in India are incomplete without rice. A baby’s first solid food is usually something made of rice, she said.

Elaborating on the history of rice production in India, she said the NRRI was established soon after the Bengal famine and just before India won its Independence. According to her, the NRRI for more than 75 years has been working in areas of basic, applied and adaptive research related to paddy while imparting training to various stakeholders.

According to Murmu, India’s every region is proud of its unique rice variety. She hailed the traditional rice growers from tribal communities of Odisha for their efforts to conserve unique genetic resources of rice for ages.

The president praised Padma Shri Kamala Pujari of Koraput, who has collected and preserved 100 endangered crop varieties including rice.

“India has developed a high-protein rice called CR-Dhan 310 which will help our country’s overall nutrition profile. The NRRI has also released High zinc variety called CR Dhan 315. The development of bio-fortified rice is an example of science in the service in society,” the president said.