India has become the first country in the world to develop genome-edited rice varieties. Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched the first two genome-edited rice varieties developed by ICAR institutions. Addressing the event in New Delhi, the Minister congratulated agriculture scientists who were involved in this project and said that the country has faith in the capability of the country’s agricultural scientists. He said that this research will prove to be a milestone in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolution of Viksit Bharat. Mr Chouhan said that to fulfil the nutritional demands of the increasing population, the country needs to increase its production. He added that these two varieties are not only beneficial to farmers but also to the public. These varieties have been developed for Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. 

The first rice variety named DRR Dhan 100 Kamala has been derived from Samba Mahsuri, which matures 15 to 20 days earlier and yields 25 per cent more production. The second variety, named Pusa DST Rice 1, is salinity and alkalinity tolerant and yields 30 per cent higher production under saline conditions. Cultivation of these varieties in about 5 million hectares of the recommended area will produce 4.5 million tons of additional paddy. Speaking at the occasion, the Agriculture Minister termed the launch of these varieties as historic and said that these two varieties will reduce the cost of production and increase the yield. He said that these will be more effective in fulfilling the nutritional demands of the increasing population of the country.

ICAR said that these varieties mark a major step in climate-resilient and high-yield agriculture. It added that these varieties will play a leading role in heralding the second green revolution in the country.