Flower power

Thanks to government policy and scientific intervention, Bhaderwah’s lavender fields have become the epicentre of India’s Purple Revolution. The next step: going global

- BY KANU SARDA

Suraj Jamwal from Bhaderwah had a well-paying corporate job in Bengaluru and the promise of a comfortable urban future. Then he did something unexpected. He returned home early this year—back to the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir, back to farming.

Today, Jamwal spends his days building a startup around lavender—one of the many new enterprises emerging from Bhaderwah in Doda district. The Himalayan town has become the epicentre of India’s Purple Revolution, an agricultural initiative of the ministry of science and technology.

“When I came back, many people thought I was taking a risk,” said Jamwal, who is in his late 20s. “Today, I employ local people, source from nearby farmers and sell products online. I never imagined that returning home would create more opportunities than staying in the city.”

His journey is the kind of story that Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh believes best captures the transformation underway in the region. Speaking to THE WEEK during an exclusive interaction on the sidelines of the fourth Lavender Festival in Bhaderwah, Singh said the initiative’s biggest success is not measured in acres cultivated or litres of oil extracted, it is measured in people.

“Youngsters are returning to their roots because they can see opportunities here,” said Singh. “This is perhaps the most satisfying outcome of the Purple Revolution.”

That change was visible everywhere at the lavender festival. Farmers discussed production techniques with scientists, startup founders pitched ideas to industry representatives, women entrepreneurs displayed lavender soaps, essential oils and perfumes, and tourists wandered through stalls carrying bottles of locally produced lavender oil.

The gathering reflected how far Bhaderwah had travelled in less than a decade. What began as a scientific intervention under CSIR’s Aroma Mission has evolved into one of India’s most successful examples of science-driven rural entrepreneurship.