Gujarat CM renames dragon fruit as Kamalam

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani announced the state government’s move to rename dragon fruit as ‘Kamalam’ on Tuesday, citing that farmers believed it looked like a lotus. Claiming that the name dragon fruit did not sound appropriate, CM Vijay Rupani said that people often mistook the fruit to originate from China owing to its name.

Dragon fruit is grown widely in the areas of Kutch, Navsari, and parts of Saurashtra in Gujarat. However, CM Vijay Rupani ruled out any political reasoning behind renaming the fruit as Kamalam, which is also the name of the BJP’s state headquarters in Gujarat – while the Lotus is the symbol of the BJP.

The Gujarat government on Tuesday announced a ‘Horticulture Development Mission’ under which wasteland will be given on lease to farmers or companies to turn it into cultivable agriculture land. The HDM will be implemented on a pilot basis in Kutch, Patan, Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, and Surendranagar districts, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said.

“Many parcels of land in Gujarat are not cultivable and are like desert areas. In order to make such land cultivable and increase the income of farmers, the Horticulture Development Mission is being introduced,” he said.

“Some farmers in such districts have worked hard and developed farming of fruit as well as cultivation of medicinal plants. Regions of north Gujarat and Kutch have emerged as a hub for cultivating pomegranate, guava, dates, papaya, etc,” he added.