INDIA'S Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has come out with eco-friendly biodegradable bags for laddus (round-shaped sweet)– one of the top attractions at the Tirumala temple in Tirupati, one of India’s most visited pilgrimage located in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
On Sunday (22), DRDO chairman Satish Reddy, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam executive officer Dr K S Jawahar Reddy and additional executive officer A V Dharma Reddy inaugurated an exclusive sale counter for the green products, agencies reported.
Speaking to reporters outside the Laddu Complex where the new counter started, Reddy said Advance Systems Laboratory of DRDO Hyderabad has been conducting research and inventing ways to come out with the best environment-friendly replacement for the environment-unfriendly plastic.
“To minimise single-use plastic, we have come out with these eco-friendly bags made of starch of corn which degrade naturally within 90 days and are also not harmful even if the cattle consume them. After a detailed research and rigorous testing of the formula, we have come out with these bags for Tirumala,” he said.
The DRDO chairman also said that the conventional polyethylene bags made from petrochemicals are toxic for the surroundings and take nearly 200 years to degrade. On the other hand, the new bags would be used as a sustainable, cost-effective and ocean-safe alternative to such plastic products, he added.
“Products like these are essential for the survival of mankind. After observing the response from the pilgrims for a few days, we are planning to commence its sales in a full-fledged manner,” Reddy said, welcoming the move.
Army personnel stand amid the rubble following an explosion inside the police headquarters at Kohat in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18, 2026. An explosion at a historic police headquarters in northern Pakistan on September 18 killed at least eight people and wounded 35 more, officials said, with the country's president swiftly blaming a militant group. Getty Images
Mourners read the holy Quran while sitting around the grave of a paramilitary personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) who was killed during the Afghanistan-Pakistan border clashes, in Kohat on October 17, 2025. A ceasefire along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan was holding on October 16, officials on both sides said, after dozens of troops and civilians were killed in cross-border clashes.Getty Images
