Lok Sabha Question No. 2148 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-05-06
Subject: Ethnic Medicinal Practices
Ministry: AYURVEDA,YOGA & NATUROPATHY,UNANI,SIDDHA AND HOMEOPATHY (AYUSH)
Asked by: P. KARUNAKARAN, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, T. RADHAKRISHNAN, PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH)

LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2148 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 TH MAY, 2016

## ETHNIC MEDICINAL PRA CTICES

## 2148. SHRI P. KARUNAKARAN:

DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:

SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN:

SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL:

Will  the  Minister of AYURVEDA,  YOGA  AND  NATUROPATHY,  UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH) be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the Government  has  taken  note  of  the  ethnic  medicinal  practices  and  trib medicines, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of such tribal medicines  and practices that have been included in the programme;
- (c) the details of edible leaves, flowers, roots, stems etc. which provide iron, calcium, and the use and places where these are grown; and
- (d) the measures taken by the Government to preserve such medicines?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE (I C) OF THE MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (SHRI SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK)

- (a): Yes. With the mandate to conduct various research activities on traditional medicine activities  undertaken  in  the  matter  by  four  autonomous  Research  Councils  under  Ministr AYUSH, namely,  Central  Council  for  Research  in  Ayurvedic  Sciences  (CCRAS) ,  Central Council for Research in Unani Medicines (CCRUM), Central Council for Research in Siddh (CCRS) and Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy are as under:

CCRAS : The Tribal Health Care Research Programme is a continuous programme since 1982 with activities including collection of folk medicines/ traditional practices.

Contd…….

CCRH : The Council has carried out recording of folklore and ethno - medicinal practices from the tribals of Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu.

CCRS : The ethno medicinal knowledge of folklore practitioners are documented through surve tours.

CCRUM : Folk medicinal uses of plants  from the tribal and rural folks have been recorde

In addition to these, the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) under its scheme has also supported some R&D projects on ethno - botanical records in Assam, Karnataka, Mizoram, Manipur, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh on medicinal usage of local flora by tribal people.

(b): The details are as under:

(i)CCRAS has conducted five Intr a Mural Research(IMR) projects on ethnic medicinal practices.

- (ii) 23 medicines are used in Homoeopathy.

(iii) 750 folklore claims documented and one IMR project initiated by CCRS.

(c): The NMPB through Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions ( FRLHT), Bangalore has developed a database on Indian medicinal plants which contain information a the habitat and therapeutic uses of more than 7,000 medicinal plants species. This datab public domain and can be accessed at www.medicalplants.in .

Some of the R&D projects supported by NMPB has worked upon various medicinal and nutraceutical potential of Cassia tora, Cissus javanica and Discorea floribunda which are prevalent amongst the tribal populations of States like Kerala, Manipur and some North - Ea t region, as a medicine or food supplement.

(d): To  prevent  misappropriation  of  the  country's  traditional  medicinal  knowledge,  the Ministry of AYUSH in collaboration with Council for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) has established a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) which entails transcripti Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha codified texts into English, German, French, Japanese and Span The database is shared wi th patent offices of other countries and forms part of their pre -grant searches.

National  Medicinal  Plants  Board  supports  setting  up  of  Medicinal  Plant  Conservat Areas(MPCAs), augmentation and plantation activity for conservation of medical plants in - situ and  ex situ  under  'Central  Sector  Scheme  on  Conservation,  Development  and  Sust ainable Management of Medicinal Plants' and under National Ayush Mission (NAM) for cultivation of medicinal plants by farmers with backward and forward linkages.  In addition, the Govern of  India  has  established  a  National  Institute  'The  North  Eastern Institute  of  Folk  Medicine (NEIFM) at Pasighat, East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh under Ministry of AYUSH with view to revitalize, promote and harness these local health traditions for the wellbeing public especially living in North Eastern Region. The activities of the Institute will further he in protecting the knowledge and resources of folk medicines in the North Eastern Region.

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