140 Research Projects on medicinal plants are being currently supported by NMPB: Shripad Naik

New Delhi: The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Naik in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha has informed that 140 Research Projects on medicinal plants are being currently supported by NMPB.

A number of research / studies on medicinal values of plants are being carried out by various government as well as private universities / research institutions/ organizations in India.

Presently, research projects on various aspects (viz. literary research, survey, identification, documentation, micropropagation, agrotechnology, drug standardization, pharmacological and clinical research etc.) of medicinal plants are being supported by different Ministries/Departments of Government of India (viz. Ministry of AYUSH, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture & Family Welfare, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology etc.) under their concerned schemes / programmes.

Under the Ministry of AYUSH, different Research Councils viz. Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) and Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) are engaged in research & development activities on medicinal plants used in concerned system of medicine.

In addition, the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH, under its Central Sector Scheme on “Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants” is also supporting research & development projects on various aspects on medicinal plants to number of government as well as private universities / research institutions/ organizations across the country.

At present more than 140 research projects, supported under NMPB’s Central Sector Scheme on various aspects of medicinal plants, are ongoing in various universities/ research organizations in different states of the country.

Some of the premier research institutions/organizations doing research on medicinal value of plants are: Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP)- Lucknow, Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI)- Lucknow, Indian Institute for Integrative Medicines (IIIM)- Jammu, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT)- Palampur, National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI)- Lucknow, North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST)- Jorhat under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research (DMAPR)- Anand, Gujarat under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR); Indian Council of Forestry and Education (ICFRE)- Dehradun, and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).