|
Panel asks Ministry to ensure effective implementation of central sector scheme on medicinal plants
|
|
Gireesh Babu, New Delhi
April 30 , 2025
|
|
|
The Parliamentary Panel on Health and Family Welfare has sought the Ministry of Ayush to ensure effective implementation of various practices for quality and safety of medicinal plants used for manufacturing of Ayush drugs in the country.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, in its 165th report on Demands for Grants 2025-26 of the Ministry of Ayush, also recommended to the Ministry to give fresh further impetus to promote India on Global Medical Tourism encouraging foreign nationals to seek an alternative mode of treatment through Ayush.
Analysing the central sector scheme on Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants, implemented by the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) in order to promote Research and Development (R&D), the Panel said that it is of the considered view that Ministry should continue to take concrete steps to ensure quality assurance, supply chain and creating or optimizing market linkages and value addition in the scheme.
The Panel noted that there is already a provision for supporting the projects on quality assurance for maintaining good standards while collecting, cultivating and post-harvest handling of the raw material.
"In this regard, the Committee desires that the Ministry should ensure effective implementation of Voluntary Certification Schemes for Medicinal Plants produce (VCSMPP) to encourage Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) and Good Field Collection Practices (GFCP) in medicinal plants and enhance quality and safety of these plants," said the panel headed by Member of Rajya Sabha Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav.
The mission objective of the scheme is to formulate policies and scheme that will promote conservation of medicinal plants, both in-situ (protecting the plants in their natural habitat) and ex-situ (Preserving the plants outside its natural environment), ensure sustained supply of certified raw material of quality for the Ayush and herbal industries, integrate medicinal plants cultivation in the agricultural cropping cycle and increase the export of value added products of quality and thereby creating brand India in the international herbal market.
The budget allocation for the scheme has grown significantly from Rs. 19.53 crore actual expenditure during 2023-24, to Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs. 49.49 crore in 2024-25 and Rs. 65 crore in 2025-26. The Revised Estimate (RE) for 2024-25, however, was at Rs. 40 crore for the scheme. The Ministry informed the Panel that the additional requirement is for adding new components, that is, forward and backward linkage in the supply chain of medicinal plants, which is an integrated component of the projects.
From the inception of the scheme in 2001-02 to 2024-25, projects under various themes including bioactivity guided fractionation studies and pre-clinical studies (Rs. 12.45 crore); development of agro techniques, standardization of nursery techniques and cultivation practices (Rs. 16.04 crore); documentation and development of geo tag digital library (Rs. 11.75 crore); finding out substitute and authentication of raw drugs (Rs. 6.96 crore); in-vitro propagation studies, micro propagation chemical & molecular profiling and phyto-chemicals evaluation (Rs. 26.57 crore); and post-harvest management, assessment of heavy metals and integrated pest management (Rs. 17.01 crore). A total of Rs. 115 crore has been spent on almost 10 themes during the scheme period so far, informed the Ministry.
Under the scheme, it has conducted various R&D activities of medicinal tree species used in Triphala and Dashamoola, and prepared monographs on Salacia. NPMB has so far identified five unique projects which are novel in nature and patentable and the filings of Intellectual Property Rights are published on these findings, it added. A total of 66 research papers, handbooks or review articles published under R&D component supported projects during the past five years, it added.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOPICS
|
That foods might provide therapeutic benefits is clearly not a new concept. ...
|
|
|
|
|