The National Biodiversity Authority has released a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources. The Biological Diversity (Access to biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 was approved by the Central government and …
Using the framework of medicine as culture and focusing on the indigenous medicine of ayurveda, this paper examines the relationship between health, culture and medicine, and its social reproduction in contemporary India. Specifically it deals with the cultural construct of
This is an attempt to answer two questions on the manufacture of ayurvedic products in Kerala. First, has the performance of the ayurvedic sector been impressive? Preliminary analysis shows that the ayurvedic industry, which has a concentrated market structure, is growing at a much higher rate than that of overall …
The demand for cure and for the care of a growing range of health conditions which elude any particular system of medicine has made pluralism in therapeutic options a way of life. The spread and continuity of indigenous systems of medicines, namely, ayurveda, siddha and unani, have thrown up a …
Mainstreaming the ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha, homeopathy systems should imply deep changes in maternity care. Big changes there are, but in the wrong direction. Aiming to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, the National Rural Health Mission
At a time when fast food reigns, one hardly thinks of cherishing a local Indian delicacy and conserving a local plant variety. M P Nayar, former director of the Botanical Survey of India who currently heads the government Task Force on Agro-biodiversity Hotspots recently completed mapping these hotspots. P R …
Arunachal Pradesh, being the largest state in Northeast India, has unique biocultural resources. To enhance the sustainability of biocultural resources, a series of village workshops (15) were organized among the Adi community of Arunachal Pradesh. The objective was to explore and understand the dynamics of iocultural knowledge, livelihood, ecosystems and …
Authored by MS Suneetha and Balakrishna Pisupati and presented during a side-event at ABS 7, this report attempts to assess and analyze the issues related to benefit sharing, the entry points for discussions on the issues and the possible considerations that national implementing authorities should make before deciding on benefit …
The shifting cultivation in Nagaland state is described as an agricultural system where a farming community slashes secondary forests on a predetermined location, burns the slash and cultivates the land for a limited number of years. The land is then left fallow and the farming community moves to the next …
The 150th birth anniversary of one of the greatest physicists of India, Sir JC Bose was celebrated in 2008. His paper "On the similarity of effect of electric stimulus on inorganic and living substances" presented in 1900 in Paris, France remains a classic today. Bose's studies refelected Vedic thoughts. In …
Maize is grown in every suitable agricultural region of the globe. In India, maize is grown on 6 million ha area mainly as rainfed crop during rainy season and only 22.8% maize is grown under irrigated conditions. In this article, the authors have examined simple indigenous technologies that are beneficial …
Forests and women are strongly interconnected with each other because women, particularly those living in rural areas or mountain areas, have a deep relationship with the forest ecology because they are responsible for gathering food, fuel, fodder, leaves and water for the family. Hence, women directly play an important role …
The study on indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) about use of spent mushroom substrate (SMS) for agriculture revealed wide variations in age of the SMS applied in different crops at mushroom grower
Indigenous practices play a vital role in sustainable agriculture development and are unique to a given culture of society. An exhaustive survey was conducted in dry tracts of Tamil Nadu to document the indigenous storage structures used by farmers. Information was documented by using participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques. During …
The paper enumerates 39 medicinal plant species belonging to 39 genera and 28 families, which are used as folk medicine in the treatment of various ailments or diseases by the rural and common people of Meerut district.
Plant species used in the treatment of skin diseases among the indigenous communities of Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu was conducted between 2003-2004. Thirty plant species belonging to 29 genera and 22 families were found to be used specifically in the treatment of various 11 skin diseases viz., dandruff, eczema, …
The study was undertaken to identify various traditional tools used for agricultural operations by the farmers of Tamil Nadu. Agricultural tools are as old as Stone Age. Traditional agricultural tools were economical in terms of labour, money and time saving. These tools were made up of locally available materials like …
Arunachal Pradesh, falling under Easter Himalayan region one of the global mega-diversity centers, is a botanical paradise and the home of 110 ethnic communities (tribes) most of which are still forest dwellers and so diverse that they can not understand each others language. Hindi is gradually becoming popular among the …
The concept of food security has evolved during the last three decades to include not only food availability, but also economic access to food and the biological absorption of food in the body. The author discusses in this paper the challenge of achieving sustainable advances in farm productivity, leading to …
