Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
Palakkad is popularly known as the Gateway to Kerala. Endless vistas of green paddy fields greet a visitor entering the district. Pallakad is dotted with valleys, hillocks, rivers, forests, mountains streams, dams and irrigation projects. It is also the rice-bowl of Kerala, the land of Navara rice. Navara is now …
Navara paysam Though Navara tastes "a little rough' compared to other varieties of rice, Navara paysam makes a delectable sweet dish. It is made by adding jaggery to well cooked Navara. This mixture is allowed to cook some more till it turns into a smooth paste. Dry fruits fried in …
Sri Lanka spends nearly Rs. 200 million to import 44 kinds of ayurvedic medicines from India every year. A recent survey conducted by the Indigenous Medicine Ministry has revealed that medicinal herbs required to prepare 37 kinds of these Ayurvedic medicines could be cultivated in the country. The target is …
Union Minister of Tribal Welfare Shri P.R. Kyndiah will be launching 'Vindhya Herbals' on May 18, 2008 at 7 pm. at Phulwari Pragati Maidan New Delhi. The function will be jointly organised by TRIFED and Madhya Pradesh State Minor Forest Federation. Kunwar Vijay Shah Chairman of M.P., MFP will be …
The Social Forestry Department of the State Government has decided to set up National Green Corps (NGC) parks in each district by July 31. In a joint venture with the forestry department, the city-based Poona Club is engaged in wooing environmentalists
The term bioprospecting has been widely used to assess the economic potential of different plant species and their value-addition. Our folklore with embedded cultural heritage has tremendous possibilities and potential for bioprospecting. Among the over 8000 species of flowering plants growing in the Himalaya, nearly 4000 are identified from the …
Resource-rich Nagaland is plagued by bio-piracy, with rare medicinal herbs, orchids and other endangered species being smuggled out of the State, NGOs have claimed. Many plants are being taken away by pharmaceutical companies through middlemen who engage locals to collect naturally grown species for paltry sums, Thomas Rengma, Media Secretary …
In this paper, the role of "seabuckthorn" in greening the cold deserts of Himalayas in terms of its various uses like medicinal values, nutritional/food values and controlling soil erosion/landslides has been detailed.
Plants are an integral part of life and culture. Folk songs give an idea of plants growing in the surrounding environs of tribal's and throw light on plant-based practices in usage in various spheres of their lives, including the material benefits derived and recreational opportunities offered. This article talks about …
Agro-technologies for cultivation of a number of medicinal plants have been developed but large scale cultivation of medicinal plants on farm lands in Uttarakhand is yet to begin. Among other causes for this gap, lack of reasonable correct information on economics of cultivation of medicinal plants is one important cause.
The habitat loss, increasing air pollution, changes in the microclimatic conditions and uncontrolled harvest have become the major detrimental factors for lichen diversity in India. Propagation of lichens by means of tissue culture method proved to be uneconomical and their re-introduction into the field has been unsuccessful. Hence declaring lichen-rich …
The Forest department of the State has undertaken an ambitious project of bamboo plantation to strengthen the economic foundation of the State. Talking to mediapersons recently at Nagaon, Rockybul Hussain, Forest Minister told that his department would plant bamboo on 2000 hectares of land around Guwahati through the Bamboo Mission. …
Local bodies and their representatives have a crucial and paramount role to play in the protection of biodiversity and in the conservation of fauna and flora, according to National Biodiversity Authority chairman S Kannaiyan. There were 15,000 different types of medicinal plants in the country, and 429 varieties were facing …
The first meeting of an expert committee on medicinal plants has urged the Forest Department to submit a report, within a month, on in situ conservation and preservation of medicinal plants in natural habitats. Talking to reporters on Tuesday, S. Kannaiyan, Chairman, National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), said a threat assessment …
Rice is known as the grain of life, and is synonymous with food for Asians. In addition to being a staple food and an integral part of social rites, rituals and festivals in almost all Asian countries, it has a medicinal value too, which was clearly recognized by the medicine …
Forest minister J.P. Nadda today said the government would soon review the policy for exporting Khair wood and kuth to help protect the economic interests of the farmers. Presiding over a meeting of senior officers to review the functioning of the Forest Department here he said the government would consider …
Bamboos are one of the versatile plant groups with multifarious uses and meet many needs of the society. Bamboo is a viable replacement for wood and industrial raw material for both traditional cottage and modern industrial sectors. The employment potential of bamboo is very high and the major work forces …
The sprawling President's Estate that already boasts a Herbal Garden, a Nakshatra Garden, a Spiritual Garden and a Tactile Garden for the visually impaired will soon have a new patch of green -- a Palm Garden that will have on display an assortment of palm trees. The proposal has already …
The tribal women in the sleepy village of Donga-nala in Korba district run a unit for making medicines from herbs, thus converting traditional medicinal knowledge into fortunes. Tribal women beat the poverty trap with fortunes from traditional medicines Converting traditional medicinal knowledge into fortunes
The Horticulture Department is initiating a study to check if a natural compound found in kinnow can be used for treating cancer patients and help in lowering cholesterol in the blood. The department has approached the Punjab Farmers Commission to either have a collaboration with the PGI or some other …
