Uttarakhand Governor Dr KK Paul stressed the need for more efforts to establish Uttarakhand as a leading herbal State, given its leading role in Ayurveda and its immense herbal wealth. In his address on a symposium on “Herbal Research, Opportunities, Challenges and Beyond”, which was organised at UCOST (Vigyan Dham, Jhajra, Dehradun) by the management of the Universities’ Journal of Phytochemistry and Ayurvedic Heights (UPJAH), Dr Paul said that Uttarakhand has great potential in the area which needs to be tapped and utilised in the interests of the state. He said he hoped this symposium would prove an effective step in this direction.
Uttarakhand is virtually an herbal state and the State Medicinal Plants Board had been constituted and the Herbal Research & Development Institute at Gopeshwar had been made the apex agency for synchronising and promoting the sector, he said. “I have had a personal interest in this area, having been a student of Chemistry. I have also visited the laboratory located at Mandal. The unit has not had a Director for quite some time and appeared to be in a state of neglect. I gave them some ideas.”
The systematic study on herbs specially on their scientific documentation and research was the need of the day, he stressed while appreciating the fact that the scientists carrying out research on herbs had been present at this fifteenth symposium of the UPJAH. Dr Paul stressed that emphasis should be laid on in-vitro studies of herbs to prove their therapeutic efficacy and thus to standardise the drugs so obtained. “The results obtained should be documented scientifically. The programme for development of the Medicinal Plant sector needs research, development and extension carried out in a planned manner. The responsible use of the natural resources to ensure their availability for the future is a major global concern. Besides, sustainable utilization of Medicinal and Aromatic plants was the most tenable strategy for conserving them,” he said.
“It is best to have a policy that allows the extraction of medicinal plants from the wild only up to a sustainable extent and the promotion of large scale cultivation of MAPs to meet the growing demands of industries”.
Dr Paul also released the 20th volume of the the bi-annual Universities’ Journal of Phytochemistry and Ayurvedic Heights on the occasion.
The journal had motivated a large number of scientists and highlighted their work under the guidance of Dr S Farooq, Dr GK Pathak, Dr IP Saxena and Dr IP Pandey.
Dr Dobhal, DG UCOST, briefed the Governor and participants about the activity profile of the UCOST and the progrmme. He added that the Regional Science Centre is attracting a large number of students and common masses and providing platform to create scientific understanding of various principles of Science & Technology.