New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) The Ministry of Ayush on Monday signed two significant Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), to boost the conservation and increase public awareness of medicinal plants in the country.

The first MoU was signed between the NMPB and IshVed-Bioplants Venture, Maharashtra, and the second tripartite MoU was signed among NMPB, All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

“The vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to build a healthier and self-reliant India by 2047 guides our efforts today. I congratulate all the institutions involved in signing these important MoUs, which represent a significant milestone in conserving and promoting India’s rich medicinal plant heritage,” said Union Minister Prataprao Jadhav.

“By integrating traditional knowledge with modern science, we are making meaningful progress toward realising this ambitious vision,” he added.

The MoU between NMPB and IshVed-Bioplants Venture aims to conserve and maintain the germplasm of rare, endangered, and threatened (RET) medicinal plants through tissue culture methods.

This will bring better value to the stakeholders through the development of tissue culture methods and their extensive cultivation and maintenance protocols. It will also help facilitate the supply of medicinal plants in the rare, endangered, and threatened (RET) category used in the Ayush industry.

The second MoU aims to establish a national-level medicinal plants garden in the premises of AIIMS, New Delhi, and to spread public awareness about medicinal plants, sharing knowledge and expertise.

This will develop public awareness about the medicinal plants among patients and students who come from distant areas and will also benefit the visitors in the hospital premises, the Ministry said.

Both MoUs mark a milestone in the Ministry of Ayush’s continued efforts to promote evidence-based conservation, research, and public engagement in the medicinal plants sector.

–IANS

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