New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) has successfully concluded its Internship Programme on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Ayush systems, the Ministry of Ayush said on Saturday.

The programme, conducted from December 15 to strengthen the application of information technology and data-driven approaches in Ayush research, concluded on January 30.

It also offered an interactive and interdisciplinary learning environment, enabling interns to integrate traditional Ayush concepts with modern computational tools.

Prof. Rabinarayan Acharya, Director General (DG), CCRAS, highlighted the strategic importance of AI in advancing the Ayush sector and outlined the ongoing initiatives of CCRAS in this area.

“The applications developed during the internship should be carried forward for validation and scaling through structured, project-mode implementation,” he added.

A total of 180 applications were received for the internship, from which 33 students were selected following a structured screening process. The participants worked on a wide range of AI-enabled projects, including applications in medicinal plant research, bioinformatics, Prakriti assessment, medical imaging, posture detection, and optical character recognition (OCR) of manuscripts.

The projects were aligned with CCRAS’s broader objectives of digital documentation, evidence generation, and technology-enabled validation of traditional knowledge systems.

Mentorship by domain experts encouraged innovation, critical thinking, and practical problem-solving among the participants.

They appreciated the efforts of the interns and emphasised the growing relevance of emerging technologies in strengthening evidence-based research across Ayush systems.

“The internship programme reflects CCRAS’s continued commitment to capacity building, innovation, and institutional strengthening by engaging young talent and promoting the use of advanced technologies in Ayush research and development,” the Ministry said.

“The initiative is expected to contribute to the creation of a robust research ecosystem and support the long-term vision of mainstreaming Ayush through evidence-based and technology-driven approaches,” it added.

–IANS

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