Address at the Agri Horticultural Society of India

I am delighted to be here today at the Agri Horticultural Society of India. My greetings to the President of the Society, Patrons, Past Presidents of the Society, members and present office bearers of the Society, distinguished guests and students. It was indeed a matter of great pleasure to see the Herbal Block and the rare plants. In Rashtrapati Bhavan also, a herbal garden has been developed with 32 varieties of plants particularly Germanium, Sadabahar and Sarpagandha, which attracts a large number of young researchers, farmers, small scale entrepreneurs, industrialists and students.

A nation's strength predominantly resides in its natural and human resources. In natural resources, India is endowed with a vast coast-line with marine resources. India ranks among the top few nations having a rich bio-diversity. Particularly, in the herbal area there are potential applications for developing multiple products for nutrition, prevention and cure of diseases. There are tremendous opportunities for growth in global market of herbal product. India has similar potential for promoting floriculture and aquaculture in a big way. India is rich in herbs, germ plasm and micro organisms. Industrially developed countries are importing these bio-resources in the raw forms and add value to them for export to developing countries including India as special seeds, medicines and bio-materials, fully protecting patents of these products. Instead of allowing export of such resources and importing value added products at high cost, India must add its own technology for conversion of such resources to value added products for use in domestic requirement and also for export. Use of IT for commercialization and marketing can increase our outreach and speed enormously. Ancient knowledge is a unique resource of India, for it has the treasure of more than 5000 years of civilization. It is essential to leverage this wealth for national well being as well as to seek global presence for the nation.

The pioneering efforts and work of Agri Horticultural Society such as introducing and developing variety of cereals, crops, fruits, vegetables, and flowering trees through extensive research and training activities; propagating the development and preservation of rare and medicinal plants, creating awareness in horticulture and floriculture etc., are indeed commendable. It is also heartening to note that the educational and training courses have been designed in consultation with various institutes, colleges and universities to promote entrepreneurship development. I would suggest that the Society can further extend the scope of its awareness activities as well as educational and training programmes to the semi-urban, village and rural areas. Rural areas are the vast reservoirs of herbs and plants. There is a need to empower the rural population by reviving the knowledge and utility of these herbs and herbal products.

The Agri Horticultural Society should work towards making this venture as a wealth generating mission for the nation.

My best wishes.

Questions & Answers

1. Do stars and planets have any relation with the plants ?

- Vedang Singhania, Class IV, South Point School.

Ans. There is a book called ?Secret type of plants? by Hopkins, it?s a Penguin Publication. There it is said that Plants have sixth sense and that there are extra terrestrial signals which plants can receive and humans cannot. Some experimental data is available.

2. Some species of animal in India are decreasing day by day. What measures are being taken to check this problem?

- Abdul Hasan, Class IX, St. Thomas Boys School

Ans: There are special teams working on preservation of rare species of animals. They are finding and creating the harmonious environmental and support factors which are needed for preservation of the species.

3. Can we depend upon medicinal plants ? can it be substituted with allopathic medicine ? can it be supplemented.

- Ankita Sancheti, Class XII, Modern High School.

Ans. It can be complementary. Some cases which cannot be solved by allopathy, there are herbal solutions. Both can be taken together. Research is going on bio-enhancers which are produced by plants. They can increase efficacy of allopathic antibiotics. So the doses are reduced. In some cases like cerebral malaria problem or malarial infection, an answer came from CIMAP in the form of anti-malaria drug which is now being used by patients across forty countries. Sometimes it will substitute, sometimes it will complement.

4. Why are the old huge trees cut off so indiscriminately to make new roads? Why can?t they be preserved in the process of modernization?

- Christine Massey, Class XII, St. Thomas Girls? School.

Ans: Environment and Forest Ministry is taking appropriate action for preventing indiscriminate felling of trees in the name of modernization.

5. What will be the role of the Indian Scientists to standardize the herbal formulations to be more acceptable in health care system?

- Moumita Das, P.G. Diploma, Student Herbology.

Ans. The scientific basis of all herbal formulations in terms of its chemical constituents and biological activities has to be worked out. Then only it will be acceptable to healthcare system. Wherever it has been done, it has been a success. Efforts are on by the Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy (ISM&H), now called AYUSH in partnership with DBT to make an Indian pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants. ICMR is working on this.