Nature’s bounty to boost immunity at a Greater Noida village
A look at 10 medicinal plants known to enhance immunity and strengthen brain power
Bitter bounty: Why karela leaves can be a good harvest off your kitchen garden
Bitter gourd leaves not only have medicinal and nutritive properties, they can be added to tasty recipes as well
New database finds 960 new ‘druggable’ components in Indian medicinal plants
The database was created by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), Chennai, to facilitate drug discovery
A flower which can treat skin cancer and prevent greying of hair
Used for worship and hair colouring, modern entrepreneurs have found new uses for the hibiscus flower
Mountains of Sanjeevani
The Uttarakhand government's initiative to spend Rs 25 crore on an elusive mythical herb should trigger a wider quest to identify, document and …
The wisdom of indigenous healers
Medicinal Plants of India - Vols I & II S K Jain and Robert A DeFillips Publisher: Reference Publications Price: US $94.95
Where are the tapovans?
Both India and China are ancient civilisations possessing characteristic indigenous knowledge of conservation of natural ecosystems. The Chinese …
Implement the Biological Diversity Act in its true spirit
It is high time the Centre and states did so. It would save India from a number of avoidable problems
Sweet ’n’ sour
Moringa and tamarind are popularly known as the trees of life for Indians. Moringa is in fashion as the world eyes India to feed its frenzy for …
Desert blooms
Halophytes - plants growing on saline soil - could be India's Answer to the problems of salt desert and wasteland reclamation, besides Being …
Satellite Maps Forests
Jhum farming destroys forest cover in northeast India
Branding from origin
The French system of orgin labelling can be adopted for Indian medicine
The Kani learning
How benefit-sharing between a research institute and the Kani tribe went awry
The secret garden
Want to know about a lost variety of rice or a cure to asthma? Answers lie in the notebooks of schoolchildren and women of the Sundarbans and …
Science and Technology - Briefs
INDIA
Paan loses flavour
Iconic paan no more appeals to farmers, traders and common people. They say the contagious spread of chewing tobacco, especially gutkha, is fast …
How Adivasis of one Jharkhand village are trying to preserve ethnomedicine
With ‘civilisation’ and ‘modernity’ having made inroads into India’s tribal areas, its heritage of traditional …
Black beauty
Black rice is drought resistant and has rich medicinal properties. Manipur and Assam are reviving this variety
Highs and lows
The government's vanaspati van scheme is good news, but for it to succeed small-scale farmers and local communities have to be brought in its fold
Grow more
There is no land to cultivate medicinal plants, neither are there any legal provisions, nor market access. At present, the risks involved are …
A Himalayan Tragedy
People who have no idea about forests step in to further trade, while the indigenous herb gatherers get exploited further
Herbal heist
Hand-in-glove with the forest department, traders of medicinal plants and herbs make hay while communities who depend on herb gathering for …
Predicting the future
A severe shortage of medicinal plants and herbs threatens ISM. Cultivation may be the only way out. But currently medicinal plants that are …
Up for scrutiny
Environment ministry sets up certification scheme for its forests