IMPHAL, February 16: A two-day national workshop on sustainable development of medicinal plants sector in North East India, organised by Manipur Forest Department, was inaugurated today at the RIMS Jubilee Hall.
The State Chief secretary PC Lawmkunga, Secretary of the Ministry of AYUSH, Nilanjan Sanyal and former Governor of Chhattisgarh, Shekhar Dutt attended the inaugural function as the chief guest, president and guest of honour respectively.
Organisers said the workshop intends to promote the marketing of the medicinal plant and products extracted from them in the North Eastern region besides exploring the potential of the medicinal plants.
In his address as the chief guest, Chief Secretary PC Lawmkunga said Manipur has more than 6500 plant species out of which around 1200 are medicinal plants and its medicinal plants have a lot of potential.
He further stated that the Union government is mainly focusing on NE including Manipur because their geographical positions have made them the gateway to South Asian countries and Manipur is playing a leading role in the utilization of medicinal plants. He also urged the AYUSH authorities to help the State in exploring the medicinal plants.
In his presidential speech, AYUSH secretary Nilanjan Sanyal said the ministry is initiating various steps to increase the number of the highly used medicinal plants as well as to uplift the livelihoods of the marginalized people through the cultivation of medicinal plants in the fringes of the country.
Speaking on the occasion, former Chattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt said that the workshop will highlight the importance of using medicinal plants in human development as well as the extensive use of medicinal plants increasing the life expectancy of the people.
He also appealed the gathering to explore the potential of medicinal plants in the NE region to develop the livelihoods of the people.
Six experts namely T Gapak of Arunachal Pradesh, Dr L Promila of Manipur, AK Srivastava of Meghalaya, Tiakaba Jamir of Nagaland, Dr Pritam Bhattacharjee of Tripura and Dr Arunkumar Sharma from the college of horticulture and forestry at Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh gave an overview of the medicinal plants sector in North Eastern states in the day`™s first technical session which was followed by another session on global and national scenario of medicinal plants. The workshop will conclude tomorrow.