Centre, SPPU sign MoU to promote Ayush practices

Pune: The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) and Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) with various national and international institutions signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the consortium of Ayush institutions on Wednesday

Pune: The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) and Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) with various national and international institutions signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the consortium of Ayush institutions on Wednesday. The tie-up will help in research activities, realising the need to study, understand, validate and integrate the Ayush systems, according to the varsity officials.

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The consortium comprises group of institutions of national importance – Teaching Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), Jamnagar, Gujarat; National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur, Rajasthan and Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth (RAV), New Delhi.

The MoU was signed at the function organised at SPPU main building. Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, secretary, ministry of Ayush; Prof Nitin Karmalkar, SPPU vice-chancellor; Bhushan Patwardhan, vice-chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) and senior officials from related organisations were present.

Patwardhan was appointed national research professor at Ayush on Wednesday.

“The MoU covers institutions that are involved in research work in Ayurveda. So, four national institutions have come together for capacity building and skill development related to Ayush practices. It marks a major step for SPPU and the initiative is led Kotecha and Patwardhan as it is their project and SPPU is a facilitator.” said Prof Karmalkar.

Talking about the plans post signing of MoU, Patwardhan said, “The consortium represents the reputed institutions of Ayush ministry. As one of the major requirements in Ayush sector is research capacity building, the collaboration will help meet that demand. While several steps were taken at the ministry level after the Covid outbreak, the MoU is first step towards strengthening the science base of Ayurveda. So, we are not just talking about practices, but are actually undertaking robust research and this is just a humble beginning.”

Kotecha said, “The experience of Covid-19 pandemic has given an opportunity to look at the potential of research in Ayush. A lot of scope is seen based on science. We are into 114 studies as of now and these studies were robustly designed. They have given us results with effective human resource. If we upgrade these studies then it will be an asset for our country. People at large have accepted it, as it is at the hearts of the people and upgradation of human resource is necessary now for research projects. By establishing this consortium, we want to set up a benchmark in a few months so we can lead to a formal institution building.”