Ayurveda Dept, FIZ pact a non-starter

Blurb — MoU was signed in Nov 2019 for research in the field of ayurgenomics, ayurnutrigenomics

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 5

The partnership between the Department of Ayurveda, Himachal Pradesh, and Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Centre (FIZ), Germany, for research in the field of ayurgenomics and ayurnutrigenomics is yet to move beyond paper. “The collaboration is standstill due to the pandemic. We will contact the Germans once the situation improves,” said Ayurveda Director DK Rattan.

An MoU was signed between the two institutes on the sidelines of the Global Investor Meet in Dharamsala in November 2019. Prior to that in June, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had visited Frankfurt and signed a generic MoU with FIZ.

With the Chief Minister showing interest in the potential of the collaboration, things moved rather quickly in the beginning. By November, a working group, comprising professors and lecturers from Rajiv Gandhi Postgraduate Ayurvedic College, Paprola, was formed and it was given the mandate to follow-up with FIZ and identify specific collaborative projects. The group, it appears, has not been able to make any headway in more than a year.

The two institutes had joined hands to work towards shifting the focus from curative to promotive and preventive healthcare. Also, the research on medicinal plants to enhance their genomic qualities was one key area of the collaboration. Besides, the MoU also spoke about the possibility of setting up a genomics laboratory with German collaboration in India and establishing a FIZ chair either in Delhi or ayuredic college, Paprola. The FIZ chair would facilitate the exchange of students, researchers and scientists between the two institutes.

In the times of the pandemic, Ayurveda’s immunity-boosting powers have been recognized the world over. In this backdrop, there couldn’t have been a better time than now for this ambitious partnership to take off.