Tripura identifies nearly 900 new medicinal plants

The Forest department of Tripura has so far identified 892 plant species having good enough medicinal values that are being used extensively by the traditional healers across the state. The department has also prepared a list of 29 traditional healers who have no medical degree to carry out practice but healing people for decades or so said a highly placed source in the research wing of the department.

The identification drive and its outcome came in the wake of a survey conducted by the forest department by a Bangalore based agency under the direct supervision of the forest department.

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"A survey conducted recently funded by the central government revealed that there were 892 species of plants here in Tripura which have medicinal superior value. In fact, in the entire North-Eastern region, the flora had been enriched in plants with medicinal value. If you stay focused in Tripura only, you can see each and every plant even the weeds grow here has a certain amount of medicinal value”, a source in Tripura Medicinal Plant Board said.

“However”, he said, “the plants which have been enlisted in this recently conducted survey have good medicinal value if you compare it with homely remedy tricks and all. These plants have been enlisted envisaging several parameters and a certain form of data handling by an expert agency. The findings of the survey are still in the drafting stage and yet to get published officially. Once the drafting process ends, a separate database will be put in the public domain so that people can know the nitty-gritty of the flora they are surrounded by.”

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He also informed that they had also identified 29 traditional healers across the state, who were in the field of healing since long but possess no certificates to back their skill. “In this process not less than 29 traditional healers—whom we often term as ‘Baidyaraj’ have been identified. These 29 people have been working in their local areas practicing traditional healing systems they have learned from their ‘Guru’. This system descends in legacy and has been seen vanishing day by day”, he said.

However, some of the sources having strong command on Ayurveda have claimed that the survey was incomplete and there were more than thousands of plants in the state that have medicinal value. “892 is a meager figure. There are tens of thousands of plants that have strong healing power. What is needed in this how it is a political will to explore the unexplored sectors. Cultivation of medicinal plants can also be a ‘game-changing’ livelihood opportunity,” the source pointed out.

It is pertinent to mention that Tripura had received funds to raise Agar and three other plants species in large scale across the state to promote the cause.  

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