Vice President of India visited IBSD, Takyelpat
Date : October 5, 2021

Vice President of India visited IBSD, Takyelpat on October 5, 2021

Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), is an institute under the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India located at the North Eastern Region of the country at Imphal, Manipur. To commemorate the 75 years of Independence as a part of the occasion “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”, the Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the National seminar on “Bioeconomy from Bioresources of North Eastern Region of India” and inaugurated the “Phytopharmaceutical Lab” at IBSD, Imphal in the presence of Hon’ble Governor of Manipur, Shri La. Ganesan, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur, Shri N. Biren Singh, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Manipur, Dr Rajesh Kumar and Director, IBSD, Prof. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee .

The Hon’ble Vice President congratulated IBSD for serving the nation for the last 20 years and managing the bioresources of this region for sustainable development using modern biotechnological tools. He further stated that considering the vast plant resources and diverse traditional healthcare practices of North East India, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is promoting Phytopharmaceutical Mission of North Eastern Region.

Under this Mission, IBSD has taken the initiative to promote the documentation, scientific validation and evaluation of traditional healthcare practices including ethnobotany and ethnopharmacological perspectives of medicinal plants including their cultivation, promotion, value addition and chemical profiling, and promotion of start-ups based on development of herbal medicinal products to fulfil the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India for Atmanirbahar Bharat. He also stated that this programme would help in popularizing traditionally obliged healthcare practices of the region and the development of effective alternative herbal medicines to combat infectious diseases like Covid-19, which world is facing today.

Vice President of India visited IBSD, Takyelpat on October 5, 2021

During this occasion, the Hon’ble Vice President also visited the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) facility at IBSD, Imphal, which is involved in sequencing the SARS CoV 2 positive samples for not only Manipur state but also for other states of North Eastern Region of India. He also stated that this INSACOG facility would be helpful in knowing the outbreak of SARS CoV 2 variants in this part of India. He also compliments IBSD for its pioneering efforts to sequence the SARS CoV 2 positive samples for not only Manipur state but also for other states of North Eastern Region of India to combat Covid-19 pandemic.

The function was attended by Dr. G. Narahari Sastry, Director, CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, Assam, Dr. Th. Dhabali Singh, MD, Babina Diagnostics, Imphal, Dr. Manoj Modi, Nodal Officer of IBSD from DBT, New Delhi, Shri. Indraneel Das, Vice President, SFE, Kolkata, Prof. G. A. Shantibala Devi, Former Dean, School of Life Sciences, Manipur University, Imphal, Ms. Elizabeth Yambem, Founder of Dweller Pvt. Ltd., Imphal and other officials from State Government.

Priority therapeutic areas under Phytopharmaceutical Mission are anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and insect repellents, anti-diabetic, anti-arthritis, bronchial asthma, gastro-protectives and immuno-modulation. In addition, high quality volatile oil producing plants are also targeted under this programme for encouraging the farmers to take up commercial cultivation of aromatic plants of the NER.

Major targets of this programme are:

(i) Exploring the traditional healthcare practices and the medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) used in these practices of the NER particularly Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Mizoram and their scientific validation with translational components

(ii) Value-addition to the traditional knowledge can lead to the cause of translational and transformational research through MAPs

(iii) Encouraging the Start-ups programme under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’

(iv) Capacity buildings, training, promotion and development of Himalayan bio-resources for therapeutic potentials.

The Phytopharmaceutical Lab facility of IBSD is well equipped with shofisticated instruments. This research will lead to different transformational approaches from tradition for developing products, processes and technologies with local bio resources. IBSD has been working in collaboration with several other institutes in India and abroad. This will help in development of traditional knowledge based therapeutic agents leading to socioeconomic development of the region as well as benefits to traditional health care practitioners.

Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal
(Department of Biotechnology,
Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India)
Takyelpat, Imphal 795001, India;