Within the quiet foothills of Tentuliguda, a distant village in Odisha’s Koraput district, the place age-old knowledge thrives round leaves, epidermal plant tissues, and roots, a humble four-room constructing serves as a laboratory for a tribal healer. Just lately, this unassuming area hosted 17 Ayurvedic specialists, together with the Director Basic of the Central Council for Analysis in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS).
Hari Pangi, a beneficiary of indigenous therapeutic data handed down by 5 generations, has signed a non-disclosure settlement with CCRAS below the Ministry of Ayush for the preservation and validation of native tribal well being traditions being practised in his village. If profitable, his conventional strategies for treating power kidney ailments, hypertension, and most cancers might achieve recognition.
Professor Rabinarayan Acharya, Director Basic of CCRAS, mentioned they had been “fairly impressed” with Mr. Pangi’s conventional method. Citing the excessive demand for Mr. Pangi’s companies, with 100-125 sufferers visiting on Sundays, 70 on Saturdays, and 25 on weekdays, Prof. Acharya famous that “this means his formulations are working”.

Ayurvedic specialists analysing medicinal plant seeds collected by Hari Pangi at Tentuliguda village in Odisha‘s Koraput district.
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Particular Association
In line with him, CCRAS is especially eager about Mr. Pangi’s conventional remedies for power kidney ailments, hypertension, and most cancers. To validate his claims, CCRAS will deploy an Ayurvedic diploma holder to work alongside Mr. Pangi for a yr, interacting with sufferers and cross-checking the effectiveness of his formulations. Primarily based on the report, CCRAS will proceed with additional analysis on the three remedies, Prof. Acharya mentioned.
Sri Gupteswar Natural Drugs and Coaching Conventional Know-how Analysis Centre, Mr. Pangi’s analysis establishment, has turn out to be an surprising hub of scientific curiosity over the previous two days. The centre drew tribal healers from southern Odisha districts, who gathered to share their experiences and data on offering well being care to distant communities.
The CCRAS organised a workshop at Mr. Pangi’s campus, emphasising the conservation of conventional medicinal crops by seed banks as a method to fight local weather change. Throughout the workshop, tribal healers obtained coaching to boost their abilities. Lengthy earlier than receiving formal recognition for his efforts, Mr. Pangi had already taken proactive steps, preserving over 400 seed forms of crops with important medicinal worth.

The Central Council for Analysis in Ayurvedic Sciences has signed a non-disclosure settlement with Hari Pangi, a tribal conventional healer.
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Particular Association
“Our mandate is to validate the standard data of tribal healers by a structured course of,” mentioned Prof. Acharya. “We signal a non-disclosure settlement with them, below which we’re sure to not disclose their therapeutic strategies. Each formulation and piece of knowledge is critically analysed in a scientific method,” he mentioned.
Prof. Acharya emphasised that whereas most conventional therapeutic practices are already within the public area, any revolutionary data obtained by non-disclosure agreements will bear rigorous testing, together with high quality management, security assessments, medical trials, and patenting. If patented, tribal healers will obtain a share of the earnings.
“Just lately, we secured approval for the commercialisation of Ayush-82, an Ayurvedic formulation developed for the prevention and administration of diabetes,” mentioned Prof. Acharya. “We now have an outlined course of for gathering info from tribal healers, which incorporates particulars on the variety of sufferers they deal with and what number of generations their follow has spanned.”
Earlier than CCRAS took discover of his work, Mr. Pangi, who hasn’t accomplished his matriculation, had already taken a big step in the direction of validating his conventional therapeutic strategies by hiring an Ayurveda diploma holder for ₹24,000 per 30 days. Assured in his data, Mr. Pangi claimed that he can determine over 200 plant species and has formulations to deal with over 100 totally different ailments, because of his homeland’s abundance of medicinal crops.
“There must be a coverage to preserve medicinal plant seeds, roots, and tuber scientifically, in order that endangered spices may be utilised for the subsequent era. We now have a particular coverage to preserve genetic assets on totally different crops and animals, and fish assets, however it’s excessive time to give you an improved coverage on medicinal crops in India,” mentioned Laxminarayan Boxi, a widely known science communicator.
Revealed – February 17, 2025 10:39 am IST