Tribal Affairs, TRI Telangana hold workshop on Indigenous Knowledge & Health Care

Speaking on this occasion, Dr NavalJit Kapoor, Joint Secretary, MoTA mentioned various efforts of the Ministry including several projects given to TRIs and reputed research organizations.

Tribal Research Institute, Telangana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, organised a two Days workshop on ‘Indigenous Knowledge & Health Care: The Way Forward’ from 19th January to 20th January 2022 with technical support from the United Nations Development Programme.

Smt. Satyavathi Rathod, Minister of Tribal Welfare, Women & Child Welfare, Govt. of Telangana, inaugurated the Workshop. Speaking on the occasion, she discussed the importance of indigenous practices of tribal healers and their utility in remote areas as these are plant-based remedies and have little side effects. She also said that tribals have lot of faith in such healers and have ready acceptance among the tribal communities.  She discussed various initiatives of Telangana Government to promote it and she urged the tribal youth to take it forward.

TCR & TI Director, Sri V. Sarveshwar Reddy supervised various sessions which pertained to indigenous practices, tribal health issues, Healthcare governance system, infrastructure challenges to tribal health, role of tribal healers vis a vis technology, various legal provisions related to tribal people's rights and the challenges involved.

Speaking on this occasion, Dr NavalJit Kapoor, Joint Secretary, MoTA mentioned various efforts of the Ministry including several projects given to TRIs and reputed research organizations. He informed that Ministry is working on creating repository of researches done on tribal healers and indigenous practices.  Tribal Research Institute, Uttarakhand has been designated as the nodal TRI for coordination with other TRIs and compile all projects related to traditional medicine and healing practices across country.  He also stressed on preservation of biodiversity and capacity building of gram panchayats to ensure there is no over exploitation of natural resources. 

Prof. Dr A.B. Ota, Director, SCSTRTI, Govt. of Odisha, stated that there is need to formulate a template to bring uniformity in the research methodology.  

Dr Christina Z. Chonthu, Secy. and Commissioner, Tribal Welfare, Govt. of Telangana highlighted various activities of Telangana for research in Indigenous practices.  She stressed need of collaboration amongst different stakeholders so that the benefits of these reach community at large.

Ms Shoko Noda, Resident Representative of the UNDP discussed the activities undertaken by UNDP in tribal areas in collaboration with Ministry of Tribal Affairs and state Government. 

The workshop was attended by various eminent persons having vast experience in this area including Dr Urmila Pingle, Founder, Centre for People’s Forestry; Dr Kuldeep Singh, AIIMS Jodhpur; Prof. B.V. Sharma, HCU, Smt. AlaguVarshini, IAS, Commissioner of Ayush Dept., Govt. of Telangana.,  Prof. Somasundaram, Director, Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, Maharashtra, Dr T. Bendangtula, Nagaland, DrShailendra Kumar Hegde, Senior Vice Chairman, Piramal Swasthya, Hyderabad, Dr Santhosh Kumar Adla, Sr. Scientist, the University of Eastern Finland and Sri Vipul Kapadia, Bhasha R&D Centre, Vadodara DrVedPriya Arya, HoD, Patanjali Research Foundation, Uttarakhand, Dr. Dhayaneshwar, MD, Practitioner, Indervelly, Telangana,  Dr. U. Rakesh, Asst. Professor, Gen. Medicine, AIIMs, Dr. Rajashree Joshi, Programme Lead BAIF, Dr. Sunita Reddy from JNU who shared their experiences in the workshop.

(With Inputs from PIB)