AGNI Initiative a new initiative to promote evidence based Ayurveda Practices, and to embrace scientific validation and evidence-based practices within Ayurveda has been launched in India.
The Central Council for Research in Ayurveda Sciences (CCRAS), under the Ministry of Ayush, “Ayurveda Gyan Naipunya Initiative” (AGNI) will be an initiative aimed to propel research for the incorporation of practical Ayurveda methods into mainstream healthcare.
The AGNI initiative invites expressions of interest from qualified Ayurveda Practitioners who wish to contribute to this transformative venture. The submission deadline for interested practitioners is set for December 15, 2023. The format for expression of interest can be accessed on the CCRAS website.
Prof Rabinarayanan Acharya, Director General of CCRAS, outlined the primary objectives of the AGNI Initiative project. These include providing a platform for Ayurveda practitioners to document their innovative practices and experiences across various disease conditions. The initiative seeks to foster an evidence-based culture among Ayurveda practitioners and validate pragmatic practices through scientific methods.
Ayurveda Goes Scientific: CCRAS Launches AGNI Initiative to Validate and Integrate Pragmatic Methods
Under this AGNI initiative, CCRAS plans to curate and publish documented medical practices and therapeutic regimens for educational and academic purposes. Collaboration with the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) is expected for this purpose.
Furthermore, the council intends to pursue research studies based on these documented practices, collaborating with Ayurveda practitioners and relevant institutes to validate and integrate them into mainstream healthcare.
The Ayurvedic community comprises over 500,000 registered practitioners, primarily operating within India. CCRAS, as the apex research body under the Ministry of Ayush, is dedicated to steering research in Ayurveda along scientific lines.
In recent times, CCRAS has initiated various programs such as SPARK (Studentship Program for Ayurveda Research Ken), PG-STAR (Scheme for Training in Ayurveda Research for PG Scholars), and SMART (Scope for Mainstreaming Ayurveda Research in Teaching Professionals) to bolster scientific research in Ayurveda colleges, hospitals, and among scholars and teachers.
The interventions within Ayurveda have notably managed several new disease conditions, both acute and chronic, that are not explicitly described in classical Ayurvedic texts. This success has positioned Ayurveda on a global platform, particularly in managing reported adverse effects of synthetic drugs and procedures.
