Herbal and aromatic plants, available in plenty in the State, have not been tapped as it should have been. This is the opinion of experts of Indian Institute of Integrated Medicines and voiced by the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare in a function held recently in Jammu. Apart from support to medical industry in the country, exploration and exploitation of herbal wealth would also provide employment to many unemployed people. Disclosing that there are around 3000 medicinal and aromatic plant species in Kashmir valley, 880 in Jammu region and 500 in Ladakh, the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister said, “even the Planning Commission of India is laying stress on making full use of medicinal plants, which according to the Commission is the most viable option available to check unemployment up to large extent”. We think that this is only a small fraction of medical and aromatic plant species known to experts so far. In all probability, further research in the field will bring to light a large number of new species with various medicinal properties. Atharva Veda deals exclusively with the medicinal herbs and indigenous system of medicine. These plants, hitherto growing in wild, need to be cultivated through proper scientific system and made fit for commercial use. That will serve indirect incentive to promotion of Ayurvedic and Unani system of medicine, which again has been inviting the attention of policy planners in our country.
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