The Ayush department's ambitious Rs 100-crore pilot 'Cluster Scheme' project to give boost to the Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) industry has few takers in the country. As against the department's proposal to set up 25 clusters in different parts of the country, only five proposals have come so far. Major reason for this lacklustre response is several clauses which the manufacturers say are well nigh impossible to implement.

The Ayush department has so far received five proposals from Nasik, Pune and Kokan in Maharashtra, Thrissur in Kerala and one from Orissa. But, all of them have asked the Ayush department to make necessary amendments in the scheme to make it feasible and attractive. The Ayush department has earmarked Rs 100 crore in the 11th five- year plan to fund the pilot projects.

Welcoming the intentions of the government in introducing the scheme, the ASU manufacturers said that there is need to make several changes in the scheme to make it practical. They want the government to remove the clauses like 15 promoter-manufacturers who are schedule T certified and NABL accreditation for forming the cluster. Both of these are proving to be roadblocks for the cluster formation, the manufacturers said.

Another irritant coming in the way of broader participation is the government's refusal to permit part processing and packing at the common cluster facilities. The deemed manufacturers who rely upon loan license system and have such licenses valid for over three years should be considered for the promoter group, the manufacturers said. To broaden the scope of eligible manufacturers who can participate in the cluster scheme the government should allow loan license manufactures to take first step by investing in cluster as part of their backward integration programme.

The manufacturers also urged the ministry to consider other stakeholders like cultivators, collectors, medicinal plant traders, ayurvedic colleges, public testing laboratories, extract manufacturers, ASU practitioners and others to become eligible promoters of the cluster project and their membership may be considered at par with schedule T GMP manufacturers as it may actually bring in a lot of benefit of working together.

Implemented on a public private partnership, the clusters will be useful to the industry, especially the small and medium manufacturers who cannot afford to establish costly advanced facilities on their own, as there will be all types of common facilities in the clusters. With the government shifting its focus on quality, the clusters will go a long way in upgrading the quality of these products. The cluster scheme will enable the ASU manufactures to fill in the critical gaps in the sector especially related to standardization, quality assurance and control, productivity, marketing, infrastructure and capacity building through a cluster based approach. Testing facilities such as Analytical Lab, Toxicology Centre, Process & Product Validation Laboratory, Raw Material Testing, Standardisation laboratory, etc will enable better Quality Assurance & Control.

Under the scheme, the Ayush department will give a grant upto 60 per cent of the cost subject to a maximum of Rs 10 crore. The remaining 40 per cent would be required to be arranged by the manufacturers through equity and borrowings from banks.