The research councils in the areas of Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Siddha and Unani under the Department of Ayush have been accorded autonomy by the Central government recently so that more time-bound results could be gained and concrete action plans have been put in place for these councils with targets for to be achieved during the current financial year.

According to the action plan, the Central Council of Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS) will register all the proposed and on-going clinical trials with the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) for proper validation of the research findings.

“There is a need to evolve pulse diagnosis protocols. It was felt that the CCRAS should work on this area in collaboration with IITs or such other premier institutes. The CCRAS has proposed to conduct observational studies on the 17 drugs already tested under the Ayurvedic Clinical Trials Project. It was decided that instead of duplicating the work, CCRAS should instead undertake clinical trials on these 17 drugs,’’ sources said.

Government had issued notification to grant autonomy to the councils in March this year. It was also decided that the amendments would be made in the rules to recruit director generals and directors of councils and its institutes in the wake of autonomy.

“A decision has now been taken to change the recruitment rules so that “in-house” candidates are also eligible to apply for the top post. In view of this, the second rung of leadership needs to be quickly built up from amongst the serving officers of the Councils and Institutes so that these officers are eligible to apply when top level vacancies arise in the coming years,’’ sources said.

A database of institutes of repute is being prepared to utilise for departmental collaborative efforts and task forces have been constituted to work out such collaborative projects for the councils and the institutes.  

A recent meeting chaired by the secretary of Ayush Department and attended by all senior officials and heads of councils and institutes have also prepared separate action plans for Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), and Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy (CCRYN).