BRIEF INTRODUCTION:

The Central Ayurveda Research Institute (CARI), Jhansi, previously known as the National Vriksha Ayurved Research Institute (NVARI) and Regional Ayurveda Research Institute (RARI), was founded in 1973 in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. The institute occupies a total area of 45.63 acres, divided into three blocks: Block A (15 acres), Block B (0.76 acres), and Block C (29.63 acres). The land was donated by Shri Raghunath Vinayak Dhulekar, President of The Servant of Nation Society, Jhansi, to the President of India via a gift deed on May 25, 1967, to promote Ayurvedic research.

             In 2020, it was elevated to Central Ayurveda Research Institute status from its earlier Regional Ayurveda Research Institute designation. This institute has Ayurvedic Pharmacy, Quality Control (Chemistry section, Pharmacognosy and Microbiology sections), and administrative wings. The institute’s main mandate is Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Drug Development and Quality Control. Apart from the above, the institute conduct medico-ethno-botanical surveys, collection of medicinal plants, and authentication of medicinal plants. CARI, Jhansi, has a dedicated National Raw Drug Repository (NRDR) facility for the botanical reference standards (BRS) development.

        The institute has a GMP & FSSAI-accredited pharmacy and NABL &DTL-accredited quality control Labs.  The institute is also certified with a Quality Management System from BIS– IS/ISO 9001:2015.   It houses a central herbarium and a crude drug repository, which stores samples collected during medico-ethno-botanical surveys. The institute also manages a medicinal plant demonstration garden, cultivates medicinal plants for Ayurveda, and prepares research drugs for CCRAS peripheral institutes involved in IMR and collaborative projects. Furthermore, CARI provides referral and consultation services for the analysis and authentication of ASU (Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani) drugs.

The major mandate of CCRAS-CARI, Jhansi is as:

·      Ayurvedic pharmaceutical research and drug development.

·   Quality Control and analytical method development of ASU formulations including, crude drugs, ingredients, and finish drugs.

·     To conduct medico-ethno botanical surveys, collection, authentication, and supply of genuine crude drugs.

·    To prepare and supply research drugs to peripheral institutes of CCRAS.

·     Referral and consultation services for analysis and authentication of raw drugs.

·     Development and supply of authentic botanical reference standards (BRS) under National Raw Drug Repository (NRDR) flagship.

Departments

Ethnobotanical Research, Herbarium, Medicinal Plant Conservation, Pharmacognosy , Microbiology, Chemistry  & Pharmacy Section
 at CARI, Jhansi” 

 

A. Botany Section :

The Botany section of the CARI, Jhansi is a unique among other peripheral institute of CCRAS, involved to carry out Medico Ethno botanical Survey from Central India and Upper Gangetic Plane. The section has also a repository of the Herbarium/Central herbarium which hosted around 26000 plant specimens collected from different states viz. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and some part of Gujarat. These herbaria also been assigned with an Acronym –JHS form Index herbaria, Kew. The botany section of the institute has also maintained herbal garden with 290 medicinal plants. Among the 290 Medicinal Plants, 91 are represented by herbs, 98 species are represented by trees and 101 are shrubs.

B. Pharmacognosy Section :

Pharmacognosy laboratory is an integral part of Quality Control laboratory at CARICCRAS Jhansi. It is a state of art laboratory accredited with ISO/IEC 17025: 2017 and having status of State DTL laboratory. This laboratory was initiated in year 2021 and actively engaged in EMR/IMR Projects, Development of quality standards of medicinal plants and Pharmacognostic testing of single herb and Ayurvedic formulations. The facilities include

  1. Identification and authentication of crude raw drugs of plant origin through macroscopic and microscopic study.
  2. Standardization of herbal Ayurvedic formulations through organoleptic and powder microscopy.

C. Microbiology  Laboratory :  

Institute has established a microbiology laboratory that is equipped with state-of-theart scientific instruments to perform microbiological assays on the drug samples and bring together the modern biological, biochemical and biophysical techniques in the field of Ayurvedic Science and is the integral part of NABL accredited QC laboratories. The mandatory ASU sample analysis as per API and WHO guidelines enumeration of microbial load, inhibitory test, and detection of specific pathogens (E. coli, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and Salmonella spp.) in samples received from internal and external sources.

  • Apart from mandatory work, various research projects based on prebiotic activity, antimicrobial activity, dental caries, DNA bar-coding, isolation of fungi associated with mycotoxin production, MDR-bacteria, computational biology etc., are going on in the section.
  • The section provides training (1-6 months) to the students for their M.Sc. dissertation. The section also imparts hands-on training to scientists, academicians, government officials etc. in Quality Control of ASU Drugs.

D. Chemistry Section :  

The Chemistry section of Central Ayurveda Research Institute (CCRAS-CARI), Jhansi, was established in Jan. 2021. This section is equipped with a variety of advanced instruments like HPTLC, HPLC, ICP-OES, GC-MS/MS, LC-MS/MS, particle size analyzer etc. which are operated and maintained by a dedicated staff at par international standards to meet the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025. The chemistry section has a vision, “to be amongst the top Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical, Analytical Instrumentation Quality Control laboratory for Traditional Medicine & ASU Drug testing”. This section has got NABL accreditation for selected parameters, and government approved Drug Testing Laboratory for all parameters as per the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India including safety parameters such as aflatoxins, pesticide residues, heavy metal ions analysis and Shelf-life studies. The major strength/mission of chemistry section is “to facilitate quality control of raw drugs, intermediates & finished products along with research & development in the field of herbal drugs” as per National (Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India) and International (WHO, USP, ICH etc.) guidelines. The section also imparts hands-on training to scholars, scientists, academicians and government officials etc. in Quality Control of ASU Drugs.

E. Pharmacy Section :  

GMP certified pharmacy aimed to manufacture safe and quality assured trial medicines. Section has a provision to manufacture different dosage forms such as Churna/Kwatha Churna, Vati/ Tablets, Capsules, Taila-Ghrita, Avaleha as per GMP norms. The Pharmacy also has a dedicated facility for the manufacture of metal/mineral based Ayurveda medicines such as Rasa Yoga/Bhasma/Pishti etc. The well-established pharmacy has dedicated infrastructure for every aspect of Ayurveda drug manufacturing encompassing raw material storage section, washing& drying area, dosage wise sections and finished goods store section. The Pharmacy is equipped with modern machinery compliant to GMP norms and is committed to manufacture high quality Ayurvedic medicine with in house testing laboratory. Through this pharmacy, the Council has taken step forward in the direction of “AtmaNirbhara Bharat”. The pharmacy section of has got the license for manufacturing 216 Ayurvedic formulations which is issued by the Uttar Pradesh Ayush Directorate, Lucknow on 21.07.2022. (GMP No. A- 4978/2022 which is valid for Five years from the date of issue). The license includes permission for the preparation of 209 classical Ayurvedic formulations

and 07 patented formulations. Also have FSSAI license for AYUSH- CCT.

  • National  Raw Drug Respository :

    National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India has identified Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), New Delhi as a prime Institute and assigned the task of ‘Establishment of National Raw Drug Repository.’ Subsequently, the Council has established National Raw Drug Repository (NRDR) at one of its peripheral institute – Central Ayurveda Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh which is engaged in collection and supply of authentic botanical raw materials/ reference samples. The National Raw Drug Repository (NRDR) has been set up with an aim to establish standard protocols and keys for authentication of raw drug used in the ASU&H industry. The key objectives of establishing these repositories are to act as accredited reference library for authentication of raw drugs; develop standard protocols & Botanical Reference Samples (BRS) and keys for authentication of raw drug used in the herbal industry and act as educational centre for creating general awareness about the raw drugs.

    1. NRDR is established with the objectives to serve as accredited reference library for authentication of raw drugs; to develop standard protocols and keys for authentication of raw drugs used in AYUSH Pharmaceutical industry; and to create general awareness about the raw drugs used in AYUSH Systems.
    2. This National repository of raw drugs as a reference facility is accessible to personnel of AYUSH drug industry, traders, medicinal practitioners, research scholars, students and academicians.
    3. NRDR shall certainly pave a new horizon in conserving codified drugs in AYUSH system of Medicine in the form of a comprehensive database of raw drugs in the country.
    4. The activities in the repository will be focused on the collection compilation, cataloguing and documentation (including digitization) of information on raw drugs that are used in the traditional systems of medicine (ASU&H) and preparation of comprehensive monographs.