Guwahati, Dec21: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) and The Andrew Yule Group aimed at undertaking research in the tea estates of Andrew Yule and Company Limited (AYCL) and discover various health benefits of tea, including exploring possibilities for applications in the Ayurvedic line of medication and treatments.
Notably, Andrew Yule and Company Limited (AYCL), a part of the Andrew Yule Group, has seven tea estates in Assam, including one in Khowang, which is the flagship garden of the company, in Dibrugarh district; Hoolungooree tea estate in Jorhat district; Tingkhong tea estate in Dibrugarh district, Basmatia tea estate in Dibrugarh, Rajgarh tea estate in Dibrugarh district, Desam tea estate in Dibrugarh district and Murphulani tea estate in Golaghat district.
The MoU was signed in the presence of the Union minister of Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal in New Delhi on Thursday.
According to the agreement, an expert team from AIIA will collect tea samples from various tea estates of AYCL for undertaking necessary lab research. Further, the AIIA will perform a detailed analysis of various teas as provided by AYCL from the perspectives of Ayurveda and its benefits on human health.
Speaking on the occasion, Union minister Sonowal said, “Traditionally, tea has many proven health benefits which must be studied scientifically. This agreement signed today is an attempt to scientifically catalogue the various health benefits of tea as well as explore possibilities of tea’s application in providing Ayurvedic medicine.”
“The government has been empowering the traditional knowledge of medicine like Ayurveda with scientific validation, through modern research and a development approach. This has enabled our rich heritage of Ayurveda and other traditional forms of medicine to provide solutions for a wider range of ailments,” he said.
“From the days of the yore, tea has been consumed by the indigenous population of Assam, both for its taste as well as healing touch. But for long, this rich bounty of nature in Assam has remained merely as a cash crop,” Sonowal said.
Adding further, the Union Minister said, “With this collaboration, we are unrolling a possibility of a booming tourism industry in Assam with the healing touch of Ayurveda and yoga in the pristine lap of tea gardens. Tea, with its commercial viability and soothing effect, is set to draw strength from Ayurveda, our rich heritage, and provide a platform for Assam towards becoming a new destination of healing tourism in the South East Asian region.”
