AYUSH minister
AYUSH ministerReuters

The central government Friday said it has given financial assistance to 31 institutes across the country for preservation of ancient and rare Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha — Indian system of medicine — books.

The funds have been provided for "translation & publication under Central Sector Scheme, Acquisition, Cataloguing, Digitization and Publication of Text Books & Manuscripts (ACDP) implemented during 11th Plan," Shripad Yesso Naik, minister of state for AYUSH —Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy — said in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

The minister said the Centre for Traditional Medicine and Research, Chennai has collected and digitised 268 rare siddha palm manuscripts. Another Chennai-based institute,Tamil Valarchi Kazhagam, has published eight volumes of Siddha medicines in Tamil.

"The Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) is also engaged in digitization of classical Unani book and manuscripts," he said, adding that the council until now has digitised 50 books and manuscripts.

The minister informed that 30 rare books and manuscripts related to ancient Ayurveda have been digitized by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS )and they are being published from time to time.

"The 30 books which have been retrieved have been published and are available in public domain. Besides this, the Council has surveyed and digitized more than 5000 Ayurvedic manuscripts and rare Books from Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir (Leh)," Naik explained.

The minister further said the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) undertook a survey on social consumption in India on Health in its 71st round conducted during January-June 2014. The NSSO survey indicated that about 6 percent of the people received treatment from the Indian Systems of Medicine (including Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha), Homoeopathy and Yoga and Naturopathy.