Central Ayurveda Research Institute, Jhansi

CARI Jhansi

About the Institute

Central Ayurved Research Institute, Jhansi (CARI, Jhansi) is situated in the Bundelkhand area of Uttar Pradesh formerly known as National Vriksha Ayurved Research Institute (NVARI, Jhansi). It was established in the year 1973 with a view to conduct medico-ethno-botanical survey covering two biogeographic zones viz., Upper Gangetic plain and Central Indian zone. Institute possesses a huge area of 45.63 acres which is divided in 3 blocks: Block A (15 Acres), Block B (0.76 acres), and Block C (29.63 acres). Institute recently upgraded its status from Regional to Central. Land of Institute is donated by Mr. R.V. Dhulekar (President of The Servant of Nation Society, Jhansi) to the President of India through gift deed on 25-05-1967 for the research in Ayurveda.

Mandate/ objectives of the Institute:

Ayurvedic pharmaceutical research and drug development.

To maintain Central herbarium and Demonstrative crude drugs repository of various plant species which have been collected during medico-ethno botanical surveys.
To conduct medico-ethno botanical explorations (survey) in states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. (The Institute has so far conducted surveys in about 45 forest divisions)
Collection and supply of genuine crude drug materials for Research & Development work with Authentication of plant specimen.
To maintain and strengthen Demonstrative medicinal plant garden and carrying out cultivation of medicinal plants of Ayurveda and extend researches based on Vrikshayurveda for the management of plant health.
To prepare and supply of research drugs to peripheral institutes of CCRAS.
Referral and consultation services for analysis and authentication of raw drugs

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.

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

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

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.

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.

National Raw Drug Repository:

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.

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.

Achievements of the Institute:

The institute is recently equipped with highly sophisticated instruments for R & D
related to the QC analysis of ASU drugs.
The institute has been awarded with the NABL accreditation for the QC laboratories including Chemistry section, Pharmacognosy section and Microbiology section.
The institute pharmacy is GMP certified and have FSSAI license for Ayush CCT.
Till date, Many IMR and Collaborative projects are completed and ongoing in the institute.
More than 20 IMR/EMR projects have been completed with quality publication in high reputed journals

MoU’s:

The institute has signed MoU with various institutes and universities of National importance like IIT Delhi, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT-BHU Varanasi, CDAC-Pune, CSIRNBRI Lucknow, CSIR-CDRI Lucknow, CSIR-IIIM Jammu, Sambhalpur University (SU), ICAR-CAFRI Jhansi, Bundelkhand University Jhansi. The MoUs are signed to enable the collaborative research and training. MoU with Bundelkhand University (BU), Jhansi for academic collaboration like post graduate dissertation and PhD research work.

EMR AND IMR Projects:

More than 50 IMR /EMR /Collaborative projects are ongoing.

Contact us

Dr. Ch. Venkata Narasimhaji
Assistant Director In-charge
Central Ayurveda Research Institute Jhansi,
Gwalior Road, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh 284003
Email: nvari-jhansi@gov.in, nvari.jhansi1@gmail.com
Office Telephone: 0510-2442132