Thiruvananthapuram: Dr Palpu Pushpangadan, the Padma Shri awardee botanist who rewrote the rules of scientific research by ensuring that tribal communities benefited from knowledge drawn from their traditions, passed away here on Friday due to age-related ailments. He was 81.
Best remembered for the development of ‘Jeevani’, an immunity-enhancing formulation derived from the medicinal plant Arogyapacha, Dr Pushpangadan made history by ensuring that the Kani tribal community of the Western Ghats received a share of the profits generated from the product.
At a time when indigenous knowledge was routinely appropriated without consent or compensation, he insisted on equitable benefit sharing, a principle that later came to be globally recognised as the “Pushpangadan Model”.
Dr Pushpangadan’s work with the Kani community went beyond laboratory validation. Trekking through the dense forests of the Western Ghats alongside tribal members, he scientifically established the medicinal properties of Arogyapacha (Trichopus zeylanicus), a plant traditionally used to combat fatigue.
When the licence for Jeevani was commercialised, he ensured that half the proceeds were set aside for the welfare of the tribe, setting an unprecedented ethical benchmark in Indian science.
Born in Prakkulam in Kollam district, his academic career spanned Aligarh Muslim University, CSIR laboratories and other leading national institutions.
He served as Director of the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, and later as Director of the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI), Thiruvananthapuram.
Over a prolific career, Dr Pushpangadan published 317 research papers and secured patents for more than 15 products in the fields of ethno botany and ethno pharmacology.
He was also a strong advocate of bioprospecting combined with conservation, establishing plant conservation banks during his tenure at TBGRI.
Honoured with the Padma Shri and several international awards, including recognition from the United Nations Equator Initiative, Dr Pushpangadan leaves behind a legacy where scientific excellence was inseparable from social justice.
His passing is a profound loss to science and to a more ethical vision of innovation.
(IANS)
