A very large number of university departments of botany and applied botany, colleges of indigenous systems of medicine and colleges of pharmacy, in addition to an innumerable number of manufacturers of herbal products as medicine or cosmetics, are seriously interested in medicinal plants. In these days bandwagon interests, almost everyone talks or writes about medicinal plants. There are far too many non-institutional/non-governmental organisations, often one-man units, that sing the praises of medicinal plants. It is not possible to list all of them. And it is futile to attempt to know of all of them. Hence, only the important national and international institutions/organisations that are expected to be sources of scientific information or support, are given in Appendix 39.

The area is vast and fluid; there is no single ideal way of organising this information. Those organisations which are available on computer networks are listed separate from the rest (Appendix 40). Though there is some overlap in this type of classification, this is more manageable and less confusing.

The listing here is not complete, but certainly it should form a nucleus that can be enlarged into a more comprehensive directory, in course of time.

COMPUTER NETWORKS

An interaction between and among scientists is essential for an effective and productive research output and utilisation. This activity, often called Networking, was carried out earlier (and is still being carried out now) through the spoken, written and printed word in the form of conference lectures, personal correspondence, books and publications in journals, etc. In these days of extensive computer usage and very rapid strides of Information Technology, a new and very effective avenue has been opened to us through ‘Computer Networking’. It is to our advantage to be aware of and use the computer network facilities, which save time, are inexpensive and very effective. Two forms of electronic communication, the ‘Internet’ and the ‘e-mail’ are now very extensively used.

Computer networks are organised in two forms:

a) the Local Area Network (LAN) which involves connecting together of the computers within an institution, like the departments of a University among themselves and with the University Library and/or other facilities so that the interested members can communicate and share all the facilities; and

b) the Wide Area Network (WAN) that extends the computer connection to national and international realms to provide the means of sharing libraries and databases and communication between and among the individuals/institutions throughout the world.

‘On Line’ access is the facility to use the computer directly to communicate through it. Printing any desired material on paper results in the ‘hard copy’.

Computer networks for educational and research purposes are available in the following forms in India:

NICNET: National Informatics Network

GISTNIC: General Information Service Terminal National Informatics Centre; for conventional science and technology information which is offerred through the NICNET.

ERNET: Education and Research Network of the Department of Electronics.

INFLIBNET: India Information and Library Network of the University Grants Commission; this gives access to any library in the network, throughout the country.

The usage of these network services is free of cost to educational institutions.

There are also commercial network ‘Servers’ who charge for the time used. The VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited) is a Governmental organisation which is the main internet service provider in India. Now there are a few other private service providers. A fullfledged internet connection is TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol).

Information Technology has become complex and is big business. It now operates through networking which has the following advantages to us:

a) faster, cheaper and easier access to information;

b) freedom from isolation and getting in touch with fellow scientists the world over by instant international contact;