JAMMU: As part of a national media exposure tour organized by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), a high-level press delegation from Ahmedabad visited the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) in Jammu on Tuesday, followed by an extensive field trip to the Suchetgarh Border outpost.

The delegation—comprising senior journalists from mainstream print, broadcast, and digital media houses—engaged with leading scientists to observe the translation of laboratory discoveries into commercially viable healthcare solutions, agricultural innovations, and bio-entrepreneurship ventures.

Pioneering Drug Discovery & NCE Pipeline

Receiving the journalists, Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director of CSIR-IIIM, detailed the institute’s premier research initiatives, scholarly footprint, and technological breakthroughs. A major highlight was the institute’s active pipeline of New Chemical Entities (NCEs) formulated to combat life-threatening and degenerative illnesses.

Agritech Transformation & The Purple Revolution

Dr. Zabeer highlighted CSIR-IIIM’s instrumental role as the anchor of the nationwide CSIR Aroma Mission and the famed Purple Revolution. By supplying certified, disease-free planting material, modern agronomical practices, and end-to-end distillation technology, the institute has catalyzed a lavender-farming boom that is significantly elevating rural farm incomes across Jammu & Kashmir.

To optimize ecological and financial returns, the institute is actively promoting scientific apiculture (beekeeping) integrated with aromatic cash crops to boost pollination efficiency while providing supplementary revenue streams. Experimental stations across Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, and Ladakh continue to provide crucial field-demonstration and capacity-building platforms for local farmers.

Thriving Bio-Incubation & Academic Milestones

The visiting media team reviewed the institute’s startup ecosystem, driven by its BioNEST Incubators and the Atal Incubation Centre (AIC):

• BioNEST Jammu: Has registered 165 bio-startups, with 10 progressing through product development and 3 having achieved successful market rollout. Over 1,000 students have completed specialized skill training.
• Atal Incubation Centre Srinagar: Houses over 25 startups, with 8 in advanced product development and 2 commercialized, having trained 700+ young professionals.
• Kathua Industrial Biotech Park: The Agri, Nutri, and HealthTech Bio-Incubator supports 4 specialized ventures and has trained 50 candidates.

The institute demonstrated strong academic and scientific rigor over the past year, publishing 159 high-impact research papers with an average impact factor of 4.2, filing 20 patent applications, and supporting a research fraternity of 249 PhD scholars, with 40 scholars earning their doctorates during the period.

The delegation toured specialized infrastructural wings including the National Herbarium, GLP-compliant Animal House, cGMP extraction facility, Industrial Fermentation Pilot Plant, and Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) laboratories to witness pre-clinical validation and scale-up protocols firsthand.

Vigilance & Tourism at Suchetgarh Border

Later in the day, the journalists traveled to the Suchetgarh International Border, where they interacted closely with the officers and jawans of the Border Security Force (BSF). The media contingent was briefed on round-the-clock electronic surveillance, anti-infiltration countermeasures, and operational readiness under rigorous conditions.

BSF authorities also familiarized the team with ongoing Border Tourism initiatives at Suchetgarh. The project is designed to present frontier heritage and the valor of security forces to visitors from across India while unlocking sustainable local employment and hospitality opportunities for border residents.