Establishing a Centre for Bioregional Wellbeing
(incorporating ethno-veterinary and bioregional-medical practices)
We have been in discussion with Prof. Punniyamurthy towards this initiative since almost 1 year now. It took shape after a Conference last year and earlier in Feb 2026, we had a conceptual folllow-up meeting in MSSW, Chennai. Bhoomi College had organized a preliminary workshop with the Prof. with the local dairy farmers with very high impact. Similarly the REED Foundation has been doing wonderful work in training local youth as trainers on Ethno-Veterinary practices in Tuticorin region. We are excited that this is taking the next step in Sept 2026.
Concept: Establish a centre for bioregional wellbeing research, learning and practice that addresses the integrated wellbeing needs of livestock, soil, forest, and people as well, rooted in the traditional wisdom that looks at the care for animals and soil as a care for the entire region. 
Bioregion: The definition of bioregion in ancient Tamil[1] society is based on the understanding of a culturally integrated society which shares traditional knowledge, biota, ways of life, music, food and livelihood. This is called Thinai. The medicinal tradition that has evolved from this understanding is called Siddha tradition of medicine.
Location: The Centre itself will function from two locations catering to different bioregions –
(a) Villupuram & Pondichery region: GESLF[2] campus, Auroville & Ashram campus, Pondichery
(b) Tiruvannamalai region: Bhoomi Network Farmer’s, Tiruvannamalai campus[3].
Functioning: The centre is envisaged to provide the following services –
- Bioregional soil care and veterinary services to cattle farmers in the immediate region as demonstration of practices, training programmes, regular cattle camps, production of regional soil and cattle care herbal material and usage, pharmacopeia cultivation and processing
- Bioregional science for strengthening the larger body of knowledge through regular leadership training, trans-disciplinary publication, and sharing sessions with practitioners and scholars from other bioregions
- National and global events to promote the bioregionalism as a way for wellbeing understanding and practice
Core Values:
- Recognition and integration of the inter-dependency of species into activities is paramount to ensure a holistic approach
- Traditional wisdom and knowledge convergence will be utilized for nourishing the land, animals and humans without causing any harm to any of these
- Conserving local diversity will be given high priority, bioregional preference will be provided to processes and solutions in terms of economy, technology and biota, knowledge and processes
- Strengthening local economy and confidence building for the community on traditional wisdom and its relevance in the climate changed world will guide all activities
- Life as a whole will be addressed, not limited to livelihoods or any reductive knowledge stream in the pursuit of the activities of the centre. This includes physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing
- Ethical action will be emphasised and practiced in all processes, including training programmes and outreach
Preliminary Phase: In the first phase (two and half years), the centre will be established through a widespread adoption of the ethnoveterinary practices (India is the most cattle populated country in the world and the 5 southern states together have over 25 million cattle).
- To identify 75 practitioners in the cattle high density districts, who will be trained to become the local learning centre hubs established as One Health Stewards.
- To identify 75 practitioners in the agriculture dense districts (which may not have livestock) and train them using agro-ecological techniques for better soil management as One Health Stewards.
- To build bioregional specific medicinal plants nursery so as to promote the regional specific herbs for the cattle care and farm inputs preparation purposes
- To support them to conduct local cattle camps and soil camps to enhance the local soil and cattle conditions.
- To create local service provider and input / ingest production as a nano enterprise venture that can support the local markets utilizing the traditional knowledge
- To ensure that the process and benefits are documented as evidence for both the knowledge system and also impact is understood using the bioregional lens.
- To ensure that they along with the local community institutions work towards creating an action plan for the Nature Positive Bioregion. Conduct recognized programmes in multiple geographies and set-up regional hubs. Conduct regional and local cattle camps.
Duration: The preliminary phase of the project will be for a duration of 30 months from the beginning of the project date.
Promoting Organizations: Green Economy & Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation (GESLF) as the anchoring agency handling networking, project management and coordination, Bhoomi College (facility and outreach), PadmaShree Prof. Punniyamurthy (technical knowledge, practices, and outreach), and Samanvaya (conceptualizing, process definition and shaping the institution).
Earth Ethics: ‘Unave Marundhu’ (food is medicine) is a 2500-year-old Tamil wisdom. The Siddha wellness tradition originated in Tamil Nadu[4] had formulated human, soil and animal wellbeing using food and local pharmacopeia. This knowledge mostly passed through oral traditions has been retained and strengthened as the communities gained modern healthcare knowledge. One estimate indicates that there could be as much as 400,000 Siddha medicine practitioners in India today. Primary and preventive wellbeing seeking behaviour in traditional societies like India are shaped through long established trust[5]. Traditional medicine play a big role in satisfying this need in society.
Technical Recognition: Prof. Punniyamurthy was awarded Padmashree (Jan 2026), a high civilian honour by the Government of India in recognition of his practice of Ethnoveterinary science for livestock management. He is the first practitioner to be recognized by the Government of India practicing such a unique traditional knowledge. Qualified and working as a veterinarian with the government animal husbandry department, he had developed interest in the traditional siddha practices of livestock management and has pioneered in shaping the knowledge system through research and outreach. His preliminary cattle care recipes have been translated into all Indian languages and are made available to farmers across India through the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)[6]. Today he is a sought-after trainer with dairy farmers[7] across India and some parts of Africa adopting practices in preventive and proactive management of all farm animals. He serves as a visiting Professor at the University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Science and Technology (TDU)[8], Bangaluru.
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[1] The oldest continually spoken language, Tamil also has the oldest definition of bioregion as Thinai
[2] More about the newly formed GESLF at the Green Economy (greeneconomy.in) website and Sustainable Livelihoods website (tnavsli.in)
[3] More information here - bhoominetwork.org/spaces/bhoomi-vivasayee-maiyam-thiruvanamalai
[4] More about the tradition, including the consistent negative campaign against the tradition in the Wiki page here and Government of India AYUSH page here and the Government Siddha Research here
[5] More details on the same in the enclosed Annexure - I
[6] The ethnoveterinary practices in multiple languages can be freely downloaded from the NDDB website here
[7] Though he worked with the Tamil Nadu government animal husbandry department, as a consultant of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) his practices have been widespread across India