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| கொசுக்களை விரட்டும் நொச்சிச் செடி |
வீடுகளிலும்
தெருக்களிலும் நொச்சி செடி வளர்க்க விரும்புவோருக்கு செடிகளை இலவசமாக
வழங்க மாநகராட்சி முடிவு செய்துள்ளது. இதுகுறித்து சென்னை மாநகராட்சி
வெளியிட்டுள்ள செய்திக்குறிப்பில் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளதாவது:
கொசுக்களை
ஒழிப்பதற்காக 2013-ம் ஆண்டு முதல் நொச்சி செடிகள் விநியோகிக்கப்பட்டு
வருகின்றன. இதுவரை 1 லட்சத்து 20 ஆயிரம் நொச்சி செடிகள் மாணவர்களுக்கு
வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளன.
பொதுநலச் சங்கங்கள் தாங்கள் இருக்கும் பகுதியில்
நொச்சிக் கன்றுகளை நடவும், பகுதிவாசிகளுக்கு இலவசமாக விநியோகிக்கவும்
எத்தனை செடிகள் வேண்டும் என்று தெரிவித்தால், அவற்றை மாநகராட்சி இலவசமாக
வழங்கும். இதர நலச் சங்கங்கள், அமைப்புகள், பொதுமக்களும் எத்தனை நொச்சி
செடிகள் வேண்டும் என்று தெரிவிக்கலாம்.
இந்த செடிகளை வார்டு
அலுவலகங்கள் மூலமாக விநியோகிக்க ஏற்பாடு செய்யப்படும். மழைக் காலம்
என்பதால் நொச்சி செடி வேகமாக வளரும். எனவே, தேவை பற்றிய விவரத்தை மக்கள்
விரைந்து அனுப்புமாறு கேட்டுக்கொள்ளப்படுகிறார்கள். நொச்சி செடிகள்
வேண்டுவோர் mayor@chennaicorporation.gov.in என்ற மின்னஞ்சல் அல்லது 044
25619300 என்ற தொலைபேசி எண்ணில் தொடர்புகொள்ளலாம்.
இவ்வாறு மாநகராட்சி செய்திக்குறிப்பில் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
You’ve tried many ways to do away with mosquitoes. Experts tell Geeta Padmanabhan that nochi leaves can act as a repellent
How
do you get rid of those pesky insects with an uncanny ability to bite
your elbows when your hands are busy? How do you combat mosquitoes? In
what must be a multi-crore industry, we fend them off with nets, coils,
liquids and electronic traps and in times of desperation, with deadly
chemicals sprayed under tables and beds. But, for those who put their
faith and money in harmless, biological warfare, Chennai Mayor Saidai
Duraiswamy's budget for 2012-13 had cheery news. Instead of fogging the
city with strange-smelling fumes, the Mayor proposes to shoo mosquitoes
away with a bushy, ornamental plant.
“Distribution of nochi plants
for mosquito control,” the Mayor said, catapulting the rurally
well-known plant to urban stardom. Not that it is a total stranger to
the city. “Anyone who has come from the village will be familiar with
its properties,” he said. Add those who take interest in “natural”
therapy and those who have a bush or two in their yard, you have enough
members to start a nochi fan club.
One of them is biologist and
member of Nizhal, T.D. Babu. Outside Nizhal's one-room office in Adyar,
he fills me with the plant's profile while arranging nochi saplings to
be distributed among kids at a summer camp. “It is nochi in Tamil,
white-chaste tree in English. Botanically it's known as vitex trifolia
or vitex nigundo,” he says. The names correspond to karu and vellai
nochi.
Prevents soil erosion
The ones he is watering
are small, but they grow to a height of 6 metres, Babu says. “Call it a
small, bushy tree.” Fond of places that overlook water, nochi grows on
the banks of canals, ponds, lakes and rivers across India. While it
enjoys the ready water supply, it repays its debt by stopping soil
erosion. Farmers have planted this bush along the borders of their
fields to prevent precious soil from being washed away. When we let it
grow to its natural size, nochi shows its gratitude by producing leaves,
bark, fruit and roots with enough medicinal values to fill a fair-sized
booklet.
“Growing nochi is an excellent idea,” said Sheela Rani
Chunkath IAS, who writes on Indian traditional medicine. “It is a handy
plant for several common ailments.” Boil a bunch of leaves and carefully
add a heated brick to keep it bubbling. Inhale the vapour with a
bed-sheet covering your head — a soothing remedy for respiratory
infection and headaches. “I then use the nochi water in my bath to
soothe bodyache.” Tie crushed leaves, pounded garlic and bran into a
kizhi (bundle), heat it and apply it on joints with arthritic pain, she
suggests. Extract the leaf juice, boil it with some oil, bottle it and
rub it on the forehead and neck to relieve headache.
Our ancient
texts have recorded nochi's medicinal properties, she said. Why do we
rush for antibiotics when we have remedies with no side-effects? A
village health nurse, trained in allopathy, will recite a thousand uses
for nochi and aadathodai (adathoda vasica). We have to re-acquaint
ourselves with our medical traditions, revive the Foundation for
Revitalisation of Local Health Tradition, she said feelingly. “I once
started a project to plant medicinal herbs in schools, so teachers could
talk to kids about them.”
Traditionally, villagers have used the
heated leaf-kizhi for fomentation (oththadam) for swellings, arthritis
and body-pain caused by vaatham, said Babu. Some 20-30 grams of
leaf-juice mixed with the same quantity of cow's urine is prescription
for spleenomegaly. Leaf-paste is externally applied over the inflamed
spleen area. Leaf decoction is a diuretic and a de-wormer. A nochi-leaf
pillow is considered effective against headache and sinusitis. Don't
throw away the fruit. Dry it, powder it and use it for de-worming and as
a cure for headaches. The decoction of the root is taken for vatha
diseases, burning sensation of urethra, abdominal pain and intestinal
worms.
Insect repellent
Of great interest to Chennai
Corporation and its mosquito-menaced citizens is the plant's ability to
repel the winged invader. “The trees are considered insect/pest
repellent, the twigs anti-bacterial,” said Corporation officials
in-charge of the project. “Farmers believe nochi plants protect their
crops and create a bio-fence with it. Leaves are added to stored rice to
keep weevils away.” Farmers also string the leaves into a thoranam and
brush crops with it to keep out pests, said Babu. To make it an
effective weapon to kill mosquitoes, you need to smoke the leaves, he
said. “Leaves can be repellents, but to wipe out mosquitoes completely
you have to prevent water stagnation, garbage and pollution.”
