Agriculture is under pressure to produce greater quantities of food, feed and biofuel on limited land resources. Current over-reliance on a handful of major staple crops has inherent agronomic, ecological, nutritional and economic risks and is probably unsustainable in the long run. Wider use of today’s underutilized minor crops provides more options to build temporal and spatial heterogeneity into uniform cropping systems and will enhance resilience to both biotic and abiotic stress.

Sacred groves have survived very long without human interference, and thus are of anthropological, cultural, economic, and ecological significance. In India, these groves are concentrated in the North-East and along the Western Ghats, both globally recognised hotspots of biodiversity. Unfortunately, their size and number are now shrinking at an alarming rate, and it is high time a workable solution is found to sustain them.

Traditional knowledge is increasingly recognized as valuable for adaptation to climate change, bringing scientists and indigenous peoples together to collaborate and exchange knowledge. These partnerships can benefit both researchers and indigenous peoples through mutual learning and mutual knowledge generation. Despite these benefits, most descriptions focus on the social contexts of exchange. The implications of the multiple cultural, legal, risk-benefit and governance contexts of knowledge exchange have been less recognized.

Solvent extracts of five Indian spices viz., Turmeric, Cinnamon, Cumin, Ginger and Garlic were examined for their antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity. The antioxidant capacity of the spice extracts were found in descending order: Cumin>Garlic>Cinnamon>Turmeric>Ginger by DPPH method, Garlic>Cumin>Turmeric>Ginger>Cinnamon by FRAP method and Turmeric>Cinnamon>Garlic>Cumin>Ginger by TPC method.