• ●ITRA — Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar, Gujarat — is the first and only Institute of National Importance in the AYUSH sector, and works under the Ministry of Ayush.
• ●Its INI status comes from the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Act, 2020 (Act No. 16 of 2020), which received Presidential assent on 21 September 2020 and came into force on 15 October 2020.
• ●ITRA was formed by merging three institutions on the Gujarat Ayurved University campus at Jamnagar, including the Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda.
• ●The MoU: five years, signed in August 2026 by Prof. Tanuja Nesari, Director, ITRA, and Shri Kumar Kannan of the Heartfulness Institute, Kanha Shanti Vanam, Hyderabad.
• ●Coverage: collaborative research in India and abroad, student and faculty exchange, academic programmes, capacity building, innovation and intellectual property, and disease prevention and integrative wellness.
• ●The collaboration was highlighted at a Stakeholders' Consultative Meeting at Kanha Shanti Vanam attended by the Union Minister of State (I/C) for Ayush and the Secretary, Ministry of Ayush.
• ●Regulatory context: education and practice in Indian systems of medicine are regulated by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine, constituted on 11 June 2021 in place of the Central Council of Indian Medicine.
• ●The apex Ayurveda institute under the Ministry of Ayush is the All India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi, inaugurated on 17 October 2017.

Which institution is the first Institute of National Importance in the AYUSH sector?