Yanung Jamoh Lego

In the Siang valley of Arunachal Pradesh, knowledge of healing plants has been passed down through families for generations. Yanung Jamoh Lego has made it her life’s work to keep that knowledge alive, and to get medicinal plants growing in ordinary kitchen gardens.

Learning from her father

Yanung was born in Sika Tode village in East Siang district ^[2]. She belongs to the Adi community, and her work has helped revive its traditional healing practices ^[3][4].

Her father was a respected folk healer. Inspired by him, she began learning about herbs in 1981, and trained under him for about 15 years ^[2]. In 1995, she began working as a herbal healer herself ^[2].

A scientist’s training too

Alongside this traditional learning, Yanung studied agriculture. She earned B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Assam Agricultural University in Jorhat, and joined Arunachal Pradesh’s agriculture department in 1988, where she worked until she retired in 2023 ^[2][3].

Growing medicinal plants

In 2009, she founded Indigenous Herbal Heritage, an organisation that promotes the growing of medicinal plants ^[2]. According to her official citation, it has taught more than one lakh people about useful herbs and encouraged them to grow plants in their own kitchen gardens. It plants around 5,000 medicinal plants every year ^[2].

Many people in the region come to her for herbal treatment. Her Padma citation credits her with treating very large numbers of patients over nearly three decades ^[2]. Traditional remedies are a valued part of India’s heritage, but they are not a replacement for diagnosis and treatment by a qualified doctor, and IndianGaurav does not make claims about cures.

Recognition

Yanung has received the SRISTI Samman in 2007, the Paramparika Vaidya Ratna award in 2013, and the Arunachal Pradesh State Award in 2019 ^[2].

On 25 January 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs named her for the Padma Shri, listed under Agriculture, from Arunachal Pradesh ^[1]. President Droupadi Murmu presented the award to her at Rashtrapati Bhavan in April 2024 ^[4]. Arunachal Pradesh’s Governor described it as a proud moment for the whole state ^[5].

Her story is about respect for what earlier generations knew, and about making sure the plants behind that knowledge are not lost.