<span style="color: black;">Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh inaugurated a training programme on the Sandalwood Farming and Management of its health via video conferencing. It was inaugurated in association with the Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST), Bengaluru yesterday. The programme is structured around the basics and benefits of Indian sandalwood, seed handling, nursery techniques and managing the health of the plant.</span><br />'' <span style="color: black;"><br />'' Addressing the gathering, the Minister lauded this free of cost training initiative which will help attract the youth towards sandalwood farming, revive this declining art and help reposition India as a market leader in the trade.</span><br />'' <span style="color: black;"><br />'' Sandalwood has been long associated with the Indian heritage and culture, as the country contributed 85 per cent of the world' sandalwood trade erstwhile. However, off late this has been declining at a fast rate. With anti-bacterial, anti-biotic and anti-cancer benefits amongst others, sandalwood finds its uses in pharmaceuticals, personal care and furniture.</span><br />'' <span style="color: black;"><br />''<br />''Globally, India and Australia are the largest growers of sandalwood, while the biggest markets lie in the United States, China, Japan and the Indian domestic market. While the world sandalwood market stood at 300 million US dollar in the last year, the World Trade Research pegs the market size at 3 billion US dollar by 2040.</span>