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| India to ink deal with US to prevent wrong patents |
| Press Trust of India / Chennai Aug 19, 2009, 20:57 IST |
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India would soon sign a pact with the US to prevent grant of wrong patents of the country's traditional products like neem, turmeric and basmati rice to American companies, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said today.
India already has a similar pact with the European Patent Office. Under the agreement, India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library -- a database on herbs and plants used in Ayurvedic, Unani, Homoeopathy and Siddha -- is made available to European patent examiners for reference before grant of patents.
Ramesh said about 1,500 patents for Indian medicine-based products are issued in the US and Europe every year and to prevent this the Digital Library is envisaging documenting "oral knowledge" as well.
Calling for sustainable use of India's bio-diversity resources, the Minister said the bio-reserves of the country face a "grave threat" from within and outside India.
There is a need for massive effort to prevent poaching by involving tribes and villagers, who live near forests and whose livelihood depend on them, in conservation effort.
"For instance, as part of Project Tiger, at Corbett Tiger Reserve (Uttarakhand), the local community people, Vangujjars, are being developed as a para-force while the tribals in Mudumalai Tiger Sanctuary (Tamil Nadu) have also been roped in."
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