Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
Tired of government apathy towards patenting of knowledge indigenous to the people of India by individuals and groups in foreign lands, a petitioner has moved the Supreme Court. Earlier, neem, amla, mustard, castor, turmeric and basmati were patented by foreign companies. Now it is the turn of the karela (bitter-gourd), …
purging nut or physic nut ( Jatropha Curcas) is a native to tropical America. It is also found in many parts of Asia and Africa. In Cape Verde Islands, it is cultivated as an oil-yielding seed crop. In Madagascar, where the plant is grown as a support for the vanilla …
The use of plant materials for preparations of ayurvedic tonics has been known since ancient periods. The use of digestive candies and health tonics are at great demand in India. Further, the enormous use of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in developing countries has been of serious concern because of their persistant …
the failure of policies initiated by the forest department has led to a flourishing business for brokers involved in the sale of medicinal plants and non-wood forest products. This has resulted in the extensive destruction of biodiversity in Kotoor town of Kerala. An hour-long bumpy drive from the state capital …
despite demands by 11 indigenous peoples' organisations to suspend the us $2.5 million us government-funded bioprospecting programme, the University of Georgia has refused to wind up its activities in Chiapas, Mexico. The objective of the five-year project is to study thousands of plants and microorganisms used for medicinal purposes by …
the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (tbgri), a Thiruvananthapuram-based autonomous research organisation under the department of science and technology, has exported medicinal plants to biotech firms in Singapore and Denmark without the prior consent of the Union government. This export was despite the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd) …
The Union government has introduced a clause in the amended Patents Bill that gives oral traditions the status of documented knowledge. The Bill does not allow any foreign company to seek a patent on India's traditional practices in the area of medicine or any knowledge-based activity. This move has been …
scientists and researchers from Commonwealth countries who met in Goa in the second half of September to discuss intellectual property rights (IPR) cited the example of the Kani tribe of Kerala's Western Ghats as an example of equitable sharing of IPRs with indigenous peoples. The Kani people are getting lakhs …
Mashelkar: Traditional patent systems dealt with industrial products. There has now been a sudden shift from inanimate objects to animate ones like humans and plants. The issue has assumed importance all of a sudden because multinational pharmaceutical companies began picking up leads and developing new products without giving any credit …
the villages in Pithoragarh's Jowahar Valley reverberates with life every summer. Farmers migrate to this area to cultivate various medicinal herbs and also jambu (allium stracheyi), a unique variety of onions. It is a much-sought after condiment for the local cuisine. The cultivation of these herbs, which started after the …
technological advances in the modern era have revolutionised the concept of hospitals. But, sadly, in most Indian hospitals there is no proper system of waste management
Cromak Research Inc, a New Jersey-based company, has been granted patents for derivatives of karela (bitter gourd), jamun (syzygium cumini ) and brinjal. The company is owned by non-resident Indians. Patent number 5900240 was given for anti-diabetic properties, despite their use being mentioned in several ancient Indian texts. R A …
Mention the word local community and bureaucrats in India wince. So what's new? It seems the bureaucrats have realised that little moves without the participation of the local community in this country. When it comes to implementing decisions taken by the government to benefit the environment, it is local communities …
to prevent the patenting of traditional Indian knowledge of medicinal and aromatic plants by multinational companies, the Indian government has set up a task force which will suggest ways to protect the country's legal rights on such plants and also enhance international trade in these items. The task force, which …
a man with a mission, Arun Kumar Badoni's life work is to put cultivation of rare and endangered Himalayan medicinal and aromatic plants on the development agenda of mountain districts in the Uttarkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. He has been able to grow various endangered high-altitude herbs without any financial …
The Shaman tribe of the Amazon rainforest have sought to revoke a patent granted to businessperson from the us on their most sacred plant, a vine called ayauasca , which has medicinal and ceremonial qualities. The tribe uses ayuhuasca to make a potent hallucinogenic brew for religious rituals. "The vine …
A recent decision by the Himachal Pradesh government may not be good news to the endangered Himalayan yew (Taxus baccata). The government has allowed collection and export of yew, which is in great demand in the pharmaceutical industry for manufacturing drugs to treat cancer. In 1995, the government had announced …
A recent decision by the Himachal Pradesh government may not be good news to the endangered Himalayan yew (Taxus baccata). The government has allowed collection and export of yew, which is in great demand in the pharmaceutical industry for manufacturing drugs to treat cancer. In 1995, the government had announced …
Close on the heels of neem, turmeric, basmati and isabgo/, an Us-based company, has filed a patent for Phyllanthus Amarus, a medicinal plant used to cure jaun- dice. This plant is found allover south India and is used for the treatment of Hepatitis B. Meanwhile, several non- governmental organisations have …
Bhotiyas are a pastoral-migratory community, inhabiting the high alti - tudes of Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim. Bhotiyas spend the winter in the foothills and migrate to the high hills during the summer. Pasto- ralism is their primary occupation, supplemented by agriculture and trade in medicinal plants. The Bhotiyas of Uttar …
