Thiruvananthapuram: Shashi Tharoor MP has given a notice to move a private member’s bill to provide for the protection, preservation, promotion and development of India’s Traditional Knowledge.
If traditional knowledge remains in the domains of individuals, communities or trusts, it runs the risk of exploitation by commercial interests and hence it should be with the state. That is the argument put forward by those who want such a bill.
The centre and the state have been reluctant to enact a law, but experts say that traditional knowledge should remain with the state.
R.S. Praveen Raj, senior scientist, CSIR-National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), who campaigned for such a bill had approached Mr Tharoor to take up the issue in Parliament. The bill has been scheduled to be presented on the private member’s bill day on Friday.
Mr Raj had been opposing the codification of community-held traditional knowledge (TK) in the form of Traditional Knowledge Digital Libraries (TKDL) as it would be a gross injustice to those communities. There was also an apprehension that sharing knowledge with patent offices would affect the livelihood of traditional knowledge practitioners.
“However, at the same time, we should be careful in creating ‘registrable’ rights on TK, including traditional medicine practices, and classifying TK under Intellectual Property Rights, which are exclusive rights operating like a monopoly in practice,” Mr Raj said.
