Patent law awareness lacking, says Joshi

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, DEC. 25. The Union Minister of Human Resource and Science and Technology, Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi, has called upon the scientific community to document scientific references available in ancient Indian works so that the data could be readily available to protect traditional intellectual properties of the country.

Dr. Joshi said that lack of understanding of the patent laws in the country, particularly among the scientists, had cause immense hardships for the country which had to fight at very high costs illegitimate patents on natural products like turmeric and neem and even basmati rice. He said that the country was fighting for protecting its interests against plagiarisation of about 15 other produce.

The Minister regretted that the country did not have any inter- disciplinary science-legal institution to study the patent laws and bring about patent awareness in the scientific community.

Addressing a gathering of activists of Vigyan Bharati, a Sangh Parivar outfit working for promoting science and technology, Dr. Joshi said that the Government had contemplated an instituion exclusively for ayurveda on the scale and style of All-India Institute of Medical Sciences.

He said it was rather strange to assume that ayurveda was an alternative medicine and stressed that it was a mainstream medical science, one of the oldest. Several non-governmental organisations in Russia were working for the recognition of ayurveda in their country and that country has accepted panchakarma as an useful therapy.

Earlier, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Dr. P.K. Iyengar, said the Indian science eduation system did not recognise creativity and that was a major lacuna in the promotion and progress of science. He said that an Indian scientist was seldom recognised here until he or she earned recognition abroad.

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