Dozens of countries are taking part in a United Nations-sponsored effort to protect potentially life-saving centuries-old traditional medicines from bio-piracy by learning from India how to halt their misappropriation through international patents granted on non-original innovations. Representatives from more than 35 countries wrapped up a three-day meeting in New Delhi today that discussed emulating India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a database documenting traditional medicinal treatment, concluding that such a mechanism...

These days, Jhum cultivation also known as ‘slash and burn method of cultivation’, ‘shifting cultivation’ etc has been under continuous scanner for its productivity and ecological viability. This form of cultivation is followed widely in almost all the North Eastern States including the hill areas of Manipur. There are those who consider jhum cultivation as unproductive and ecologically disastrous so that people (understood as tribal people of the hill areas)...

No celebrity visits or satellite banking system? Never mind, bring on ‘suppat’. Unlike Doba, three other villages of Lohardaga district may not have been lucky enough to get Reserve Bank of India’s smart card based satellite-banking system. But they have a ‘suppat’ surprise up their sleeves. ‘Suppat’ or ‘super’ in tribal dialect, is also the name of a rural chain of mom-and-pop stores initiated by a private party, Dynamic Tarang Pvt Ltd,...

The area under Turmeric cultivation in Erode district has almost doubled this year because of the high price it fetches in the market. Farmers have cultivated Turmeric in over 9,500 hectares of land till date. Normally Turmeric is cultivated in about 5,000 to 6,000 hectares in the district. Cultivation “The price of the yellow spice has been hovering around Rs. 15,000 a quintal for the last few months. This has encouraged farmers to...

After successfully contesting a patent dispute with China earlier this year — regarding formulations based on “pudina” (mint) and “kalamegha” (Andrographis) — India last week won another legal battle in Malaysia against the use of “ponni” rice as trademark. Like basmati, ponni is also a speciality rice grown exclusively in southern states and has a niche market abroad. These and other victories concerning patenting of products like neem (Azadirachta indica)...