Question : Traditional Indian Systems of Medicines

a) whether thousands of patients have been registered throughout the world by stealing the formulae of traditional Indian Systems of Medicines;
(b) if so, the details thereof and reaction of the Government thereto;
(c) whether the Government has put in place Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) to protect ancient and traditional knowledge of Indian Systems of Medicines and heritage of the country;
(d) if so, the salient features and the status of implementation thereof;
(e) the amount allocated and released under the said scheme; and
(f) the other measures being taken by the Government to protect ancient and traditional knowledge of indigenous medicinal systems?

THE MINISTER OF AYUSH
(SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

(a) No factual/ quantitative information is available in respect of thousands of patients who have been registered throughout the world by stealing the formulae of traditional Indian Systems of Medicines.

(b) & (c) Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is a pioneering initiative of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research jointly with the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) in 2001 to prevent exploitation and to protect Indian traditional knowledge at Patent Offices worldwide. The TKDL was initiated as a sequel to the efforts taken by India to successfully revoke the turmeric and basmati patents granted by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and neem patent granted by European Patent Office (EPO).

(d) The TKDL includes India’s rich traditional knowledge related to the systems of medicine from classical/ traditional books related to Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Sowa Rigpa as well as practices of Yoga. The information from the ancient texts of medicine and health existing in local languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Tamil, Bhoti, etc. have been digitized in five international languages, namely, English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese in the TKDL database as prior art.
A total of 404982 formulations including 117205 in Ayurveda, 233801 in Unani, 47210 in Siddha, 4070 in Yoga and 2696 in Sowa Rigpa have been transcribed so far into the TKDL database.
As per the extant approvals in place, the access of the database is given to patent offices world-wide that have signed non-disclosure access agreements with the CSIR. Fourteen patent offices including the Indian Patent Office (Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks), European Patent Office, US Patent Office, Japanese Patent Office, German Patent Office, Canadian Patent Office, Chile Patent Office, Australian Patent Office, UK Patent Office, Malaysian Patent Office, Russian Patent Office, Peru Patent Office, Spanish Patent & Trademark Office and Danish Patent & Trademark Office have been granted access to the TKDL database.
The CSIR-TKDL Unit also files third party observations and pre-grant oppositions on patent applications related to our traditional knowledge based on the TKDL evidences. So far, 245 patent applications have been either withdrawn/deemed withdrawn or amended or set aside on the basis of TKDL evidence thus protecting Indian traditional knowledge.
(e) TKDL is implemented through projects under CSIR. The amount allocated for TKDL during FY 2021-22 is ? 1141.350 lakh.
(f) The protection of IPR is an in evitable part of the MoUs signed by Ministry of Ayush in the autonomous bodies (under the Ministry) with foreign institutions. The CSIR-TKDL Unit, Delhi has signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement with the National Biodiversity Authority for evaluating and identifying modalities for possible inclusion of information from the PBR into the TKDL database.

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