Lok Sabha Question No. 933 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-08
Subject: Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
Ministry: AYURVEDA,YOGA & NATUROPATHY,UNANI,SIDDHA AND HOMEOPATHY (AYUSH)
Asked by: Adala Prabhakara Reddy, Beesetti  Venkata Satyavathi, Chandra Sekhar Bellana, Maddila  Gurumoorthy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AYUSH LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-933 ANSWERED ON 08/12/2023

## Traditional Knowledge Digital Library

933: SHRI ADALA PRABHAKARA REDDY: DR. BEESETTI VENKATA SATYAVATHI: SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR BELLANA: SHRI MADDILA GURUMOORTHY:

Will the Minister of AYUSH be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), which was set up as an Indian digital knowledge repository of traditional knowledge;
- (b) the progress made in this regard;
- (c) the benefits realized therefrom; and
- (d) the details of other such measures taken/ proposed to be taken to protect the ancient and traditional knowledge of the country from exploitation through biopiracy and unethical patents?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF AYUSH (SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

- a) The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is a prior art database of Indian  traditional  knowledge  established  in  2001,  jointly  by  the  Council  of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy (Dept. of ISM&H, now Ministry of AYUSH). The TKDL  was  established  to  prevent  misappropriation  of  Indian  traditional knowledge (TK) by way of intellectual property rights. The TKDL currently contains information from ancient texts related to Indian Systems of Medicine such  as  Ayurveda,  Unani,  Siddha,  Sowa  Rigpa  and  Yoga.  The  information from  ancient  texts in Indian languages  have  been  transcribed  into  five international languages, namely English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese in the TKDL database. The TKDL thus serves as a robust prior art database  of  Indian  traditional  knowledge  information  therewith  offering  the

information  in  languages  and  format  understandable  by  patent  examiners  at Patent Offices worldwide. The TKDL thus prevents erroneous grant of patents by patent offices.

The  access  to  this  database  is  given  to  patent  offices  world-wide  that have signed Non-disclosure Access Agreements with the CSIR, for search of TKDL  evidences  in  the  context  of  patent  applications  filed  with  them.  The TKDL prior art database is currently available to 16 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, Danish Patent and Trademark Office, National Industrial Property Institute (INPI, France) and Eurasian Patent Organization.

In  addition to the use of TKDL database by patent offices, the CSIRTKDL Unit also files third party observations/pre-grant oppositions on patent applications that have relevance to Indian traditional knowledge. This defensive protection through TKDL has been effective in safeguarding Indian traditional  knowledge  from  misappropriation,  and  is  considered  a  global benchmark.

(b) & (c) A total of 466011 Indian Systems of Medicine formulations including 131628 in  Ayurveda,  246714  in  Unani,  76487  in  Siddha,  and  6134  in  Sowa Rigpa,  and  5048  in  Yoga  techniques  have  been  transcribed  so  far  into  the TKDL  database.  On  the  basis  of  TKDL  evidences,  so  far, 324  patent applications have been either refused, amended or withdrawn/abandoned, thus protecting Indian traditional knowledge.

(d)  As  per  the  Biological  Diversity  (Amendment)  Act,  2023,  approval  of  the National  Biodiversity  Authority  is  necessary  before  seeking  any  intellectual property rights based on biological material and associated knowledge obtained from India. Under the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 and Rules thereunder, the National Biodiversity Authority has also been pursuing efforts on  Peoples  Biodiversity  Register.  The  register  is  a  tool  for  formal  recording and maintenance of comprehensive information on availability and knowledge of  local  biological  resources,  their  medicinal  or  any  other  use.  The  CSIRTKDL Unit has signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement with National Biodiversity  Authority  for  evaluating  and  identifying  modalities  for  possible inclusion of information from the Peoples Biodiversity Register into the TKDL database.

Under Section 3p of the Indian Patents Act, 1970, invention which in effect, is traditional  knowledge  or  which  is  an  aggregation  or  duplication  of  known properties of a traditionally  known  component  or  components,  is  nonpatentable. In addition, the Patents Act, 1970 provides for disclosing the source and  geographical  origin  of  the  biological  material  in  the  specification,  when used in an invention and conveys the information to NBA, thereby facilitating compliance.

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