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| Delhi has locked horns with Washington | | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI, May 16
The government of India has adopted an angry pose towards the United States. This follows the decision of the US Patents and Trademarks Office (PTO) to grant 150 yoga-related copyrights, 134 patents on yoga accessories and 2,315 yoga trademarks in a movethat has sparked a chorus of disapproval in New Delhi. It was turmeric (haldi) then. And it is yoga now.
Like turmeric, that was believed to be an Indian discovery, the government has reacted strongly saying yoga, too, cannot be patented because it originated in India, and is part of Indian heritage. With yoga being known and practised all over the world, the issue has snowballed with political parties joining the protests. Though on turmeric the US had ruled out that its medicinal properties were not patentable, in this latest issue US PTO feels that yoga can now be very well driven by US intellectual property rights, as it is widely being practiced there.
Under the new patent, those teaching yoga will have to pay a royalty to an American patent holder if he or she imparts the knowledge. Indian parliamentarians have slammed the United States patenting authority for granting yoga-related copyrights to American companies, saying they will take up the matter in Parliament.
The government of India had set up a task force to create a database of yoga techniques in order to stop others from patenting the centuries-old knowledge. The task force has begun cataloging yoga in the form of traditional knowledge, including ayurvedic remedies and hundreds of yoga poses, to protect them from being pirated and copyrighted. But the move may have come a bit late. The data is still in the process of being translated from ancient Sanskrit and Tamil texts. "The idea is to store the data digitally so that it is available in five international languages. The patent offices in other countries can see that yoga did not originate in a San Francisco commune", says a senior Congress leader.
The government is believed to have stated that modern-day yoga is the result of Patanjali's Yog Shastra that was written more than 5,000 years ago. The asanas (poses) in the form of twists and contortions practised have been described in Yog Shastra. "We are looking into this latest US decision. We would surely take up the matter", government asserted. However, political parties feel that the government should take immediate action. The issue, anyway, seems to be getting political with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying yoga patent by the US is a serious matter, and has to be sorted out at the earliest. But Congress says it is well known that yoga is part of Indian tradition, and patents do not matter.
It is said that the issue of yoga patent flared up after an NRI, and well-known yoga teacher in US, Vikram Chaudhary, applied for the patent. Yoga guru Swami Ramdev, who has made his name teaching yoga to cure illnesses through breathing exercises and traditional medicines, said that the government should get the patent of yoga to his Patanjali yoga ashram, which had significantly contributed in popularising yoga.
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