How is the Government of India protecting traditional knowledge of medicine from patenting by pharmaceutical companies?
Approach · directive: “how”
What it asks · Explain the ways India prevents wrongful patents on its traditional medical knowledge: the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, patent-office oppositions, domestic law and international efforts.
It asks 3 things — answer each
- Explain how the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library and prior-art access prevent wrong patents
- Domestic law and oppositions: the Patents Act and the Biological Diversity Act
- International efforts, and the limits of the protection
Open with · After a US patent on turmeric's wound-healing use had to be revoked at the USPTO at great cost, India chose to give patent examiners the evidence before a grant rather than fight wrong patents afterwards.
Cover
- TKDL (2001, CSIR and AYUSH): over 5.0 lakh formulations and practices of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga in five languages under the TK Resource Classification.
- Prior-art access: 17 patent offices including the EPO, USPTO and JPO search TKDL under a non-disclosure agreement; about 370 applications rejected or amended.
- Wider use: Cabinet (August 2022) opened TKDL to researchers, businesses and practitioners by paid subscription; other domains to be added.
- Patents Act, 1970: Section 3(p) bars patents on traditional knowledge, Section 25 allows community-knowledge opposition; Biological Diversity Act, 2002 requires NBA approval.
- International: India pressed for disclosure of source; WIPO adopted a treaty on IP, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge on 24 May 2024.
- Limits: oral and community knowledge and other domains remain exposed; monitoring of filings must continue.
Close with · India's model, preventing wrong grants by giving examiners the evidence without restricting the use of traditional knowledge, is the template the 2024 WIPO treaty takes to the world.
Add value (verified)
- CSIR's own description states the design principle of the TKDL: give examiners access to prior art so that wrong grants are prevented, without restricting the use of traditional knowledge.Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ↗“The key here is preventing the wrong grant of patents by ensuring access to TK related prior art for patent examiners, without restricting the use of traditional knowledge.”
- CSIR: TKDL access is available to 17 patent offices, including the EPO, USPTO and JPO, under the Access Agreement.CSIR — Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) ↗“access of TKDL is available to seventeen Patent Offices (European Patent Office, United State Patent & Trademark Office, Japan Patent Office, United Kingdom Patent Office, Canadian Intellectual Property Office, German Patent Office, Intellectual Property Australia, Indian Patent Office”
- CSIR: close to 370 patent applications worldwide rejected, set aside, withdrawn, amended or abandoned on TKDL prior-art evidence.CSIR — Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) ↗“So far globally close to 370 patent applications have either been rejected/ set aside/ withdrawn/ amended/ abandoned based on the prior art evidences present in”
- CSIR: more than 5.0 lakh formulations and practices transcribed into TKDL.CSIR — Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) ↗“As on date, more than 5.0 lakh formulations/ practices have been transcribed into the TKDL database.”
- Cabinet (August 2022) opened TKDL to users beyond patent offices through a paid subscription, with other domains of traditional knowledge to be added.PMO, 17 Aug 2022 — Cabinet approves widening access of the TKDL database to users besides patent offices ↗“The access to the TKDL database would be through a paid subscription model with a phase-wise opening to national and international users. In future, more information on Indian traditional knowledge from other domains will be added to the TKDL database”
- WIPO member states adopted the Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge on 24 May 2024.WIPO press release PR/2024/919, 24 May 2024 ↗“WIPO member states today approved a groundbreaking new Treaty related to intellectual property (IP), genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, marking a historic breakthrough that capped decades of negotiations.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 379words · Minimalist IAS
A US patent on turmeric's wound-healing use had to be revoked at the USPTO after costly effort, and neem was fought in Europe. India drew the lesson that a wrong patent is cheaper to prevent than to revoke: give examiners the evidence that the knowledge is old before any grant.
Documenting prior art: the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
- Transcription: set up in 2001 by CSIR with the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine (now the Ministry of AYUSH), TKDL has converted more than 5.0 lakh formulations and practices of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga into five international languages under the Traditional Knowledge Resource Classification.
- Examiner access: 17 patent offices, including the European, US and Japanese offices, search it under an Access Agreement with built-in non-disclosure safeguards.
- Oppositions: CSIR files third-party observations and pre-grant oppositions with TKDL evidence; close to 370 applications worldwide have been rejected, set aside, withdrawn or amended.
- Wider use: in August 2022 the Cabinet opened TKDL to researchers, businesses and practitioners through paid subscription, turning a shield into a research base.
- Ancient text in Sanskrit, Arabic or Tamil
- TKRC-coded entry in five languages
- examiner search under access agreement
- third-party observation or pre-grant opposition
- wrong patent refused
Domestic law behind the shield
- Patents Act, 1970: Section 3(p) bars patents on what is in effect traditional knowledge, and Section 25 allows opposition on the ground of knowledge held by local or indigenous communities.
- Biological Diversity Act, 2002: the National Biodiversity Authority's approval governs intellectual property rights claimed on Indian biological resources, with benefit-sharing for the communities concerned.
International effort
- Disclosure norm: India pressed for mandatory disclosure of the source of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge in patent applications; WIPO member states adopted a treaty on this on 24 May 2024, after decades of negotiation.
Limits and way forward
- Coverage: TKDL holds codified texts of Indian medicine; oral and community knowledge, and fields beyond medicine, remain exposed, so patent filings must be monitored.
- Next steps: add other domains to TKDL as the 2022 decision envisages, bring more patent offices under access agreements, and ratify and operationalise the WIPO treaty.
India's model, preventing wrong grants by giving examiners the evidence 'without restricting the use of traditional knowledge', is the template the 2024 WIPO treaty now carries to the world.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
