Nagas yet to take advantage of government laws, policies

KOHIMA — Vice President of Integrated Mountain Initiative and development practitioner policy analyst, Amba Jamir on Tuesday said that the people of the state have not really taken advantage of the government laws and policies despite being in place for years.

‘The Biological Diversity Act, 2022 and the biodiversity rules of Nagaland are one of the most important instruments which can be used. But the people have not really taken advantage of the opportunities that are enshrined in the rules,’ he said during a consultation workshop on ‘traditional knowledge and common property rights’ organised by the North East Network (NEN) Nagaland in Kohima.

‘On the one hand, we are afraid of others coming in and taking away the traditional knowledge but on the other hand, we ourselves don’t know about legalities and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regimes. We really need to look into those aspects’, he asserted. 

He pointed out that the people have been using Article 371(A) as a ‘defence and shield’ to fight off other things.

‘But people need to take advantage of the article and capitalise on it. The state has a larger responsibility to ensure that on the basis of Article 371(A), it comes up with innovative policies and programmes that benefit people, he added.

Speaking about traditional knowledge, he said that it is intergenerational knowledge that is passed down through the lived experiences of the community and engagements with the local resource and biodiversity that is around them.

‘There are so many intergenerational gaps already in society today. We are going to schools and colleges seeking a better learning system but we are forgetting everything that made us who we are and what our society is. This is very dangerous’, he warned.

‘Children are sent outside the state to pursue higher studies but they are forgetting what they have,’ he said, adding that the people need to be clear about traditional knowledge and common property rights.

Food and Trade Policy analyst, journalist and writer, Devinder Sharma, pointed out that even with the Biodiversity Act in place, India has lost more than what it is supposed to protect in the last 20 years.

‘As enlightened citizens, one should be aware of the treaties and policies that are been signed. One should take responsibility instead of leaving it to the framers alone. The implementation of the Act is poor because society is not standing up to question,’ he said.

He also stressed on the importance of documenting things that exist in day-to-day lives. ‘The ability to document what we use and eat is important. We have to build up and ascertain that it is ours. What is obvious to the Indians is new for the Americans, so they try to patent it’, he said, citing the example of the ‘basmati’ patent issue.

He suggested the gathering to always go for traditional products instead of hybrids and called for the protection of ‘variety of seeds’ at home.

‘Farmers across the globe are being pushed out in exchange for synthetic products and monoculture is being introduced. But it is something to be wary of because once monoculture comes into play, farmers become a part of the value chain which will push them to patent control,’ he said.

Meenal Tula, a member of the governing board of NEN, also said that sustainability today is an important touchstone against which all development models need to be evaluated. Diversity not only forms a basis on which sustainability can be built but also is a safeguard for farmers and other stakeholders.

She maintained that traditional, localised knowledge systems fulfill many parameters of being sustainable.

‘But this is also something that has received wider recognition globally, which creates new dangers of appropriation, commodification or worse, dispossession or dislocation of practitioners of traditional knowledge,’ she warned.

State Coordinator, NEN, Wekoweu Tsuhah said questions like protection of traditional knowledge, cultural appropriation, IPR, biopiracy, ethics and informed consent, are emerging as new narratives and open for debates.

‘But there is a lack of deeper understanding of these subjects. In this context, the NEN organised a consultation workshop to discuss concerns and formulate a strategy and action plan towards protecting traditional knowledge and community resources,’ she added.