An Article on “Sustainable Development in India with Traditional Knowledge”

By Swati Tiwari

Assistant Professor

Kalinga University, Raipur

There are many different interpretations of both “traditional wisdom” and sustainable development, which sparks heated dispute. People are increasingly realising that TK still has value in the contemporary world. The significance of TK has been recognised in several international treaties and conventions. “Organisations like the World Intellectual Property Organization and the International Labour Organization” (particularly Convention 169), have recognised its significance.

While a forest-dwelling society could continue to function as a community in many ways after the forest is no longer there or after it has been isolated from the forest, it is just as likely to lose its forest-related TK as if the group had completely broken apart. In this way, there is much common ground between environmentalists and those fighting for the rights of indigenous peoples and underprivileged communities, despite the fact that these groups don’t always agree with one another and sometimes find themselves at odds over competing interpretations of human rights and environmental protection.

Traditional Knowledge is fundamentally culturally oriented or based, making it an integral component of the cultural identity of the social group within which it works and is preserved. Traditional knowledge encompasses a broad spectrum of information, including but not limited to literary, artistic, scientific, or technical works; performances; inventions; scientific discoveries; designs; marks; names; symbols; and proprietary data. Traditional knowledge encompasses a wide range of fields and disciplines, from agriculture and medicine to biodiversity and folk expressions including music, dance, song, handicraft, craft, storytelling, and artwork, as defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (Bender, 2022).

Studying the history and development of international intellectual property regulations reveals that they are derived from the legislation of many countries. The international aspect is the context in which cooperation across borders is feasible and where protection may be extended beyond national borders (Pham‐Truffert, et al., 2020). Since the year 2000, the World Intellectual Property Organization has been actively involved in these concerns via the work of the International Commission on Patent Rights, Genetic Assets, Ancient traditions, and Folklore as well as other global fora. The IGC’s suggested safeguards are novel, yet they nonetheless belong in the realm of intellectual property. This issue may be better understood by comparing it to other international systems, especially those dealing with intellectual property.

There are so many factors that gives us the symbol that our Indian heritage and traditional knowledge helps us in sustainable development so that our future generation will not bother their lives at all. As well the study of traditional knowledge shows that we have all the answers of day to day problems.