Basmati battle in full steam

PUNE, March 12: After its success in the turmeric patent dispute, the country's scientific fraternity is now gearing up to tackle the contro...

PUNE, March 12: After its success in the turmeric patent dispute, the country’s scientific fraternity is now gearing up to tackle the controversial Basmati patent issue.

Premier scientific research laboratories in the country including the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research have formed a joint consortium under the leadership of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research to prop up India’s stand on the granting of the Basmati rice patent to an American company.

India has decided to challenge all the twenty claims listed in the patent which was granted to the company, Ricetec, in September 1997. Speaking to media persons after delivering the Foundation Day lecture at the Tata Research Development and Design Centre Scientific and Industrial Research Director General Dr R A Mashelkar said the issue would be contested separately over trademark, geographical appellations and granting of patent to the American company. While Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and ICAR will take up thelast two issues, APEDA will lead the attack on Ricetec’s use of trademarks like Jasmati, Kasmati and Texmati.

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Mashelkar, who successfully spearheaded India’s attack in the turmeric dispute, did not rule out the possibility of hiring a high-profile foreign attorney to present India’s case. “We must understand the rules-based war,” he said.

A special group of twelve scientists from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research had been constituted to examine the validity of Ricetec’s claim on novelty, Mashelkar added.

“In order to make our case genuine and technically very sound, we have already launched massive efforts to create a database of both traditional and scientific knowledge available in India before July 1, 1993 as the patent was filed by the American company in July 1994,” said Mashelkar.

Further these efforts will be complemented by work done on Basmati by the Central Food Technical Research Institute (CFTRI) and helped by the useof DNA fingerprinting technology, he added.

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While the turmeric patent was more of a symbolic victory for India, the war for the Basmati patent will be fought on a much larger scale given its economic implications besides other adversities, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research director said.

Every year around half a metric tonne of Basmati exports in the country accounted for nearly Rs 1200 crore of wealth generation, he added.

Meanwhile, several private organisations have also asked the government to look into the row.