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D Jose in Kochi
The Swadeshi Science Congress is all set to join the international bandwagon when it launches an intensive effort to take the country's 5,000-year-old ayurveda system of medicine to the global market at the World Ayurveda Congress beginning on Friday in Kochi in Kerala.
The SSC, the scientific wing of the Sangh Parivar, is holding the first international congregation of the country's indigenous system of medicine, with the support of the Centre.
The SSC aims to claim a share of the global herbal market valued at Rs 530 billion [approximately US $10,927 million]. The country's share at present is below Rs 3.5 billion [$72 million].
This is despite the country controlling over 50 to 60 per cent of the herbal plants grown in the world. China, which grows only 6 per cent of the plants, has been dominating the global market with exports worth Rs 265 billion [$5,464 million].
The four-day congress in Kochi seeks to project ayurveda as an effective system of treatment for various diseases, through scientific validation and standardisation of the products, Dr C Suresh Kumar, organising secretary of the congress, said.
At present most of the countries do not recognize ayurveda as a medicine. They have categorised it under nutraceutical products [food or food ingredient considered to provide medical or health benefits].
Dr Kumar said that the congress would present efforts being made by India for validating the products, to the foreign delegates, who include several policy makers, so that they could influence their governments to change their perception of ayurveda.
The task is not easy since even several states as well as organisations in the country are yet to recognise ayurveda as an accepted system of treatment. The Indian Railways, for instance, does not allow reimbursements to its employees for ayurvedic treatment.
While the organisers are overwhelmed by the economic benefits that globalisation of ayurveda will bring to the country, the traditional practitioners are apprehensive about the commercialisation of the system. They are already concerned with the blatant misuse of the system by the tourism industry.
A major concern among them is the possibility of Intellectual Property Rights violation. Many have expressed doubt over the capacity of the industry to resist the commercial trappings.
"I have my doubts since products of the modern ayurvedic educational institutions can't even distinguish several medicinal herbs. How can they expect to protect our rights?" asks Dr Job Thomas of the Coimbatore Arya Vaidya Pharmacy at Thiruvananthapuram. "India has a wide variety of herbs, most of which are even not listed."
The Kochi-based Indigenous People Service Society said the chances of IPR violations by multinational drug manufacturers are high since it is easy to produce drugs from one or a combination of various herbs. They point out that several foreigners had made attempts to take away unique herbal plants from the country in the past.
The 10-year-package being formulated by the congress in Kochi for promoting ayurveda abroad will give them easy access to our herbal wealth, an IPS society spokesman said.
"Ayurveda is part of our composite cultural heritage. We cannot allow anyone to monopolise the wealth handed down through centuries. We have to take precautions to ensure that the ayurveda secrets handed down from the past are not taken away," justice V R Krishna Iyer, former judge of the Supreme Court, said.
The organisers, however, dismiss these criticisms as a minor casualty in the process of globalisation of any sector and claim that it is not easy to take the IPR of herbs.
Over 2,500 delegates, including 250 foreign delegates, representing the cross section of the industry, policy makers and research institutions will take part in the congress, which is expected to bring out a declaration defining the present status and future scope of ayurveda.
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