Jurisprudential Analysis Of The Need For Traditional Knowledge Law In India
Insha Khan, LLM, HNLU Raipur (2025-26)
ABSTRACT
Indigenous communities depend on their ecology and accumulated knowledge to maintain a rich cultural history. Their distinctiveness is preserved when these resources are preserved from unauthorised use. The rise of cases of Western corporations utilising the indigenous knowledge and patenting products led to widespread criticisms from the Global South. This necessitated the need for safeguards and recognition of the distinctive cultural and traditional heritage of the indigenous people under intellectual property. By having their traditional knowledge recognised, they can protect their culture in a better and more sophisticated way. India’s traditional knowledge digital library is one such initiative. It is a repository of traditional knowledge, and it acts as evidence, which is useful particularly during patent applications.
Indigenous people frequently deal with issues including cultural misrepresentation, exploitation, and restricted access to legal recourse. Misunderstandings regarding cultural customs and bureaucratic obstacles exacerbate these difficulties. Traditional knowledge must be preserved to save the environment and promote sustainable development, much as indigenous peoples have helped to maintain world variety. In certain nations, traditional knowledge associated with Indian items has a higher economic value than other products. This is mostly due to India's abundant natural resources, which have been cultivated by local knowledge over many years. India's indigenous wisdom must be protected from global multinational corporations. Improving laws like those of indigenous knowledge patents might help alleviate these issues. This research aims to assess the present system for the protection of traditional knowledge in India and highlights the need to have a separate law to protect the traditional knowledge of the indigenous groups and their cultural heritage.
Keywords: Traditional Knowledge, Indigenous Communities, TKDL
