KOLKATA: Ancient knowledge which could be worth around 100
billion US dollars has been stolen from India and patented
outside the country till now. The National Institute of Science
Communication and Information, New Delhi, has taken up a unique
plan to prevent this pilferage. The institute has digitalised
36,000 slokas and put them on a web portal, the Traditional
Knowledge Digital Library on Ayurveda. The database is the first
of its kind in the world. For any substance or idea to be
patented, it should not be previously known to the society.
However, unscrupulous people abroad had been taking advantage of
the fact that there was no official record of the ancient Indian
knowledge. The digital database would put a check to this trend.
"At least 500 blockbuster drugs can be made from Ayurveda,"
pointed out director of the institute, V K Gupta. Blockbuster
drugs are those drugs which fetch up to 100 million dollars. The
database has already generated huge interest all over the world
with requests from Australi