Primary Component in Curry Spice Kicks Off Cancer-Killing Mechanisms in Human Saliva

MANGALORE: India's resilience in standing up to attempts by powers that be, to seek patents for turmeric, basmati rice, wheat and all-time favourite snack -- the idli -- has paid off big time, at least for now. Success achieved by the country here has staved off further attempts on its traditional knowledge and this is partially due to efforts by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in initiating Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) project.

TKDL is an Indian digital knowledge repository of traditional knowledge, especially medicinal plants and formulations used in Indian systems of medicine. Indian traditional knowledge dates back a good 10,000-12,000 years and is slowly going away due to non-documentation, said V Prakash, former director of Mysore-based Central Food

Technological Research Institute (CFTRI). TKDL has succeeded in digitizing at least 30% of such knowledge.

Incidentally, CFTRI is one among 19 national science laboratories in India that are on board the TKDL project. In an informal chat with STOI on the sidelines of the 52nd Institute Foundation Day of NITK, where he delivered the NITK Golden Jubilee commemorative lecture, Prakash said the TKDL project is aimed at scientifically documenting India's traditional knowledge base. This database will help put an end to indiscriminate rush to patent items, he said.