Structured Legal Framework Must Protect Indigenous Intellectual Wealth

World | Indigenous Rights | Intellectual Property

Unlike tangible artefacts that can be physically transported back to their place of origin, intellectual property theft is a deeply insidious crime, often veiled under legal loopholes, creative expression, media wordplay, globalisation, and the pervasive influence of multinational corporations, writes Gajanan Khergamker.

The recent return of stolen artefacts worth millions from the United States to India marks a commendable step towards repatriating tangible heritage. However, it is but a fragment of a much larger issue that looms globally—one that involves the theft, exploitation, and misappropriation of intellectual property from indigenous peoples and cultures.

COVID Restrictions May Push ‘Criminal’ Tribes To Extinction

India | Affirmative Action
Among humans, it is the indigenous who lives the closest to the environment, to animals, foliage, and a topography, and closely in sync as an extension of his very existence. Yet, over the years, the native has transformed to adapt, with undocumented deft, to urban spaces and modern living. However, in his adaptations too, he has stayed loyal to nature: His friend for live. 

Over the last year and half, however, the COVID lockdown restriction imposed across India hit him the worst, restricting his physical movement, interactions with his ‘family’ of animals and his association with land – his home. 

The native’s tryst with animals is an association that transcends generations together in sharp contrast to the modern-day ‘ownership of pets’ and selective ‘love’ for pedigrees like the Pug spurred solely by Telecom advertisements.