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June 8, 2010 | Indian Govt's efforts to safeguard yoga from fake patents |
London: To protect India's rich heritage of medicinal and medical
philosophy and practice, a government body has started filming hundreds of yoga poses in an attempt to provide evidence for anyone hoping to patent a new style
of yoga that the Indians got first. A previous effort by the Government to define yoga, based on translations of ancient texts, had mixed results, so now they are
trying again to videograph the yoga poses. "It's like soccer and Britain. You
have given it to the world, which is wonderful and generous. But imagine that
people started saying they had invented the sport. That would be annoying," said
Suneel Singh, one of India's leading yoga gurus. The ministries of health and
science have set up the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library jointly. Dr Vinod
Kumar Gupta, who heads the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, a Delhi-based
government organization said: "Simple text isn't adequate. People are claiming
they are doing something different from the original yoga when they are not."
"Yoga originated in India. People cannot claim to invent a new yoga when they
have not," The Guardian quoted Dr Gupta, as saying. The campaign to safeguard
India's rich heritage of medicinal art and practice has already scored major victories,
forcing European companies to reverse patents on the use of extract of melon,
ginger, cumin, turmeric and onions for a range of health products. The government
officials were able to use the new digital library to submit carefully translated
excerpts from texts ranging from 19th century medical text books to 5th century
manuals of traditional ayurvedic medicine to support their claims. But a new generation
of yoga proponents wants something else. Guru Mohan, 31, runs courses for young
Indian professionals working in IT companies in Noida. "The lifestyle was different
2,000 years ago. There were different needs. According to the texts you use cow
dung to clean the place where you will practice. That's clearly not appropriate
any more, not even in India," Mohan said. Mohan, who has pioneered what he calls
"Call Centre Yoga" with special asanas for those spending hours on end answering
phones, some things, however, are eternal. "Yoga is there for all humanity. It
is for serving people. It is traditional wisdom and its reach should never be
limited," the paper quoted him, as saying. |
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