ALAPPUZHA: Noted environmental activist and author Vandana Shiva has called upon the Government of India to come forward to fight attempts in the United States to patent the age-old Indian practice of Yoga.

Inaugurating a seminar on Patents on Seeds' organised by the Gandhi Smaraka Grama Seva Kendram (GSGSK) as part of its Golden Jubilee celebrations here on Monday, Ms. Shiva said `Navdanya,' a programme of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) led by Ms. Shiva herself, was planning to fight the U.S. patent on Yoga. However, it was necessary for the Government also to take up the issue. "How long can small organisations like us keep running to the courts of the world?" she asked.

`Navdanya,' which was actively involved in the campaign against patenting of living resources, seeds and other articles, was also preparing an individual case against US seed and food giant Monsanto saying that it had no intellectual property rights (IPR) over Bt Cotton. A satyagraha movement would also be part of Navdanya's fight against Monsanto.

"Monsanto had no IPR over Bt Cotton when they started selling it and even now, they have no such rights because patenting of living resources is wrong, technically because they are not invented and in terms of justice as well. What man can do about these plants or seeds is to modify them and not invent them.

We have already witnessed what monopoly over Bt Cotton has done to farmers here. Monsanto buys the seeds at around Rs.200 from the farmers and sells it back to them at Rs.1,600," she said. Criticising the proposed Seed Act, Ms. Shiva also pointed out that the Act would do nothing but destroy the farmers' freedom.

Conservation

"The Act should stress on conservation of seeds, which are the carriers of our biological and cultural heritage. Replacement should not be its objective," she said. Stressing on the need for community seed banks to preserve seeds against the climate, Ms. Shiva said Kerala should take back the power for writing laws for agriculture from the Centre.

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