Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, JULY 23: The Government will take a decision on contesting patents obtained by a US firm for karela (bitter gourd) and jamun (syzimium cumini) only after carefully analysing the case, Minister for Human Resource Development Murli Manohar Joshi said today.
“The department of science and technology is currently examining the instance of US patents to karela and jamun and a decision will be taken only after that,” the minister told reporters here.
A patent number 5,900,240 was granted recently to Cromak Research Inc. based in New Jersey to a team comprising two non-resident Indian scientists Onkar S Tomer and Kripanath Borah, and their colleague Peter Glomski.
The patent was granted on edible herbal compositions comprising mixtures of at least two Indian herbs selected from a group consisting of syzygium cumini, popularly known as jamun; momordica charantia (bitter gourd or karela); solanum melongena (brinjal or egg plant) and gymnema sylvestre (gurmar) for their use in reducing sugar levels.
Earlier inaugurating a seminar on research and development (R&D) in business, the minister warned the scientific community against being over-influenced by the domestic corporate sector.
“A situation where the entire R&D is driven by market forces does not augur well for the country," he said.
