Changing Practices in/of Science: The Context of Intellectual Property Rights in India

Changes in the practices and norms of research have changed the dynamics of creation of knowledge. Issues of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and proprietary information and knowledge have begun to give rise to new debates on public goods versus private profit. There is growing concern that dominance of a single view of the natural world as expounded by modern science will undermine these civilisational knowledge systems. There is a fear that the process of globalisation would lead to the appropriation of elements of this collective knowledge of societies into proprietary knowledge for commercial profit of a few. Hence, urgent action is needed to protect these fragile knowledge systems through national policies and international legislation, while providing its development and proper use for the benefit of its holders.