Indigenous People Rights over Biological Resources of India in the Context of Biodiversity Act of India

Over the centuries, indigenous peoples have developed a close and unique connection with the lands and environments in which they live. They have established distinct systems of knowledge, innovations and practices relating to the uses and management of biological diversity on these lands and environments. Much of this knowledge forms an important contribution to research and development, particularly in the areas such as pharmaceuticals, agricultural and cosmetic products. This increasing economic importance of biological resources and related knowledge of these resources has made the allocation of property rights as one of the most contentious issues in the discussions concerning biodiversity management. But this new allocation does not recognize any property rights of holders over their knowledge. As far as India is concerned one of the mega biodiversity countries of the world and is also concentrated with indigenous people too. A major intervention in this regard is the adoption of the Biodiversity Act of 2002. But existing legal framework does not confer positive protection on the rights of traditional knowledge holders in their traditional knowledge. In this context, this paper seeks to analyze how the text of the law and its implementation has seriously taken care of the community control over biodiversity, the associated knowledge, its use, and protection.