India vs USA: India Wins Neem Patent War

[Guest guest]

Neem tree and the patent war

By Prem Vaidya

"Elizabeth Hoddy, head of the Asia Desk of Deutsche Welle's in

English Service on German Radio says, "The earliest mention of

plants or those with pest control properties is found in the Indian

Rig Veda, the classic book of Hinduism."

 

Recently India has won a 15-year-old patent battle with the USA. The

article highlights the importance of Neem.

 

According to the Shalivahan Shaka, the Hindu calendar shows the

beginning of New Year from the first day of the first month of

Chaitra, which is celebrated with great joy as the Gudi Padwa Day.

The year begins in March-April and is determined by the date on

which the sun enters the sign of Capricorn. The third new moon after

this day is marked as the beginning of the New Year.

 

According to legend, it was also a `Day of Return Home' of the great

King Rama of Ayodhya along with his wife Sita and brother Laxman

after spending 14 years in exile. The people of Ayodhya were so

happy that they celebrated the day by displaying gudi at the

entrance of their houses. It was a very simple gesture to express

their feelings—yet of a great significance!

 

At the top end, a colored silk cloth is pleated and fixed with a

silver or brass pot. It is then decorated with a small garland of

flowers and twig of the Neem tree—the plant that purifies

(Azadirachta indica or margosa). Well, the Neem has thirty-three

different names!

 

A gudi is a long pole. At the top end, a coloured silk cloth is

pleated and fixed with a silver or brass pot. It is then decorated

with a small garland of flowers and twigs of the Neem tree—the plant

that purifies (Azadirachta indica or margosa). Well, the Neem has

thirty-three different names!

 

The Neem tree also occurs on various amulets of early Indus

civilisation found in Mohenjo-daro excavation. In the Jataka Tales

of Buddhism, there is a mention of the Neem tree as nature's bitter

boon—highlighting humankind's interdependence on natural environment

and restoration of the ecological balance on Mother Earth.

 

In India, it is a common belief that chewing a fresh leaf of Neem

daily purifies the blood and strengthens the defence mechanism of

the human body. In olden days travellers used to sleep under the

Neem tree in the belief that it would keep them healthy during the

journey. There is an interesting anecdote about this. A newly

married wife was worried as her husband had to proceed on a long

journey on some assignment. The wife consulted the local vaidya

(doctor), who advised her to ask her husband to sleep under a

tamarind tree during his onward journey and under a Neem tree during

the return journey. Tamarind is well known to cause sickness to

those who sleep under it. Sleeping under tamarind tree, the husband

soon became too sick to continue his journey and so he returned

home. On his return journey, he slept under a Neem tree, and by the

time he reached home, he had fully recovered from his sickness.

 

In Ayurveda—an ancient science of life—Neem has been mentioned in

the Charak Samhita as nimba and its mode of use as a `pest of

decoction of all parts of the tree used in prescription for internal

or external use as medicine for skin diseases, urinary diseases,

fever and a large number of other ailments'. The pharmacological

properties of the Neem tree are so popular in India that virtually

it is playing the role of a village dispensary! Almost every part of

the tree is used in one way or other: the twigs are used as

toothbrush called datoon, to clean teeth. The juice of the twig is

rather bitter in taste, but has germicidal and antiseptic

properties. The decoction of leaves and bark is used as febrifuge to

relieve fever. The bark and dry flowers are used as a tonic after

fever. The leaves and bark are used to heal wounds, ulcer, jaundice

and skin diseases. The fruits are used as a purgative, emollient

(softens the skin) and anthelminthic agent. The oil of the seeds is

used as medicinal hair oil and also for curing rheumatism and

leprosy.

 

Two tragedies attracted the world attention towards Neem. In 1958,

there was a devastating locust attack in Nigeria that wiped out

every tree in the area, leaving only the Neem untouched! And the

second was the Bhopal gas disaster in 1984 that killed thousands of

people. Apart from this, the regular use of chemically-prepared

pesticides such as DDT, BHC, malathion, carbofuran, carburyl, aldrin

and dieldrin had created havoc by causing serious health hazards in

human beings and severe environment pollution, accounting for about

3 million cases of poisoning. These pesticides are one of the most

dangerous pollutants, resulting in 220,000 deaths each year

according to a recent estimate by the World Health Organisation

(WHO). Maneka Gandhi in her interview to BBC on February 17, 1992

had said that every year in India, 30,000 people die due to

pesticides that farmers spray on their crops.

 

Thus began the intensive research all over the world for evolving a

safer pest control agent and the Neem tree kindled a ray of hope in

solving the problem. The medicinal properties of Neem have been

known to traditional healers in India for thousands of years.

Inspired by the importance of Neem tree, C.M. Ketkar, a posgraduate

in agriculture and based in Pune, dedicated his life to the `Neem

mission' and since the last four decades has spread the message of

Neem, `the plant that purifies', the world over. According to a

rough estimate, about 14 million Neem trees are under cultivation or

growing wild in India. They yield about 83,000 tons of Neem oil and

330,000 of oil cake. Neem tree is considered to be a village

dispensary in India. The Gujjar tribe of Rajastan worship Neem tree

and calls it neem narayan (Neem God). Some of the places in Madhya

Pradesh are named after Neem—like Neemach, Neemkheda, etc.

 

Prayer meetings by Gandhi at Sabarmati and Sevagram ashrams were

conducted under the Neem tree. In south India many of the temple-

compounds dedicated to a goodess have a Neem tree. Cutting of these

trees is a taboo as it is considered akin to killing a young girl!

(Bharatiya Sanskriti Kosh, Part 2, 26/27). Elizabeth Hoddy, head of

the Asia Desk of Deutsche Welle's in English Service on German Radio

says, "The earliest mention of plants or those with pest control

properties is found in the Indian Rig Veda, the classic book of

Hinduism."

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