Securing Our Natural Wealth ― A Policy Agenda for Sustainable Development in India and for Its Neighboring Countries

This book explores various aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regimes with regard to plant-variety protection and farmers’ rights; traditional knowledge; geographical indications, genetically modified crops; and access to genetic resources within the broad ambit of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Convention of Biological Diversity and other treaties/protocols. Enumerating the governance provisions for India and some of its neighboring countries, including Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand and Myanmar, the book synthesizes a policy agenda to drive sustainable development. Further, it assesses and interprets the status quo, and discusses key issues and implications. By comparing various governance frameworks in South Asian countries, it attempts to bridge policy issues concerning development, IPR and international studies.

Dr Debashis Bandyopadhyay is a molecular biologist sub-specialized in Intellectual Property Rights and has been working in the domains of S&T Management, Technology Transfer and S&T Dissemination with DST and CSIR institutions since 2005. Most of his professional assignments are focused on fine-tuning institutional policies, frameworks and systems to facilitate linking R&D outcomes in laboratories to a cross-section of stakeholders. His research interests cover sustainable development, public policy and IPR governance with special focus on cross-country comparisons of various development policy frameworks, technology transfer regimes and innovation clusters. He also works on studying the implications of emerging IPR and technology transfer regimes on the developing countries both from the positive and negative perspectives.