Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Common People's Rights

Contents: Preface. 1. Indigenous knowledge systems and common people's rights/Debabrata Das Gupta. 2. The interfacing of exotic and indigenous knowledge system: the dialectics and dictum/S.K. Acharya, A.K. Singh and M.M. Adhikary. 3. Documentation of indigenous knowledge: need of the hour/Sarthak Chowdhury and Debabrata Das Gupta. 4. Limitations of indigenous knowledge system--an experience from eastern region of India/Anindita Saha. 5. Indigenization vis-a-vis modernization of technology-appropriate way for technology generation and dissemination/Prabhat Kumar Pal and Debabrata Das Gupta. 6. The cataloging and quantification of ITK of North East India: a gender matching approach/M.M. Adhikary, S.K. Acharya and J. Halam. 7. Developing Indian villages through indigenous knowledge network/Rajesh Das. 8. Farmers' knowledge and scientists' knowledge: myths, mutualties and synergies/Debabrata Basu, Sudipta Banerjee and Rupak Goswami. 9. Indigenous technical knowledge of farming system in Orissa/Chakradhar Satapathy and Sabita Mishra. 10. Indigenous knowledge in agricultural production/Nilantha De Silva. 11. Indigenous knowledge vis-a-vis biodiversity conservation/Anindita Saha and Debabrata Das Gupta. 12. Indigenous knowledge system for water management: a case study in a tribal dominated watershed/Gouranga Kar and Ashwani Kumar. 13. Traditional rice pest management practices in Assam/L.K. Hazarika, S. Kalita, R.K. Nath, Doli Malakar, L.C. Bora and B.C. Bora. 14. Indigenous knowledge based conservation of medicinal plants in the genomic era - a conflict/Arup Sarkar. 15. Indigenous knowledge based biopesticides for sustainable pest management of okra (Abelmoschus Escuclentus Moench)/Hirak Chatterjee. 16. sustainable irrigation management through indigenous knowledge/Mahinda Wijeratne and A.L. Lechuman. 17. Indigenous knowledge system and institutions for sustainable natural resource management in cold arid high altitude area of Ladakh/Dorjey Angchok, Sashi Bala Singh and Anil K. Gupta. 18. Sustainable rural development: an Indian experiment utilizing indigenous knowledge systems and communication/Biplab Loha Choudhury. 19. Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) used by rural women in Bangladesh/M. Abul Kashem. 20. Incorporating indigenous technical knowledge in integrated pest management programmes: a participatory technology development approach/Sarthak Chowdhury and Prabuddha Ray. 21. Feasibility of using indigenous technical knowledge in management of agricultural crops/S.S. Ghatak. 22. Role of traditional media in conserving indigenous knowledge: a study of Tharu tribe of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal/S.K. Kashyap and B. Kumar. 23. In search of appropriate strategy for agricultural technology generation for India in new world order--an exploration/Sibaji Chakraborti. 24. Voluntarism, human rights and globalization--a synergy and implications for social work practice/Debotosh Sinha. 25. Peoples' right to live is at stake in Jadugoda of Jharkhand, India: an exploratory research from indigenous point of view/Soma Bandyopadhyay and Md. Hasrat Ali. 26. Intellectual property rights and indigenous knowledge: a major challenge for the rural people/Sarthak Chowdhury and Chandan Kumar Panda. 27. Biodiversity management and sustainable development - the issues of indigenous knowledge system and the rights of the indigenous people with particular reference to north eastern Himalayas of India/Sekh Rahim Mondal. 28. Resource utilization and tribal life in Muhammadbazar: a penetrating revelation/Manisha Deb Sarkar. 29. Development strategies vis-a-vis human rights: response of a tiny tribal community of Andaman Islands, India/Malay Mukhopadhyay. 30. Pastoralists and indigenous knowledge in arid Rajasthan/D.K. Sahan. 31. Common people's right and planting material production in India - a mission approach/Pijush Kanti Pramanick. Abbreviations and acronyms. Author index. Subject index.

"Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is the local knowledge - knowledge that is unique to a given culture of society. IK contrasts with the international knowledge system generated by universities, research institutions and private firms. It is the information base for a society. Indigenous information systems are dynamic, and are continually influenced by internal creativity and experimentation as well as contact with external systems. One of the major lacunae in India agricultural and rural development is its relative failure to recognize the importance of IK of farm people, as a potent surface of powerful ingredient of a judiciously synthesized technology. The importance of global commitment towards the conservation of biodiversity is no longer questioned. The global biodiversity strategy, for example, includes as one of is ten principles for conserving biodiversity. During the past few decades a rapidly growing set of evidence indicates a strong relationship between indigenous technical knowledge and sustainable development. Furthermore, this knowledge offers new models for development that are both ecologically and socially sound. Capitalistic approach towards exploitation of biodiversity and IK and unequal benefit sharing have raised issues of ownership of knowledge and questioning of Intellectual Property Right (IPR), the principal legal mechanism for protection of IK, innovation and practices.

IKS and common people's rights has been explored and explained through 31 chapters focusing on (a) overall theme, (b) theoretical angles, (c) biodiversity and sustainability issues, (d) technology socialization and people's participation, and (e) people's rights and IKS.

This volume should be treated as a reference for several purposes. This may be widely used by UG and PG students of agriculture, animal science, fishery, home science, dairy science. Besides, it should also serve as a reference manual for training and management centers, various government departments, banks and NGOs." (jacket)