One reason for the founding of the All India Coordinated Research
Project on Ethnobiology (AICRPE) was to protect the interests
of the indigenous tribal people. As a result of the discovery
of arogyappacha plant and its unusual benefit to humans, the
Kani tribe was awarded the intellectual property rights to
profit from its development. With this precedent, the Indian
government and the AICRPE hoped to stem the piracy of tribal
knowledge by commercial interests.
The agreement enabled the Kani tribe
to receive half of the $50,000 fee paid by the Arya Vaidya
Pharmacy (AVP) to the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research
Institute (TBGRI) for the development of Jeevani and the technology
to mass produce it. Jeevani is a product of the arogyappacha
plant.
The Kani tribe also receives 2% royalty
on all sales of Jeevani world wide. The Kani tribe cultivates
and harvests the arogyappacha plants used by the AVP in the
production of Jeevani.
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