Kathmandu, Aug. 6
Indigenous
women of Nepal have expressed their displeasure about the branding of local
alcohol.
Their
understanding is that branding of local alcohol will negatively impact the traditional
knowledge and traditional economic system of indigenous women.
Speaking
at a programme organised by the National Indigenous Women's Federation (NIWF)
on Saturday on the occasion of the International Day of the World's Indigenous
Peoples, they expressed their displeasure saying that branding of local alcohol
would benefit certain traders but would disrupt the traditional knowledge and
economic system of indigenous women.
They
demanded that the indigenous women should be allowed to produce local alcohol
freely and without any restrictions.
President
of National Indigenous Women Forum, Suni Lama, said that tribal women have the first
right to the traditional knowledge of producing local alcohol. Stating that the
attempts to branding the local alcohol would take away their rights, she
maintained that if branding is to be done, the patent rights should belong to the
indigenous women.
According
to her, branding will benefit certain traders, but traditional knowledge and
traditional economy will be taken away from all indigenous women. The knowledge
of producing local alcohol is their traditional knowledge and skill. Its patent
rights should only be with them.
Stella
Lama, the founding president of the NIWF, claimed that the policy of branding
the local alcohol was being promoted to encroach the traditional knowledge of
women in the name of intellectual property protection.
Stating
that indigenous women are a mine of knowledge, she emphasised that their
knowledge should be protected in a traditional way. According to her, the state
should protect alcohol produced from traditional knowledge, not prohibit it.
Shanti
Dewan, Secretary General of the NIWF, said that local alcohol production is the
traditional knowledge and economy of tribal women and emphasised that this
knowledge should be protected and promoted by the state.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 7 August 2022.
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