Indigenous women claim patent of local liquor

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.