Back in the 1990s, Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar was in his office in New Delhi when he came across a puzzling story in the newspaper. Some university scientists in the U.S. had apparently filed a patent for using turmeric to help heal wounds. Mashelkar was shocked, because he knew that using turmeric that way was a well known remedy in traditional Indian medicine. And he knew that patents are for brand new inventions. So, he decided to do something about it – to go to battle against the turmeric patent. But as he would soon discover, turmeric wasn't the only piece of traditional or indigenous knowledge that had been claimed in Western patent offices. The practice even had its own menacing nickname - biopiracy. And what started out as a plan to rescue one Indian remedy from the clutches of the U.S. patent office, eventually turned into a much bigger mission – to build a new kind of digital fortress, strong enough to keep even the most rapacious of bio-pirates at bay. This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from James Sneed and Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Molly Messick. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Our engineers were Josh Newell and James Willetts. Planet Money's executive producer is Alex Goldmark. Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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At 81 years old, doctor Raghunath Mishelkar has racked up dozens of illustrious titles and honorary degrees over his long career as a scientist in India.
But the important one for the purposes of this story is more of a nom daguerre.
Do you have any nicknames or honorific titles that are related to this story?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I have.
I have actually, I am referred to as a Haldigati warrior.
People call you the warrior of Haldigati.
Warrior of Haldigati?
Yeah, that's right.
This name, Mashalkar explains, is kind of an indian pun.
Haldighati is the name of a famous battle from indian history.
And Haldi is the hindi word for the spice we know in English as turmeric.
So the nickname basically translates to warrior of the turmeric battle.
And how did you come to be known as the warrior of Haldigati?
Yes, it is a very interesting Alexi, the way it happened.
There is a story.
Its a story that begins back in 1995.
Mushalkar has a high level job in the indian government.
Hes overseeing dozens of the countrys scientific and industrial labs, trying to develop new research and technology thatll benefit the indian economy.