NATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS POLICY

The Indian Government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy on May 12, 2016, with the aim of fostering innovation and creativity in alignment with other flagship policies such as "Digital India," "Make in India," and "Startups India." However, experts have criticized the policy, pointing out flawed assumptions, including the belief that increased IP creation leads to innovation and economic growth. The policy takes a generic approach of converting all knowledge into IP, disregarding the open knowledge model. It also encourages researchers to file more patents, despite doubts about the correlation between patent filing and innovation, as evidenced by China's IP regime.