1. North Eastern States Manipur Figure 1. Factors affecting Indigenous Knowledge in Medicinal plants and Substances in the Globalization Era: Conceptual Framework Economic factors Political factors Social factors New Economic Policy Unrestricted transfer of knowledge Commercial exploitation of medicinal substances Inaccessibility of indigenous medicine for health care. Political instability Lack of proper policy and planning Weak health service system Dependence on costlier private care Economic self sufficiency affected; Increase health care expenditure; Unavailability of indigenous medicinal substances Breakdown on provisioning indigenous medicinal knowledge Constrained in inter generational passage of indigenous knowledge Degeneration of indigenous medicinal substances and thrust on western medicine Increasing ignorance of the value of indigenous medical tradition INDIGENOUS MEDICINE AND ITS KNOWLEDGE EMPOWERMENT Community mobilization and Participation POLITICAL Good Governance (Enabling Role) CIVIL SOCIETY Decentralization of Power at Local Level Right to Health HEALTH CARE Emphasis on Preventive Promotive Primary Chronic diseases SOCIAL ECONOMY Reducing Poverty Ethics Morality Access to resources DEVELOPMENT Sustainable Development of indigenous people’s settlement Concern about the vulnerable MICRO ENVIRONMENT Improvement in Infrastructure Physical environment PLANNING Integrated settlement Planning and Development Figure 2. Development Model for Intervention in Indigenous Medicine and Its Knowledge Table 1. Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Aspirations and International Protocol: Some Issues and Recommendations Map 1. Location of the Study Region ThemesIssuesRecommendations Conflict over traditional knowledge Conflict between Rights of the communities and individual patent holder over traditional knowledge on bio resources and cultural property. 1.Definition of cultural property needs to be understood properly. 2. International law which facilitates a transfer of wealth from indigenous cultures to multi-national corporations needs to be modified. Indigenous Aspirations Development aspirations in relation to biological resources are inextricably linked with issues of sovereignty and cultural survival. Measures to be adopted by international organizations for influencing international law paradigms to recognize indigenous rights to fulfill their aspirations. TRIPS provisioningCritics of TRIPS due to its capitalistic approach towards the creations of minds. It recognized individual innovation and grant protection but refused to acknowledge indigenous knowledge as innovation and grant no protection. Modification of Article 7 and 8 of the TRIPS agreement to suit requirement of traditional knowledge on indigenous medicine domain. State Ownership of Resources Under Convention on Biological Diversity Vests ownership of biological resources in nation-states and grant protection of traditional knowledge as an essential component of the broader concern for global ecological sustainability. Developing international guidelines for sharing knowledge. INTRODUCTION Tribal indigenous medicinal plant knowledge developed in India since time immemorial is diminishing due to the loss of biodiversity, acculturation and the demise of its custodians. This knowledge is scattered among different indigenous communities, traditional health practitioners, research organizations across India, in heterogenous format. For sustainable use and conservation, for protection from exploitation and bio-piracy in the light of the development in the international arena, especially those related to biodiversity conservation and intellectual property protection, this distributed knowledge needs to be documented, digitized and integrated. Therefore, a study was conducted in Manipur, North East India (Map 1), adopting a conceptual framework (Figure1), leading to the development of the model for social work intervention in the area of indigenous medicine (Figure 2). RESULT OF THE STUDY  Need for documentation of indigenous knowledge in medicinal plants and minerals.  Legal and policy issues needs to be examined.  Need to promote conservation measures and create livelihood systems based on collection and cultivation of medicinal plants.  Community-based projects led by tribal indigenous people, focusing on the systematization of knowledge of medicinal plants and practices.  Identify, analyze and conduct more research and micro studies of the indigenous medicinal knowledge in order to protect, preserve and develop vast reservoirs of scattered indigenous knowledge. THE STUDY REGION  Manipur, one of the North Eastern States of India, expands over 22,327 sq. km. large in terms of area, of which 91.75% is hill and 8.25% is valley.  The North eastern region (located between 87°32'E to 97°52'E latitude and 21° 34' N to 29°50'N latitude) of India is home to myriad tribal and other ethnic groups and is a genetic treasure house of plant, animal and microbial resources.  The region forms a distinctive part of the Indo-Burma Hotspot which ranks the 6th among the 25 biodiversity hotspots of the world SIGNIFICANCE FOR SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE  Deal with the tension between the interests of tribal citizens which is concerned with justice, rights, equity and the interest for corporate profit and exploitation.  Counter the overwhelming dominance of structures and discourse that seek to emphasise the private and ignore the public.  Work with community based structures and programs having public interest over the private interest.  Work at the State level in policy related issues, policy development, policy advocacy and activism.  Protesting not against globalization per se, but rather against the purely economic form of globalization from above, which takes away the tribal people’s rights over their knowledge and resources. DATA COLLECTION  Purposive Sampling done to select participants from the village community, traditional health practitioners, experts and professionals.  Primary information collected by conducting In Depth Interviews, Group Discussions, Consultative Meetings, Observations.  Secondary information collected from scientific literature, census, articles from journals, books, pamphlets, monthly and annual reports of NGOs and GOs, materials from national and international conferences and resources available from the internet. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 1.Dr. Sanghmitra Acharya, Faculty, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health (CSMCH), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), for her support and guidance. 2.University of Delhi for the support and financial grant. 3.The Faculty, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi. 4.The Participants of Field Work Study in Manipur, India. COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK TO thianguite@yahoo.co.in THANK YOU SALIENT FEATURES OF THE STUDY  Examine the utilization pattern of indigenous medicine, belief system and traditional healing practices.  Understand the knowledge, opinion and views of the various stake holders in the use of tribal indigenous medicine and its vulnerability after globalization.  Analyze the role of international agencies in sanctioning the use, manufacturing and sale (export/import) of medicinal plants and substances (Table 1). SOCIAL WORK CONCERN IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA: THE EXAMPLE OF TRIBAL INDIGENOUS MEDICINE IN INDIA Nemthianngai Guite, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi, India.