Context: Recently, the Union Minister of Education has provided information on the Kalam Program for Intellectual Property Literacy and Awareness Campaign (KAPILA).
About KAPILA Campaign

• It is an intellectual property literacy campaign for creating patent awareness.

The objectives of the scheme include

• Creating awareness regarding Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Higher Education Institutions(HEIs);
• Enabling of IP protection of inventions originating from faculty and students of HEIs;
• Development of Credit Course on IPR;
• Training program on IPR for faculty and students of HEIs; and
• Sensitization and development of vibrant IP filing system

Under this campaign, students pursuing education in higher educational institutions will get information about the correct system of application process for patenting their invention and they will be aware of their rights.

Need for KAPILA Campaign

• The government has insisted upon that it is necessary not only to invent for the self-sufficiency of the country, but also to patent the inventions.
• India has a proud history of Nalanda and Takshila Universities and patent of inventions will lead India towards Self-Reliance.
• The recognition of international standards of copyright protection and incentives for intellectual property have helped India jump eight places to 36th position on the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index 2018.

Additional Information
International Intellectual Property (IIP) Index

• The index analyses the IP climate in 53 global economies.
• It is released by US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center.
• The US, the UK, Sweden, France and Germany remained the top five economies on the intellectual property index in 2019 retaining their spots from 2018.
• India’s slipped to 40th position on the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index in 2019.