This story is from March 16, 2018

Madhya Pradesh loses basmati war, fails to get GI tag

Madhya Pradesh’s bid to get geographical indication (GI) tag for its basmati rice and join an elite ‘basmati league’ failed, as the nation’s GI registry rejected its claim as being the original and unique basmati growing region.
Madhya Pradesh loses basmati war, fails to get GI tag
Basmati rice
CHENNAI: Madhya Pradesh’s bid to get geographical indication (GI) tag for its basmati rice and join an elite ‘basmati league’ failed, as the nation’s GI registry rejected its claim as being the original and unique basmati growing region.
On March 15, the assistant registrar of the Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai, Chinnaraja G Naidu, rejected the opposition raised by the Madhya Pradesh government and some other entities like New Darpan Social Welfare Society, which was represented in the forum by IPR attorney and advocate P Sanjay Gandhi.

“The documents and evidence filed by Madhya Pradesh show the importance, special characters of rice cultivated in Madhya Pradesh but not the basmati cultivation in the traditional growing area. It has, therefore, failed to satisfy the fundamental requirement of ‘popular public perception’ of basmati-cultivation in Madhya Pradesh,” said Naidu, adding that the state had filed the plea without supported of any corroborative evidence.
No documents had been produced before the tribunal to substantiate the claim of Madhya Pradesh as being a part Indo-Gangetic plain, he added.
In May 2010, GI status was given to basmati grown only in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and parts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Madhya Pradesh moved a statutory opposition demanding that its 13 districts be recognised as traditional Basmati growing regions.
GI is recognition of the uniqueness of a handicraft or agricultural product traceable to specific geographical locations. Once granted, product-makers have to comply with certain protocol and quality standards and those not belonging to the geographical area or not recognised by the GI tag-holder cannot claim the product name which, in this case, is basmati.

The 13 districts of Madhya Pradesh which would now find themselves in a fix are Monera, Vidisha, Bhind, Raisen, Gwalior, Sehore, Sheopur, Hoshangabad, Datia, Jabalpur, Shivpuri, Narsinghpur and Guna.
Oppositions were filed questioning the notification published in GI Journal dated May 31, 2010. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board directed the GI registry to issue a certificate of registration within four weeks to the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and asked the tribunal to consider Madhya Pradesh’s claim afresh by affording a reasonable opportunity to both sides.
Madhya Pradesh said these 13 districts had been growing basmati for several decades and they were located in the Indo-Gangetic plains having climatic condition favourable for cultivation of basmati. Non-inclusion of the state in the basmati growing areas would have an adverse effect on the lives of farmers who mainly depend upon basmati cultivation, it said, adding, “it will also affect the export potential, which will indirectly reduce the country's turnover from the export of basmati.”
The APEDA, however, denied that the rice produced in Madhya Pradesh had all the required characteristics of basmati -- like long, slender kernels with high length to breadth ratio, an exquisite aroma, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature, intermediate amylase content, high integrity of grain on cooking and linear kernel elongation with least breadth wise swelling on cooking. It said self-styled areas would not fall within the defined geographical region of Indo-Gangetic Plains and there was no public perception that basmati was grown and cultivated in Madhya Pradesh.
In his order, the assistant registrar said basmati was nature's gift to the nation. “Basmati is an ancient intellectual property of India and without any doubt the international community has accepted basmati as a deserving product to obtain GI tag. Basmati is derived from Sanskrit roots 'vas' meaning 'aroma' and 'marl' meaning 'ingrained from the origin',” he said.
Referring to research trials on improvement of basmati, the official said, “the activity is only for experimental in nature and in event of actual traditional cultivation there is no need for any experimental farming in the claimed area. The statement itself exhibits that the claimed districts are not traditional basmati growing area and does not indicate that basmati is native to the state of Madhya Pradesh.”
“We, the grandsons, are documenting our grandfather’s invention, traditional knowledge and culture through the GI Act,” the order said, adding that the yardstick for the GI tag is measured by public perception. It said, “The historical documents submitted by Madhya Pradesh did not prove the public perception in their favour.”
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