In the latest development to get Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Rasgola, the Odisha Industries Department has recommended to the State Government that the State’s Central Tool Room & Training Centre (CTTC) make documents ready for processing the application to claim that this sweet has its origin in Odisha and not in West Bengal.
The CCTC would collect the documents to apply for GI status for Rasgola if the department’s proposal is approved by the State Government.
The historical evidence about Rasgola’s origin in Odisha has been provided to the State Government. But along with it, scientific proof is also required to claim its origin in the State. Therefore, the department wants to assign the task to the CTTC, said Industries Director Niranjan Sahoo.
The Government has formed an eight-member committee headed by Sahoo to apply for the GI status.
The ongoing war between Odisha and West Bengal for patent over Rasgola has started two years ago. The WB Government has already applied for GI status for Rasgola to the National Biodiversity Authority.
Earlier, the Odisha Government had asked its Science and Technology Department to apply for the patent as well as the GI tag for Rasgola. A committee set by the department conducted research on the origin of Rasgola and concluded that the sweet had originated in Odisha. The research cited that Rasgola has existed in Odisha since 15th-16th century as it has been mentioned in the ‘Dandee Ramayana’. But the State Government did not move further to stake claim that sweet had its origin in Odisha.
Jagannath cult scholar Asit Mohanty has already submitted a 100-page report claiming that Rasgola originated in Odisha. In the report to the State Government, he contended that the sweet’s reference was found in ‘Dandi Ramayana’, a version of the epic adapted by Balaram Das in the 16th century.
Mohanty refuted the argument of Haripad Bhowmik of West Bengal that cottage cheese belongs, out of which Rasgola is made, only to Bengal as they learnt the technique of its preparation from the Portuguese.
He said traditionally, Rasagola is offered at the time of Niladri Bije, the ritual in which the deities are brought inside the Jagannath Temple from the chariots on the concluding day of the Rath Yatra.
Meanwhile, the Odisha Government has decided to set up a Rasgola Cluster at Pahal on the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack highway at a cost of Rs 7.70 crore to get GI status for the famous Pahal Rasagola.