Opposing the Centre’s proposal of GI (geographical indication) tagging of 13 basmati producing districts of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday wrote to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the move would adversely affect other basmati producing States in the country, including Punjab.
Capt Amarinder, in a letter to the Prime Minister, has urged him to immediately direct the Union Ministry of Commerce to drop the idea of issuing GI tag for the 13 districts for which Madhya Pradesh has sought inclusion in the list of regions eligible for GI tagging of basmati.
Terming it an economically and socially important international issue, Capt Amarinder said: “With two lakh Punjab farmers engaged in basmati cultivation, the move to include MP in GI tagging could have a negative effect on the agriculture of the State, as well of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Western UP and two districts of Jammu and Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir, which are already GI tagged.”
The percentage of the total exports of the State includes a substantial amount of basmati, he further observed in support of his argument.
He pointed out he had written a demi-official letter to the then Union Minister of State for Commerce on April 18, 2017, highlighting Punjab’s concerns, but the issue did not appear to have been resolved. Seeking the Prime Minister’s intervention, he stressed the need for early resolution and status quo to be maintained on the issue.
Capt Amarinder, in his letter, added that as per the Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, a GI tag can be issued for agricultural, natural or manufactured goods that have given quality reputation or other characteristics attributable to its geographical origin, thus constituting a very important form of intellectual property.
He further contended that Basmati trials by ICAR are conducted only in the traditional area of basmati in the Indo-Gangetic Plains in northern India. The Basmati varieties released and notified under the Seed Act-1966 are meant for cultivation in the specified GI areas as mentioned above, he added.
“The state of Madhya Pradesh does not fall in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and the climate and soil of the proposed area varies from that of area of Indo-Gangetic Plains. Prima facie, therefore, the move to include MP districts appeared to be an infringement of the Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999,” he added.