Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the GI tagging of 13 Basmati producing districts of Madhya Pradesh as it would adversely affect other Basmati producing states in the country, including Punjab.In a letter to the Prime Minister, Captain Amarinder has urged him to immediately direct the Ministry of Commerce to drop the idea of issuing Geographically Indication (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, the Chief Minister said with two lakh Punjab farmers engaged in Basmati cultivation, the move to include Madhya Pradesh 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 J&K, 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.The Chief Minister pointed out that 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.Captain Amarinder, in his letter, further said 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. A GI registration gives the registered proprietor and authorized users the legal right to the exclusive use of the GI, and no unauthorized person can use the tag, he pointed out.The Chief Minister 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. Further, said Captain Amarinder, 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.