75 handicrafts to get geographical indication

In a bid to put an end to cheap imitations and increase the brand equity of Indian handicrafts, the government plans to bestow geographical indicator (GI) status to over 75 special products that are unique to a region, apart from an overall brand identity for handmade products from the country.

Under this initiative, three crafts from each state will be identified for GI status and these will be registered with the Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai.

Twenty one handicraft items have already been identified by the Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design from seven states "" Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Bihar, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.

GI identifies a product as originating in a territory where its given quality, reputation or other characteristic are essentially attributable to its geographical origin.

This is the first time GI status is being given to handicrafts though handloom products such as Pochampalli sarees and Chanderi silk already have intellectual property rights protection under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

Among the crafts that have been shortlisted by NID for GI status are sandalwood carvings, Navalgund durries, Kutch embroidery, Agate stonework, Thanjavur art plates, Jaipur blue pottery, Udaipur claywork, Sikki grass products, Sujuni embroidery, zari work from Bhopal and blockprinting from Bagh.

"The legal documentation process for the 21 GIs is complete and the applications will be filed by next month," said Sanjay Agarwal, Development Commissioner (Handicrafts).

In all, we plan to get GI for 75 handicrafts. Fifty should be implemented by this financial year itself," said Sanjay Agarwal, Development Commissioner (Handicrafts).

"Every craft will bear a specially designed mark to distinguish it as genuine but we are also looking at an overall enabling theme that marks all such handicrafts as 'Handmade in India', bearing a common logo," Agarwal said.

The process for the rest of the states has been given to the National Institute of Fashion Technology, which is expected to submit its report in the next couple of months.

NIFT will be identifying 24 crafts from the North-East and a further 36 from 12 other states including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Pondicherry, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

The government is increasingly seeking to brand products unique to India to increase their visibility and sale in the global market. It recently undertook a similar exercise for handloom produce, which was unveiled by the prime minister last month. India woke up to the reality of IPR issues with its unique products after it lost the patent for Basmati rice in 1999.