Steaming Basmati Rice…

Recently, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has approached the IP Board against the GI Registry, requesting them to amend the GI Registration of Basmati Rice.

Now it seems Pakistan has approached the IP Board. Lahore-based Basmati Growers’ Association (BGA) has moved the Chennai-based Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in appeal against the order of the Assistant Registrar of Geographical Indications that gave the aromatic rice produced in MP the coveted tag it had been seeking for a long time.

The BGA has argued in the appeal, filed through Shafiullah Khan, a Pakistan national based in New Delhi, “only the rice grown in certain areas of Punjab in Pakistan, where the rice kernels are grown on conventional rice lands and they interact with the environment, atmosphere, soil and climate to yield exquisite rice can be called ‘Basmati’ in the true sense.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “It seems APEDA has joined hands with Pakistan to do injustice to farmers in MP,’’ Chouhan’s outburst had come after APEDA challenged the assistant registrar’s order.

By Akshatha Karthik

Image courtesy of amenic181/www.freedigitalphotos.net