“Great Taste, Aroma”: Why Shivraj Chouhan Wrote To Sonia Gandhi On Rice
Shivraj Singh Chouhan mentioned Madhya Pradesh basmati rice must get GI tag
New Delhi:
After Punjab requested the centre to not give geographical indication or GI tag to basmati rice grown in Madhya Pradesh, Leader Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has written again to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi complaining towards her birthday celebration chief and Punjab Leader Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
A GI tag recognises a product as unique to a selected locality or area. As an example, a number of sorts of “Darjeeling tea” have GI tags and they may be able to dangle that identify provided that grown in Darjeeling.
“It saddens me to inform you that the Leader Minister of Congress-ruled Punjab Amarinder Singh has written to Top Minister Narendra Modi, asking to not give GI tag to basmati rice grown in Madhya Pradesh… That letter is unlucky. What Amarinder Singh ji asking is anti-farmer and it displays the Congress’s anti-farmer nature,” Mr Chouhan mentioned within the letter.
“You will have to bear in mind that Madhya Pradesh’s basmati rice has a super style and is understood within the nation and the sector for its excellent aroma. Giving GI tag to Madhya Pradesh basmati rice will beef up the price of Indian basmati within the global marketplace and also will receive advantages the entire nation in industry,” mentioned Mr Chouhan, who not too long ago examined certain for COVID-19. He has been discharged from health facility now.
In his letter to PM Modi, Amarinder Singh mentioned proliferation of GI tags to to any extent further state will dilute the marketplace worth of basmati rice and hurt the passion of exporters. Different states that experience GI tags for basmati are Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi, and a few portions in western Uttar Pradesh and a couple of districts in Jammu and Kashmir.
Amarinder Singh mentioned any dilution of GI tag registration might finally end up with Pakistan taking merit within the global marketplace. Pakistan additionally grows GI tagged basmati rice on the market within the international marketplace.
Countering this argument, Mr Chouhan mentioned, “The case of APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Meals Merchandise Export Construction Authority) with Pakistan has no courting with Madhya Pradesh’s declare as it’s underneath the GI Act of India. It’s not attached to inter-country claims of basmati rice.”
The Madhya Pradesh executive and a basmati growers’ affiliation have already misplaced two separate court docket circumstances filed in 2016 to problem the exclusion of districts from a map submitted through the APEDA for purchasing GI tags.
