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Sarikah Atreya

Gangtok, Aug. 24 The potential of Sikkim’s rich traditional products attaining Geographical Indications (GI) status was emphasised in the first North-East sensitisation workshop held at the Directorate of Handicrafts and Handlooms here.

In Sikkim there is great potential to get GI protection for traditional assets such as handicraft products, thankas, carpets and other similar handicrafts, said Ms Gulshan Nanda, Chairperson of the Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India, in her opening remarks at the inaugural session of the one-day workshop. Outlining the importance of GI registration, Ms Nanda said the objective of the workshop was to make the people of Sikkim aware and help them to get such registration.

She said that there were several items in Sikkim which are being copied and sold by other regions and GI registration could protect the interests of the State and the Sikkimese people.

The workshop, the first to be held in the north-east, was organised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in joint collaboration with the Crafts Council of India.

The Chief Justice, Mr Ajoy Nath Ray, who was the chief guest, discussed various aspects of intellectual property rights such as copyright laws, patent process, design registration, trademark of products and GI registration.

In his keynote address, Mr T.C. James, Director of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, said that while GI registrations were not expensive, they had to be properly documented.

He added that Darjeeling Tea was the first product to receive such registration in the country and, currently, the total figure of GI registration had risen to 83.

These included specific products such as kholapuri chappals, basmati rice, Kanchipuram silk sarees and Alphonso mangoes.

A Geographical Indication is a sign used in goods, which have a specific geographical origin and possess essential qualities that spring from the place of origin.

It conveys to a consumer the message that a product is produced in a certain place and has a certain characteristic due to that place of production.

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