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G. Srinivasan

New Delhi, Jan 24 As the Agriculture Ministry is in the midst of evolving a proper definition of what constitutes basmati rice after the Commerce Ministry ceded the task to the former, the call for including evolved basmati rice varieties with their genealogy not only into the definition but also under Geographic Indication (GI) move has become strident.

Premier farm research institutes have been vociferous in their view that evolved basmati rice varieties that embody “natural and human factors” should also be part and parcel of the appellation “basmati”. Their suggestion was based on ground reality since evolved basmati rice varieties have fetched premium price in the global markets for the Rs 3,000 crore Indian basmati export, besides bestowing better price to farmers across the major rice growing States in the country. Industry reckons that in the current year crop (2007-08) almost 70 per cent of the non-notified varieties such as Pusa 1121 and CSR 30 went into export, even as notified basmati rice variety such as Pusa 1, super basmati and traditional basmati accounted for the remaining 30 per cent.

With India and Pakistan all set to jointly register basmati for protection of Geographical Indication (GI) and with both the countries sharing a substantial stake in evolved basmati rice varieties, the issue of inclusion of evolved basmati rice variety in its genealogy as far as India is concerned is a foregone one.

The non-governmental think-tank Centre for Trade and Development (Centad) contended in a recent monograph that GI acts as a signalling device for producers to differentiate their products from competing products in the market and enable them to foster a reputation and goodwill around their products which often fetch a premium price. In order that basmati rice is to be treated or registered as GI, the onus is on India/Pakistan to validate the claim by proving the uniqueness and preserving the authenticity of the product.

While the customary basmati rice appellation entails cultivation plus growing the product in particular geography or region and meticulous method of traditional cultivation, GI involves product standard plus processing and documenting and auditing every transaction of trade to validate the authenticity of the product.

Farm scientists told Business Line here that the Agriculture Ministry is not only keen on putting evolved basmati rice varieties into the new definition but would also take particular care to ensure that the demands of GI for such varieties are also complied with by prescribing the norms and contents for such a claim. The process is already under way. However trade policy analysts say that the responsibility for such an undertaking includes a raft of measures to validate the claims of basmati rice under GI while defining the basmati rice.

They say these include, among others, methodology for assessment of new basmati rice varieties’ seeds, ensuring the usage or supply of authentic basmati paddy seed varieties, precise definition of the growing area of basmati paddy, adoption of traditional cultivation practice, ensuring the processing and packaging of basmati rice in recognised geography or region and documentation and audit of every transaction of trade to ensure traceability and validate the authenticity of the product.

As of now, there is no unanimity on the legal definitions of GIs across different national legislation. The TRIPs (trade related intellectual property rights) Agreement identifies three components such as a given quality, reputation or other characteristic. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) notes that the other characteristics of the geographical milieu could be understood to include natural factors such as soil and climate and human factors such as the particular professional traditional of the producers established in a given geographical area.

If Indian basmati rice producers, both traditional varieties as also the evolved basmati rice varieties, are to safeguard their product interest through GI, it is time they exerted pressure on the authorities to come out with the proper definition of basmati rice before long, incorporating all the contours and characteristics essential for GI protection to secure the abiding interests of basmati rice growers of the country, they say.

More Stories on : Rice | Bio-tech & Genetics

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