Pakistan based BGA appealed to IPAB against GI tag of basmati rice to MP

Pakistan-based Basmati Growers’ Association (BGA) challenged Geographical Indication (GI) tag of basmati rice to Madhya Pradesh (MP) in Chennai-based Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in second week of October 2014. It has appealed against the order of the Assistant Registrar of Geographical indications that gave the basmati rice produced in Madhya Pradesh the coveted tag. MP was seeking the tag for its Basmati rice since a long time.

In their plea, BGA claimed that basmati is a name for slender, aromatic and long variety of rice that is grown in the specific geographical area at the foothills of the Himalayas in Pakistan. IT also claimed that rice only 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.  

Earlier, Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Agency (APEDA) of India also rejected the MP’s claim that basmati rice grown in areas namely especially Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Sheopur, Datia, Shivpuri, Guna, Vidisha, Raisen, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Jabalpur and Narsinghpur deserves the Geographical Indication tags.