Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeks GI tag for MP’s Basmati rice

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday during his meeting with Union Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar asked him to intervene to get the Geographical Indication tag for state’s Basmati Rice.

A Geographical Indication tag indicates the specific geographic origin for a particular product.

In Madhya Pradesh, 13 districts produce Basmati Rice, Morena, Bhind, Hoshangabad, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Sheopur, Datia, Shivpuri, Guna, Vidisha, Raisen, Sehore, and Narsinghpur. Besides, nearly 80,000 state farmers produce the crop.

"Looking at the historical evidence, it will be appropriate to grant GI tag to Basmati produced in the state which will keep the interests of state's farmers intact," he said.

Basmati Rice produced in the state is exported to various foreign countries, nearly Rs 3000 crores are contributed to the foreign exchange yearly through these exports, he added.

"Denying GI tag to the rice produced in Madhya Pradesh’s 13 districts will be a grave injustice to the farmers and their livelihood," the chief minister said during the meeting.

Tomar assured him all possible help to get the GI tag to rice from the center in this regard, said the statement released.

Earlier Madhya Pradesh tried to get the premium tag for the rice is grown in its state. However, the madras high court where it filled the case for the tag rejected it. In May 2010, the GI status of basmati was only given to the crop grown only in Punjab, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and parts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Recently Kashmiri saffron and Chak-Hao, the black rice of Manipur, received the GI tag which included them in the list of around 370 geographical indications. Along with area-specific qualities like popular shahi leechi of Bihar, Karnataka’s Coorg oranges, navara rice of Kerala, famous Darjeeling tea, and Bangalore rose onion in the agricultural produce category.