CHENNAI: Wooden lacquer wear and toys from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi, Bengaluru rose onion, Naga tree tomato, Mizo chilli, Makrana marble from Rajasthan, Nendran banana from Kerala and Meerut scissors - the Geographical Indications (GI) Registry has just got longer. The Office of the Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai, has registered 20 more agriculture produce, handicrafts, manufactured goods, food stuff and natural material from across the country.
With this, there are 235 products that have received the GI index.
In the latest list of 20, most are from the Seven Sisters - nine agricultural produces native to the North East region. Four handicraft items and a manufactured item (Meerut scissors) from Uttar Pradesh also made it to the list.
The GI tag refers to any indication that identifies a product (agricultural, natural or manufactured) as belonging to a particular place where the quality, reputation and the like are attributable to its area of origin.
By registering on the index, these popular products indigenous to a particular place can be differentiated from similar, competing products. Often at times, like Tanjore paintings, it allows the artisan or producer to claim a premium for genuine products.