North India Statesman
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GI Tag: The government aims to increase GI tagged products to promote specific crops, commodities and skills in every corner of the country. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has set a target of increasing the number of GI registered products from 605 to 10 thousand by 2023. Piyush Goyal said that a committee has been formed to monitor the effort to take GI registrations to 10 thousand by the year 2030. Our aspiration should be that in the next five years we can take GI to every state, every district.
What is GI product?
GI producers are agricultural, natural or man-made products (crafts and industrial goods) produced in a particular geographical area. GI tag usually attached to a product provides assurance to the consumer about its quality and specialty.
Piyush Goyal said in ‘GI Samagam’, ‘We have a very ambitious plan to move forward… We have set a target that we should have 10 thousand GI registrations.’
Important suggestions of Union Minister
The Commerce Minister has suggested to promote these products on e-commerce platforms besides the government procurement portal GeM. Elaborating on this, Goyal said that more people are being recruited to strengthen the staff of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks. One thousand people are going to work in this office. Of which 500 people have already been hired and another 500 will join in the next one or two years.
Famous products with GI tag include Basmati rice, Darjeeling tea, Chanderi cloth, Mysore silk, Kullu sal, Kangra tea, Thanjavur painting, Lucknow zardozi, Patola etc. Goyal said the processes for obtaining IPR (intellectual property rights) approval required for GI marks have also been simplified. Once a product gets the GI tag, no person or company can sell the product under that name.
