Why
a GI
tag and
how it can
be the means
to better
the lives of
our
farmers
Prof Archie D'Souza
The
direction to which our policy-makers, in the name of free-trade and
globalisation, have been taking our nation will result in 80% of
consumer and agricultural products being made in China. This
despite the Make
in India
slogan being oft repeated by the current government. The
ruling party of the day has promised several things including a shift
to production of major goods to India, a crore jobs
a year and doubling of farmers' incomes by 2022. None of these goals
are even near being seen to be achieved. However, these are doable
goals. It is possible to, with a reasonable period of time, double
the incomes of farmers and increase the number of jobs created many-fold.
India
is predominantly an agrarian economy. After agriculture, which
employs over 50% of the workforce and accounts for close to 20% of
the country's GDP, textiles,
which includes fabrics and readymade garments, and food products are
the largest employers, sector-wise. Jewellery and
handicraft
making are
other
big sources
of employment. These
will continue to be the biggest job-creators in the foreseeable future. But
the Chinese invasion will continue.
So,
how do we counter the Chinese invasion, increase employment and
improve the lot of our farmers? Farmers, artisans and
daily-wage-earners have been the worst hit since globalisation
started. While I am not condemning the WTO regime outright and do
believe that the advantages of merging our economy with the rest of
the world has more advantages that drawbacks, it hasn't been a big
boon to the urban and rural poor. The
small segments of the economy, like the IT and BPO sectors for
instance, that have benefited from this boom which is the result of
globalisation, have only created a false illusion of wealth and jobs
in the country. MSMEs and farmers form the bottom of the pyramid, as
do traditional artisans and craftsmen. These sections have been
worst hit by the Chinese on slot. The
number of jobs lost in the last five years far exceeds the number of
jobs create and demonetisation is not the only reason for these
losses. The Make-in-India movement has hardly taken off.
The
GI tag is a means to stop the Chinese invasion
and also to create millions of jobs. According to the World
Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a geographical
indication
is
a sign used on goods that have a specific geographic origin and
possess qualities or a reputation due to their place of origin.
A GI is a perpetual
intellectual property (IP)
which is owned by farmers, artisans or weavers of a region, not by a
company, industry or individual. To
get the tag, the GI product needs to originate from a
particular, defined geography and needs to possess unique, defining
characteristics that differentiate the same from products of other
regions. These distinguishing features could be nutrients, taste,
texture, look, shape, etc.
GI
also means an indication which identifies certain agricultural,
natural or manufactured goods originating or manufactured in the
territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory,
where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of such
goods are essentially attributable to its geographical origin. By
getting a GI tag for a product, a registered user is able to get
protection from any unauthorised
entity
or individual
using the same tag. It helps in boosting exports and, thus, ensures
economic prosperity for the registered users. Among the common
examples of GI are Mysore Silk, Mysore Sandalwood Powder, Channapatna
Toys, Dargeeling Tea and Coorg Green Cardamom. The Patent
Information Centre (PIC), run by the Government run
Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, situated in the
Indian Institute of Science campus at Bangalore can help those who
wish to register. The PIC is supported by the Departments of Science
and Technology of both, the Governments of India and Karnataka. Its
website is www.kscst.org.in.
Currently
around 700 GI tags have been granted to Indian products. Let
us look at how some of these products have benefitted:
- Dargeeling tea has seen its domestic price rise five-fold.
- Basmati rice and Tanjavur paintings have had their prices doubled.
What's
more important, is that jobs based on these products have increased
dramatically. Today, the number of farmers cultivating the Nagpur
Santra (Orange) and its acreage have doubled between 2013 and 2018.
These statistics indicate that farming these products is becoming
profitable and migration to rural areas is increasing. One of the
biggest advantages of GI tagging is the tremendous export potential
it brings in. This has helped in improving the livelihoods of
farmers, artisans, weavers, etc. substantially. We have a rich
heritage of unique art, climatic conditions, culture and heritage.
This results in lakhs of products that can qualify for GI tags.
Potentially, 20 to 30 crores of jobs can be created. Let us see how.
Before that let us look at a few other features of what GI stands
for, plus why and how they are protected. Another very good example
is the Erode turmeric. India is the largest producer of turmeric in
the world, with 80% of it grown here. This distinctive variant of the
yellow spice has a thin stem and grown in the district of Tamil Nadu
bearing the same name.
As the term
suggests, an appellation of origin is a special kind
of geographical indication used on products that have a specific
quality exclusively or essentially due to the geographical
environment in which the products originate. These appellations
are protected by the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of
Appellations of Origin and Their International Registration.
Examples of these are, Bordeaux
for wine produced in the region of the same name in France, Parma
Ham for ham produced in the
Parma reghion of Italy and Habana for
tobacco grown in the Havana region of Cuba.
We
shall now look at the need for protection of GI tags. In the early
90s, an American firm registered a trademark called Texmathi
for Basmati rice grown in the US state of Texas. A strong protest by
India and Pakistan led to the cancellation of the trademark. Basmati
rice is indigenous to the Punjab region of undivided India and only
rice grown in this region may carry this tag. Consumers of a product
with a GI tag associate it with the origin and quality of the
product. Scotch whiskey may only be produced in Scotland and
Champagne in a particular part of France. Many such products have
acquired reputations carry a huge value. If not adequately protected
they may be misrepresented by commercial
operators.
Darjeeling Tea, for instance, has to be
grown in the tea gardens of Darjeeling. False use of this label by
unauthorised parties for tea that is not grown there is illegal and
detrimental to the consumer and legitimate producer. While the
consumer is deceived into believing that they are buying the genuine
product, the latter is deprive of valuable business. Remember, one
associates the label with specific qualities and characteristics,
with a specific taste and texture. The producers are likely to
suffer a damage to their reputation.
We shall now look at the difference between GI and
trademark. Let us first look at what a trademark is. It is a sign
used by an organisation or business to distinguish its goods and
services to those offered by others. By registering a trademark, the
owner gets the right to prevent others from using it. On the other
hand GI tags guarantee to consumers that a product originated in a
certain place, with certain unique characteristics that are due to
the place of production. The tag may be used by all makers of the
product that share certain qualities in the place designated by a
geographical indication.
Before we look at how GIs are protected, we need
to look at what is known as generic geographic
indication. It could be that the name of a place is used to
designate a particular type of product rather than to indicate its
place of origin. For example Andra biryani is a term used for a
particular type of biryani that's available almost throughout India.
In such a case, the term no longer functions as a geographical
indication. Another example is Djon mustard,
a kind of mustard that originated in the French town of Djon. Over
time it has come to denote a certain type of mustard and it grows in
several places. So, Hyderabadi biryani and Djon mustard are now
generic rather than geographic, referring to certain types of
products.
So, we now come
to a very important aspect of our discussion, how GIs are protected
and the role the WIPO plays in it. One
should note that geographical indications are protected in accordance
with national laws of respective sovereign States. There could be a
wide range of such laws. For example, laws exist to prevent unfair
competition, to protect consumers, for the protection of
certification marks. There may even exist laws for the protection of
geographical indications or appellations of origin. A user of the
tag must be registered with the competent national authority to be
eligible to use it. Unauthorised parties may not use geographical
indications. Such use is likely to mislead the public into thinking
that from a particular place. A great deal of international and
domestic jurisprudence is available on the subject.
The WIPO administers a
number of international agreements that deal partly or entirely with
protection of geographical indications. The Paris Convention and
Lisbon Agreement are two such treaties which WIPO Member States need
to adhere to. The WIPO offers its Member States and other interested
parties the opportunities to explore new ways to enhance the
international protection of geographical indications.
Having seen the
mechanisms of GIs,
let us now look at how they create value and help generate
employment. The main beauty
about it is that it creates job opportunities with little use of
additional resources, funding or initiatives. Recently,
the Department of Industrial
Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has created a new logo with a very catchy
tagline – Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India.
The creation of this logo has led to a great deal of value
enhancement. While it has
shown the intent of the government to promote Indian products across
the globe, the DIPP logo has led to a great deal of brand value
enhancement.
We're living in
an era where brand value draws customers and increases sales. What
better way to promote our rich heritage that the GI tag, with its
catchy logo and tagline? It has resulted in empowering many
communities, especially in rural and tribal areas. The
community leaders or representatives need to be able to generate
technical data on the proof of existence of the product, gather
evidence of its uniqueness, document its history, etc. NGOs exist
that will help in the process.
It is a myth that
farmers are uneducated and unaware about the knowledge of the ageold
traditions. NGOs and voluntary bodies could members of the
communities to liaise with the government departments that are
involved in the registration process.
