ODYSSEY OF THE G.I. REVOLUTION IN INDIA AND A REVOLUTIONARY...!

The revolution of Geographical Indications (GI) in India is happening and its real. Increased foot fall at the GI Pavilion during #WorldFoodIndia held at India Gate, New Delhi was a proof that the consumer is getting aware and well acquainted with what GI is!

The GI pavilion was visited by many Ministers and Bureaucrats from the Capital. All of the exhibited GI products were wholeheartedly praised by the visitors with an following exact words with an exclamatory question "Does something like this exist in India..?" and the next line was that investments should be made in bringing all these gems at forefront in the market all over India to start with. 

After the introduction of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 which came into effect from 2002, it took almost 15 years to see such praise to the GI products of India. 

For those do not know, Geographical Indications Rights is the only form of Intellectual Property which is owned by a Community and therefore, it has got substantial importance. However unfortunately, the subject has been neglected for quite a long period of time except for the efforts of one Man who is been called as GI Joe of India - Prof. Ganesh S. Hingmire.

This man with whom I am working for past many years is Connoisseur of Geographical Indications as he has been consistently striving for past 15 years towards the promotion of GIs in India. He is the pioneer when we think of Geographical Indications and its journey in last two decades. His perseverance and resolute efforts have yielded the results and still he says, there is a long way to go quoting Robert Frost - "and miles to go before I sleep"..

When National IP Awards were given by the Dept. of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Geographical Indications did not even have a place in any of the categories of the said awards. However, taking note of Prof. Ganesh's efforts a special mention award was conferred upon him in 2015 and in the subsequent year of 2016, the National IP Awards witnessed an introduction of GIs in its category which was also conferred upon Prof. Ganesh.

Introduction of GIs in National IP Awards, ANNAPURNA exhibition and World Food India is just tip of the iceberg he says. We still have milestones to achieve if we want to see GI revolution in India in its true sense. Awareness in the middle class, branding of GI products, preventing entry of counterfeit goods, solid quality maintenance mechanism are still in infancy in India, he says.

He has given many policy suggestions to Gov. of India pertaining to Post GI Registration Mechanisms. He has written hundreds of articles on GIs. Marathi Newspaper Agrowon is publishing his article series on Geographical Indications and so far 41 articles have been published discussing national and international GIs and success stories. Some of the glimpses can be seen here. 

He has always been advocating about availing big platform such as ANNAPURNA and World Food India for GI products from different parts of the country and wrote to many many people about it. Finally his efforts have yielded and now calls are coming from all parts of India about availability of such products in local markets.

Prof. Ganesh is bearing the torch when it comes to driving the geographical indication revolution ahead all over the world..! That day isn't far when the consumer will be demanding GI tagged products from the market, he says!!

~ until next time ~

Cheers..!