Foisting a GI tag on Mandu's baobab tree

Commerce ministry's drive to push up the Geographical Indications tally is a lazy exercise that does not benefit local communities

- LATHA JISHNU

IN JUNE last year, there was a ruckus in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh when the Bhil tribespeople stopped trucks from carting away around a dozen baobab trees from their villages around the historical town of Mandu. The trees were being taken to a commercial botanical garden being set up about 1,000 km away on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The Madhya Pradesh forest department had given permission for the translocation of the trees, but the Bhils who had been nurturing the trees for a long time, possibly centuries, were upset and set up a roadblock. Police had to intervene to let the trees go through.

The baobab is of African origin and not many are to be found in India; the biggest cluster is in Mandu. The strangely shaped succulent is known as the tree of life, because it is able to store water from the rains in its vast trunk and produce a nutrient-dense fruit in the dry season when the land turns arid. The tree has medicinal properties and provides some income for the Bhil community, which sells its fruits and seeds to local traders. Given their strong attachment to nature, the tribal people were enraged that the forest department had allowed the businessman to take away grown trees instead of buying saplings from the nursery in the area. The Bhils demanded to know why the forest department had not protected the trees.

Instead of admitting that the forest department had failed to do its job, the official response has been unexpected. The authorities say they will help the local community get a Geographical Indication (GI) for baobab trees. The Dhar horticulture department has set up a committee to identify local farmers who can form an association or society to apply for the GI tag. Will the Bhils have a say in this development, when all they want is to keep their trees safe?