Food for Thought

A tussle over the definition of basmati exposes flaws in India’s regime for geographical indication.

- Prashant Reddy Thikkavarapu and Sumathi Chandrashekaran

The Madras High Court is currently hearing a dispute as to whether rice grown in certain areas of Madhya Pradesh qualify as genuine basmati rice under the law. The disagreement originates from a 2008 application filed by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, or APEDA, under the Geographical Indications of Goods Act, 1999, seeking to register the term “basmati” as a geographical indication. A geographical indication, or GI, is a form of recognition granted to a particular product grown or manufactured in a particular region, whose specific properties are considered attributable to the conditions of its place of origin, or whose reputation is associated with it. Historically, basmati rice, famed for its distinctive aroma, taste and long grains, has been marketed as a set of rice varieties grown in the foothills of the Himalayas. In its application, the APEDA, which functions under the ministry of commerce, listed only certain areas of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir as basmati-growing areas.