So far, only three types of sarees from West Bengal — Baluchari, Santipur and Dhaniakhali have obtained the GI tags.

The textiles committee of the Union Ministry of Textiles has asked the various weaving communities of West Bengal to apply for the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection.

So far, only three types of sarees from West Bengal — Baluchari, Santipur and Dhaniakhali have obtained the GI tags.

“We are asking the different weaving communities of West Bengal to go for GI registration. Some of them are the weavers of Bengali Jamdani, Begumpuri and Bengali Tangail sarees which have huge export markets,” deputy director of the Textiles Committee of the textiles ministry T.K. Rout told PTI.

The weavers of scarves and stoles of Fulia should also apply for GI registration, he said.

Mr. Rout said that once these weaving communities get the GI tag, their IPR would be protected and legal action could be initiated against those who were not bonafide claimaints of these textile products. “Even the export markets of these products would be protected,” he said.

“GI is IPR which provides protection to the products which have origins in a particular geographical location and different from patents and trademarks,” Mr. Rout added

It also gives protection to those weaving communities from counterfeit claims by others, he said adding that the ministry was working to facilitate this process.

As of date, 270 products of the country had been registered under the GI Act, out of which 151 of those belong to the textiles and handicrafts segment.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by PTI / Kolkata – March 16th, 2018