Basmati battles beset producers in India
Published on: February 2, 2022.
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Basmati is India’s great contribution to the world of gastronomy. People the world over recognize it as a long grain aromatic rice grown in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Basmati is popular due to its distinct flavour, aroma, taste, and soft and fluffy texture upon cooking. The agro-climatic conditions of the specific geographical region where Basmati is cultivated, plant nutrition, soil, method of harvesting, and other factors contribute towards these unique characteristics. Basmati also has a lower glycemic index: between 45 and 58 as opposed to other varieties of white rice, which have a glycemic index of 89. Therefore it is suitable for diabetics.
More than 85% of global Basmati exports (by quantity and by value) are from India. In 2019-20, India exported 44.55 lakh metric tonnes (4.45 million metric tonnes) of Basmati worth $4.25 billion. Given these figures, Basmati is of considerable economic significance to India in addition to its cultural heritage.
To preserve the unique identity of its aromatic Basmati rice in the international markets, India granted geographical indication (GI) recognition in 2016 to the Basmati producers in the Indo-Gangetic plains on the foothills of the Himalayas. The region includes seven states of India: Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, parts of Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir. In pre-partition India, the region would also include Pakistan’s Punjab province.
However, since the application for registration of Basmati rice by the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) (as a GI was filed and even before, it has been mired in disputes, both domestic and international).
India’s attempts to protect the Basmati title can be traced back to a historical conflict between the Indian government and the US company RiceTec in the 1990s. RiceTec had sought a patent for certain rice varieties that it had bred from Basmati strains, with names such as Kasmati, Texmati and Jasmati. RiceTec was granted a patent by the US Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO) under number 5663484 on Basmati rice lines and grains on September 2 1997.
The APEDA accused RiceTec of bio-piracy and challenged the patent in June 2000. After a long battle, RiceTec agreed to withdraw several of the claims. On January 29 2002, the USPTO issued a Re-examination Certificate cancelling claims 1-7, 10, and 14-20 of the patent (the broad claims covering the rice plant) out of 24 claims and entered amendments to claims 12-13.
However, the journey to GI protection for Basmati at home was not as simple and APEDA had to cross several hurdles, facing opposition and challenges.
Source: https://www.managingip.com/article/b1wl2hzs4bd8wv/basmati-battles-beset-producers-in-india
