Jharkhand’s Sohrai Khovar painting and Telangana’s Telia Rumal were given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Geographical Indications Registry.

This year, many GI tags have been allocated. A few of them to count are- Kashmir saffron, Manipur black rice, Gorakhpur terracotta, Kovilpatti kadalai mittai etc.  Check here for more.

Sohrai Khovar painting

• The Sohrai Khovar painting is a traditional and ritualistic mural art being practised by local tribal women in the area of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.
• The painting is primarily being practised only in the district of Hazaribagh. However, in recent years, for promotional purposes, it has been seen in other parts of Jharkhand.
• It is prepared during local harvest and marriage seasons using local, naturally available soils of different colours in the area.
• Traditionally painted on the walls of mud houses, they are now seen on other surfaces, too.
• The style features a profusion of lines, dots, animal figures and plants, often representing religious iconography.
• In recent years, the walls of important public places in Jharkhand, such as the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi, and the Hazaribagh and Tatanagar Railway Stations, among others, have been decorated with these paintings.

Telia Rumal

• Telia Rumal cloth involves intricate handmade work with cotton loom displaying a variety of designs and motifs in three particular colours — red, black and white.
• The Rumal can only be created using the traditional handloom process and not by any other mechanical means as otherwise, the very quality of the Rumal would be lost.
• During the Nizam’s dynasty, Puttapaka, a small, backward village of the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh had about 20 families engaged in handloom weaving, who were patronized by rich families and the Nizam rulers.
• The officers working in the court of the Nizam would wear the Chituki Telia Rumal as a symbolic representation of status.
• Telia Rumals were worn as a veil by princesses at the erstwhile court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and as a turban cloth by Arabs in the Middle East.

Back2Basics: Geographical Indications in India

• A Geographical Indication is used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
• Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
• This tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed.
• Recently the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry has launched the logo and tagline for the Geographical Indications (GI) of India.
• The first product to get a GI tag in India was the Darjeeling tea in 2004.
• The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act) is a sui generis Act for protection of GI in India.
• India, as a member of the WTO enacted the Act to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
• Geographical Indications protection is granted through the TRIPS Agreement.

Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

Attend Now