The Geographical Indications Registry at Chennai, has received an application from the Tribal Development Council, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, seeking the GI tag for the Nicobari hodi craft.

Why in news?

• This is the first application from the Union Territory seeking a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for one its products.

About Nicobari Hodi Craft

• The hodi is the Nicobari tribe’s traditional craft.
• It is an outrigger canoe, very commonly operated in the Nicobar group of islands.
• The hodi is built using either locally available trees or from nearby islands, and its design varies slightly from island to island.
• Hodis are used for transporting people and goods from one island to another, for sending coconuts, for fishing and racing purposes.
• The tuhet, a group of families under a headman, consider the hodi an asset.
• Hodi races are held between islands and villages.
• The technical skills for building a hodi are based on indigenous knowledge inherited by the Nicobarese from their forefathers.

How many GI tags have been accorded so far?

• The Geographical Indications Registry, established in Chennai in September 2003, has received over 1,000 applications.
• An application seeking GI tag for the Banaras’ thandai (a beverage made with milk, dry fruits and spices) was the 1,000th application.
• Data shows that, as on date, around 1,015 applications have been filed at the Chennai office and of them, GI tags have been given to 422 products.

Back2Basics:  Geographical Indication

• A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
• Nodal Agency: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry
• India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 w.e.f. September 2003.
• GIs have been defined under Article 22 (1) of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
• The tag stands valid for 10 years.

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