From now on, mango produced only within
the Konkan region of Maharashtra will be called Hapus (also known as Alp- honso
mango), which is conside- red a superior variety of the fruit, with great
demand worldwide. The districts included at Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad.
The decision was taken by the Geographical Indications (GI) registrar in
Mumbai, while hearing a petition filed by mango traders and agricultural
research institutes from Konkan on Thursday.
A GI tag gives a regional identity to a
product. It is a name that corresponds to products from a particular region.
Only producers in that particular area can use the GI tagged name for their
produce. It is done under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration
and Protection) Act. Other popular products that have been GI tagged in India
earlier include Darjeeling tea, Chanderi sarees, Coorg oranges.
The registry of GI, Mumbai, rejected
individual applications filed by four producers of Alphonso mangoes in Konkan
to patent their produce as Hapus. The petitioners included Dapoli university,
Kokan Hapus Udpadak Sangh, Ratnagiri Hapus Udpadak Sangh, and Devgargh Hapus
Udpadak Sangh.
After hearing the applications, the
Controller General of Patents, Design and Trade Marks, Om Prakash Gupta then
suggested instead of GI tagging separate names, all mangoes from Konkan will
get the Hapus tag. It will be formally given after applicants submit a fresh
application.
Gupta, who is also registrar of GI, on
Thursday said, “The word Hapus cannot be GI tagged under separate names. It
then becomes generic and loses its purpose of patent. I suggested the
petitioners at the hearing to GI tag Hapus from the geographical western coast
of Maharashtra, that will be Konkan Maharashtra. They have filed their
applications again with this correction.”
Gupta also suggested that if any region
within Konkan wants to give their produce an exclusive name, they can pe-fix or
suffix the names of their region to the tag — for example, Devgad Hapus,
Ratnagiri Hapus, Kokan Hapus. The mangoes from Devgad are popular in Mumbai.
Courtesy: HT