Digvijaya demands GI tag for MP’s basmati rice

Bhopal: Former chief minister and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh on Thursday raised the issue of basmati rice in the Rajya Sabha. He said that while Madhya Pradesh produces better quality grains, the state does not have the GI tag. Singh alleged that traders from other states purchased basmati rice from here and earned profits by using the GI tag approved for their state. He demanded that Madhya Pradesh be approved a GI tag for basmati rice.He shared the video of the Rajya Sabha proceedings on his social media accounts.Speaking in the upper house, Digvijaya Singh said, "Every year, Madhya Pradesh produces more than four lakh metric tons of basmati rice. The basmati rice produced here is of better quality than that of other states. But because the state got no GI tag, traders from Punjab and other states acquired basmati rice from Madhya Pradesh and earned profits using the GI tag of their states."Digvijaya Singh further claimed, "Farmers of Madhya Pradesh are thereby losing their rights and cannot get the benefit of the rice grown by them. In 2013, we got the GI tag approved for basmati of Madhya Pradesh, but in 2016, that was cancelled."Launching an attack on Union minister for agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Rajya Sabha MP said, "It is unfortunate that today the Union minister for agriculture is from Madhya Pradesh, and yet the state has not been given the GI tag. My demand is that, keeping this situation in view, Madhya Pradesh be approved the GI tag for its basmati rice."