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| Basmati –common ground for India, Pak | | |
SAISHA GUPTA
Jammu, Nov 8: Though accounting for a very little percentage of total production in India, Basmati is a pride of Jammu for which India and Pakistan have now ironed out their differences in preventing this royal rice's copying by the Western Countries.
Basmati happens to be a common heritage of India and Pakistan; and Jammu is one such place which has significant production of this high quality rice. Of late, Basmati has come under a western aggression and US and European countries are copying this rice.
In Jammu region, around 25,000 hectares of land is under Basmati cultivation and the annual production is around 50,000 tonnes. The total area in India presently under cultivation of Basmati rice is about 7,76,000 hectares in India and its production estimated at about 11,96,000 tonnes.
There is a substantial increase of Basmati in traditional Basmati growing areas. The largest area under Basmati rice is in the State of Haryana (60%) followed by Uttar Pradesh (17.1%) and Punjab (16.1%). During 1998-99, the State of Haryana contributed nearly 55% of the total Basmati rice production in the country followed by Uttar Pradesh at 23.5% and Punjab at 12.4%. The productivity of Basmati rice ranges from 15 to 18 Quintals/Hectare. The lower yield of Basmati rice is known for its tall and weak stature of the plant causing lodging. Besides, poor response of the fertilizers, susceptibility to pests and diseases and less number of spike lets per panicle. State-wise area, production and yield of Basmati rice during 1997-98 to 1999-2000 are given
India and Pakistan on Saturday decided to mount a joint defence to prevent the unauthorised use of basmati rice, a common heritage of the two countries.
At the conclusion of two-day talks in Islamabad on registering the 'Geographical Indication' (GI) of basmati rice in the US and Europe to prevent the product from being copied by other countries, the two sides said they had ironed out a "number of differences".
"The talks were aimed at arriving at an agreed definition of basmati rice, which is a common heritage. Both sides shared information on standards and on delimitation of basmati growing areas," said an official statement issued by the Pakistan government.
"It was also agreed to share information on third party infringement and to mount a joint defence to (prevent) the unauthorised use of basmati," it said.
The two sides "hoped to achieve further uniformity of views" in the next round of talks of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on registering basmati rice, which will be held in New Delhi in the first quarter of next year.
Dinesh Sharma, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce, headed the Indian team, while the Pakistani delegation was led by Joint Secretary (Exports) Azhar Ali Chaudhri of the Commerce Ministry.
This was the second meeting of the JWG. The group first met in New Delhi in April.
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