Women make over 60% of the workforce in Eastern UP on GI-tagged handicrafts

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 26 April 2023

The Varanasi region of eastern UP boasts of producing at least 10 women state awardees in the area of Geographical Indication (GI) certified handicrafts as the World Intellectual Property Day-2023 (April 26) gets observed on the theme - "Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity" this year. The globe honours intellectual property on April 26 every year.

“In Varanasi and eastern Uttar Pradesh, women make up about 60% of the workforce employed in GI-tagged handicrafts”. GI expert Padma Shri Rajni Kant of Human Welfare Association, a Varanasi-based NGO that facilitates the traditional crafts and other goods to get GI tag to protect their intellectual property rights, said: “The World Intellectual Property Day is an opportunity to celebrate the power of innovation and creativity and to investigate how intellectual property supports the drive to build a better future”.

He included Satya Singh, Divya, Shalini, Sarita Parjapati, and Malti Devi as female state recipients from this area. Rajni added, "Varanasi and nearby districts have 23 GI-tagged goods in handlooms, handicrafts, agriculture, horticulture, and natural goods (Chunar Balua Ptthar)," and that food, sweets, and musical instruments from Kashi would soon also join the GI club of Indian IPR.

Rajni claimed that HWA assists the community as a technical facilitator in 18 states and union territories to obtain GI tags with the assistance of the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board (UOCB), the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), and various state governments. He stated, "So far, we have assisted 150 GI applicants."

In the category of "top individual/organization for best facilitation of registration of GI and promotion of registered GI in India," the HWA was chosen as the winner of the National Intellectual Property (IP) Award for 2017. Every year on World Intellectual Property Day, the IPR office presents National IP Awards to exceptional organizations, businesses, and individuals in the domains of patents, designs, trademarks, and geographical indications.  

In honour of World Intellectual Property Day, Kant has been asked to participate in a function at Vanijya Bhawan in New Delhi. Piyush Goyal, the union minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food, and public distribution, will attend the event. Kant stated, "It is a huge honour for our organization and our work to promote GI goods. Despite Varanasi being a centre for GI products, he regretted that no single facility centre and raw material warehouse had yet to be established for the GI items in the city.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation claims that this year's World Intellectual Property Day campaign is a chance to recognize the incredible accomplishments of women inventors, creators, and business owners around the globe, step up efforts to promote inclusion and diversity in all facets of the workplace, and make sure that innovation ecosystems are created that are open to people of all genders.