West Bengal gets GI tag for ‘Banglar Rasagolla’

Insight Bureau: In a major jolt to Odisha, which came on the expected lines, West Bengal was awarded the geographical indication (GI) tag for famous sweet ‘Rasagola’.

The GI Registry named it as ‘Banglar Rasagolla’ as sought by the West Bengal Government. They had claimed that Rasagola was invented by Nabin Chandra Das in 1868 and submitted required proof in this regard. The application was filed before the Intellectual Property office in 18th September 2015.

While the Odisha Government had argued that ‘Rasagola’ existed in the state since 15th-16th century and was offered to Lord Jagannath at Puri Shree Mandir, as mentioned in ‘Dandee Ramayana’, West Bengal claimed that the ‘Rasagola’ available in Odisha is different from its own ‘Rasagolla’.

It is believed that despite historical evidences and proofs, Odisha government failed to go aggressive to secure a GI tag for Rasagola. It would be interesting to see whether it can try and get a GI tag on ‘Odisha Rasagola’ or ‘Odia Rasagola’.

Meanwhile, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has expressed her happiness over the latest development with a tweet:

Sweet news for us all. We are very happy and proud that #Bengal has been granted GI ( Geographical Indication) status for Rosogolla

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) November 14, 2017