Odisha has been recently blessed with a sweet victory as it has finally got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for its very own Rasagola. This much-awaited GI recognition comes a year after West Bengal victoriously walked away with the GI tag. Now, the Odisha Small Industries Corporation Limited (OSIC) and Utkala Mistanna Byabasayee Samiti (Utkala Sweetmakers Business Body) will be recognized as the registered proprietors of Odisha Rasagola’s GI tag and shall obtain all legal and Intellectual Property (IP) protection available for the product. Registered under GI of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act of 2019 as “Odisha Rasagola,” the granted GI tag certificate will be valid till February 22, 2028.
After West Bengal was successful in getting the GI tag for its own “Banglara Rasgulla” in November 2017, Odisha moved the GI Registry for its local version of Rasagola. The state had submitted several documents sought by the GI Registry office. The documents included the moisture and nutrient content of the sweet, its chemical composition, the practices generally adopted during the phase of production, along with the quality and hygiene standards at various stages of production.
Both West Bengal and Odisha have been bitterly engaged in a legal battle since June 2015 over the origin of the Rasgulla. The battle changed for even worse when Pradip Kumar Panigrahi, Odisha’s former Science and Technology Minister, had set up various committees to trace the origin of the sweet delicacy in 2015. To celebrate the origin of Rasagola, they even went further to declare July 30 as “Rasagola Dibasa.”
On the other hand, the Bengal government had also set up a committee and decided to fight the claims put forward by the government of Odisha legally. They even argued by saying that Nabin Chandra Das, a famous sweetmeat-maker, created this quintessential Bengali delicacy in 1868.
As it has been wisely said, “All’s well that ends well,” it is indeed a very proud moment for Odisha for receiving the GI tag. Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of the state, also announced the victory on Twitter.