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After Not-So-Sweet Fight With Odisha, Bengal Wins Rasogulla Battle With GI Tag
Swarajya Staff
Nov 14, 2017, 03:08 PM | Updated 03:08 PM IST
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Two and a half years into the legal battle over the origins of the Rasogulla between the neighbouring states of Odisha and West Bengal, the latter has finally won with officials of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks – the Indian Patent Office – declaring that dish originated in Bengal.
The GI authorities have ruled today that West Bengal is the origin of rasogulla. It has been settled under the GI Act that authenticates a product relating to either a geographical location, or community or society.Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs (Kolkata) Sanjay Bhattacharya
However, as Swarajya’s Madhulika Dash pointed out in 2015, the parental issue of ‘Rasogulla belonged to whom’ was partly resolved, thanks to the unearthing of a 400-year-old document that claims that the sweet did owe its birth to Odisha and was addressed as chenna munda (or as some would call it chandamonda) because of its milky brownish colour matching that of a new moon.
Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, meanwhile celebrated this ‘victory’. Food processing minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah called it a victory after two and a half years and said that he was relieved, while education minister Partha Chatterjee said that Odisha ‘unnecessarily’ raised a a dispute. A week ago, Mollah had said that West Bengal “will not let Odisha claim credit” for the origin of the delicacy. “Bengal is the origin of rosogolla... We have decided to move court. Let the court decide. We will pursue the matter till the very end,” Mollah had said.
I thank chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her proactive role. She asked her officers to get in touch with us in 2015 when Odisha tried to get the GI registration in their favour. The government took all related documents and information from us to authenticate the claim that Nabin Chandra Das was indeed the inventor of rosogolla.Dhiman Das, Director of KC Das
Back in 2015, Odisha’s science and technology minister Pradip Kumar Panigrahi had said that the findings of more than one committee gave ‘conclusive evidence’ establishing that Rasogulla existed in his state for about 600 years.
Also Read: What’s With The Rasogulla?
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