Bangladesh boosts bid for tangail saree GI recognition: Reports

Media reports maintained this adding, in a diplomatic move, the Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi has recently written a letter to the India’s Ministry of External Affairs, urging action.

Additionally, preparations for a legal confrontation against the Indian acknowledgment are underway, the reports claimed.

On 2 January, the Ministry for Commerce and Industry in India reportedly conferred ‘Banglar Tangail Saree’ or ‘Tangail Saree of Bengal’ as their GI product. However, traders, GI specialists, legal experts, and rights defenders in Bangladesh staunchly opposed this recognition, asserting tangail saree’s origin in Bangladesh due to the absence of any place named Tangail in India.

The uproar in Bangladesh led the Tangail district administration to swiftly apply for GI status for the traditional handloom saree on 6 February. The application, promptly approved by the Department of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks (DPDT), was forwarded for gazette publication.

The subsequent gazette, issued on 8 February, certified the tangail saree’s GI status, pending objections over the next two months.

Meanwhile, under India’s GI Act, objections to GI recognition can be lodged within three months even as Bangladesh aims to challenge the decision before 1 April through both legal and diplomatic avenues. 

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