• The Andaman & Nicobar Islands has filed an application, seeking the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the Nicobari Hodi craft.
• This is the first application from the Union Territory seeking a tag for one of its products.
• Earlier, the government awarded the GI tag to Mithila Makhana.

Nicobari hodi:-

• The hodi is the Nicobari tribe’s traditional craft.
• It is an outrigger canoe, very commonly operated in the Nicobar group of islands.
• The hodi is built using either locally available trees or from nearby islands, and its design varies slightly from island to island.
• The technical skills for building a hodi are based on indigenous knowledge inherited by the Nicobarese from their forefathers.
• Considerations to be taken into account including the length of the finished canoe, which has to be 12 times that of its width while the length of the undressed tree trunk has to be 15 times this width.
• Hodis are used for transporting people and goods from one island to another, for sending coconuts, for fishing and racing purposes.
• The tuhet, a group of families under a headman, consider the hodi an asset. Hodi races are held between islands and villages.

Geographical Indication (GI) Tag:-

• A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
• Nodal Agency: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry
• India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 w.e.f. September 2003.
• The tag stands valid for 10 years.
• GIs have been defined under Article 22 (1) of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.