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HomeIndiaAssam's 'gamusa' and its winter rice variety 'chokuwa' listed for GI tag

Assam’s ‘gamusa’ and its winter rice variety ‘chokuwa’ listed for GI tag

Gamusa is a white cloth with distinctive red border & motifs, while chokuwa is a semi-glutinous rice variety. Both are integral to Assamese culture.

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New Delhi: Assam’s traditional textile ‘gamusa‘ or ‘gamosa‘ and its semi-glutinous winter rice variety ‘chokuwa‘ have been listed under the coveted 124th Geographical Indications (GI) Registry Journal of 24 October.

Both products will be awarded GI tag if there aren’t any objections raised against their inclusion in the journal within three months of the publication.

The application for gamusa was filed to the GI Registry by the Institute of Handicraft Development in Assam’s Golaghat district on 16 October 2017.

A white rectangular piece of cloth with a distinctive red border and motifs, the gamusa is one of the prominent cultural identifiers of the Assamese community. It is made up of two words – ‘ga‘ which means body and ‘musa’ which means to wipe. But the cloth goes beyond its literal definition of a towel. It’s a representation of Assamese culture and is used on religious occasions, in weddings and gifted as a symbol of respect.

“This is a handloom product which has high esteem and wide usage in Assamese culture…Gamosa unites the whole Assamese people. It is the symbol of feeling & belongingness, welcoming people, respecting elders, love and care to loved ones,” the Journal stated.

It has also listed nine different types of gamusas — uka gamosa, phulam gamosa, bihuwan, tioni gamosa, pani gamosa, anakota gamosa, telos gamosa, jor gamosa and xadharon gamosa.


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Chokuwa – nature’s unique gift

Chokuwa is a winter rice variety and forms an integral part of the Assamese meal, especially in religious and social ceremonies.

The application for a GI tag for the rice was filed by an organisation called Seuj Satirth, from Sivasagar district of Assam in December 2016.

Described as an “unique gift of nature” by the GI Journal, this rice is eaten for breakfast too in rural Assam. Chokuwa is also known as ‘komal saul‘ since the parboiled rice becomes soft on just soaking in water and can be consumed.

GI tags awarded to Assam previously include the Muga silk in 2014, joha rice variety in 2017, Tezpur litchi in 2015 and boka saul (mud rice) in 2018.

Twitterati, meanwhile, has applauded the legal recognition and protection of the traditionally woven gamusa and chokuwa rice as an important milestone to help increase production and ease business for both the goods.


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