Documenting geographical origins of Indian products

Ever realised that the famous, red hot Naga Mirchi (a special variety of chilli from Nagaland) doesn’t have a Wikipedia page?

Well, no, as it happens, but in any case that’s apparently about to change. According to an article in The Hindu, there’s something called an edit-a-thon going on right now that will provide wikipedia pages for Indian products which have been registered for geographical indication (GI). Quite a few other agricultural products are slated for inclusion apart from that notorious Nagaland pepper. Navara rice from Kerala caught my eye. There’s a specimen at IRRI labelled with that name. Also Bhalia wheat from Gujarat. Which unfortunately, in contrast to Navara rice, Genesys drew a blank on. An earlier article in The Hindu gives an alternative appellation, Daudkhani. That name is associated with an accession in the CIMMYT genebank. But that’s from Pakistan.

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